Under the Ocean introduces young children to the creatures that live in the seas around New Zealand. The book describes different habitats: underwater reefs, the sea floor, the open ocean and the deep ocean. Animals featured in the fact pages include octopus and squid, sharks and rays, whales, dolphins, penguins and many others. Under the Ocean is the third volume in the Explore and Discover series, following Gillian Candler and Ned Barraud's best-selling At the Beach, which was a finalist in the non-fiction section of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards, and the popular title In the Garden. Under the Ocean was written in response to children's requests to have a book that included sea creatures such as sharks, octopus and giant squid. Although children can't explore the sea first hand in the way they can explore a garden or the beach, they are fascinated by the amazing creatures that live in the ocean.

 

This book was recognised in the Nonfiction - YA category by the New Zealand Book Award for Children and Young Adults.

There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published 2014 by Potton & Burton .

Ned Barraud is a talented illustrator with a passion for sea creatures. His work has been published frequently in the School Journal, and he illustrated The Earthquake and the Butterfly (2012). He works at Weta Digital as a texture artist and lives in Wellington, spending lots of time exploring the seashore with his three young children. Gillian Candler was a secondary-school teacher for many years before moving into educational publishing with Learning Media in Wellington, where she worked as an editor, project manager and eventually CEO. She currently works as an educational publishing consultant from her home in Pukerua Bay.