Dive, Dive into the Night Sea
Most of us will never get to dive into the ocean in the dead of night. Luckily this book allows us to imagine what that experience might be like, as well as the world that is wide-awake in the Ocean’s depths.
The trim-size and landscape-orientation of this book allow the reader to hold the sea-world in their hands, turning pages and lifting flaps to reveal informative facts and beautifully rendered sea life. The publishing choices are smart: the book contains two font sizes and can be read using one or both. The larger-font contains the first-person narrative of the diver. Its simple language and instructions will resonate with younger audiences. Meanwhile, the smaller-font, which is revealed on the back of flaps, contains names of sea animals, facts and terms to challenge older readers.
The inky monochromatic world is revealed through the piercing yellow torch of the diver and the composition of the scenes conveys the vast scale of the sea, the movements of the animals and the diversity of lifeforms. Lu’s pencil style uses scratches, scuffs, hatching and more to bring depth to the ocean. My only criticism of this book is the use of black font (tonally too close to the dark illustrations) and small font on the information panels, which is plankton-tiny, making it difficult to read. That said, her artwork of the night ocean is as stunning as a Sting Ray, and these gorgeous pencil drawings are worth diving into over and over.
