Informational Analysis
Exploring the Deep
By: Savanna Wills

For the final literary analysis that was assigned, I went into writing this paper with the notion that this might just be the least exciting analysis of Children’s Literature that we were ever going to have to do. To my surprise, I gained much knowledge from taking the time to read an informational non-fiction children’s book. I realized that if I were to find a concept in a children’s informational book that interested me, I would gain knowledge I didn’t realize I wanted or needed as a sophomore in college. For our final analysis, I chose the book Exploring the Deep by Chloe Rhodes. In all honesty, I didn’t have a lot of choices for books that I really wanted to read, but Exploring the Deep stood out to me because I realized that our oceans are wondrous and full of mystery. This strange and interesting piece is a fantastic non-fictional book for children who want to learn about the planet’s oceans and everything that occurs, lives, and is found within it. As soon as I began reading I found the book very intriguing. It captivated my attention, and taught me things I probably never would have learned in the rest of my years living. This book was filled with interesting facts about our planet’s oceans. It gave significant details of some living creatures that make the Earth’s oceans their home. Along with giving detailed facts, there were very real pictures of the wildlife that lurks beneath the waves, allowing children to associate a picture along with the extensive information that Rhodes was giving them. Along with the fascinating living things that lie in the water, the author also gave the reader information on just how big our oceans really are, and how utterly important they are to our ecosystem. She extends the learning by informing us of how deep the oceans are, and goes into great detail of each depth and what each depth consists of. Chloe Rhodes also throws in some fun facts about famous ship wrecks that have occurred in our history, such as the Titanic, Lusitania, and the RMS Rhone. I enjoyed that she included this information into her text, because it lets the reader know how powerful and great our planet’s seas really are. Though the book stood out to me in many ways, the writer of this piece did not however stick out to me. I had never heard of Chloe Rhodes before, so naturally I was a bit skeptical of just how interesting and factual this book would be. When I researched this author, not many things about her came up at all. She barely existed as a writer. But as I delved into her book Exploring the Deep, my view of her as a writer quickly shifted. She created a very well written informational text for children ages 9 to 11 years old. The accuracy of the content of this book was very factual in all areas. One of my favorite things about this book was that even though her book was filled with facts that could be seen as boring or out of a 10 year old’s learning level, she made the information fun and simple for a 5th grader to comprehend. She used easy-to-understand vocabulary, and explained the facts in a way that children could recognize and appreciate. Though her information was interesting and easily comprehensible, the organization of the book was not the best. As one reads on, each page contains facts that are in bubbles or text boxes that go along with a picture or work of art. As I was reading, I felt as if I was jumping all over the pages. By having the facts and information so sporadically spread out, I couldn’t fully appreciate what I was learning because I was leaping from text box to text box. Though the layout was eye catching and each picture was amusing to look at, it was difficult to retain the data. With that being said, the knowledge I gained from reading this text was outstanding. I learned so many interesting details of our wondrous oceans. Because I am a sophomore in college, not many topics that do not pertain to my life at that moment really interest me. Yet, this book showed me that there is so much more to learn about our mysterious oceans, and 5th graders can appreciate this information more than I ever could. One fact that stood out to me in this book was that we as humans currently know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the depths of our own oceans. It is so strange to think that there is still so much mystery left for us to figure out. Some other strange but fascinating things that the writer informed me of was that Mount Everest is in fact not the highest mountain on Earth, but in actuality Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii is. Mauna Kea starts at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean floor and rises up through the surface standing at 10203 Meters. All my life I was taught that Mount Everest is the largest mountain on earth and technically that is wrong!
Another detail that I learned while reading this book was that humans have actually been to the deepest point on our planet before. Mariana Trench is believed to be the deepest point on our Earth today, and only one team of deep-sea explorers have delved to the depths of that unknown world. In all honesty, that is terrifying to think about. So many mysteries and questions still exist about the deepest, darkest place on our planet, and those deep-sea explorers must have been extremely brave to have attempted to conquer that unknown abyss.
All in all, I deeply enjoyed this book. I gained so much compelling knowledge that I had never dreamed of knowing before I read this text. I would definitely recommend this book to both teachers and parents. Science teachers teaching grades 4th through 6th can take advantage of the vast information throughout this book and incorporate it into any lesson that has to do with learning about our Earth’s oceans. Students will be engaged with what their learning because the facts are interesting and useful. The artwork and real life pictures used in this text are appealing to the eye, and allow a child to connect the information they’re learning with imagery in their minds. Parents can also take advantage of this book as an informational night time story. The book is written to both excite the child and educate them as well. I closed this book with a better understanding and appreciation of our powerful and mystical oceans, and children ages 9 to 11 certainly will also.