Down, Down, Down

Bibliography

Jenkins, Steve. 2009. Down, Down, Down. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780618966363

Plot Summary

In Down, Down, Down, readers are taken on a journey to the bottom of the sea where they learn facts and get a creative, eye catching glimpse of the creatures found on more than half of the earth. With the ocean covering more than two-thirds of the earth, and being up to seven miles deep in places there are tons of interesting creatures to learn about. Steve Jenkins teaches us all about a place that even less people have visited than the moon.

Critical Analysis

Steve Jenkins has once again presented readers with facts while feeding us eye candy with his elaborate paper cut collages in the Bluebonnet Award Nominee, Down, Down, Down. If the reputation Jenkins has made for himself with the over one million copies of nonfiction picture books wasn’t enough to trust the accuracy of his facts, a bibliography is found in the back of the book along with more detailed explanations of the previous pages. This bibliography is an excellent resource for those students that are sucked in to the world under the sea and longing for more information.

While many nonfiction books can be read out of sequence, Down, Down, Down is best read from cover to cover. The picture book begins by introducing us to the creatures found at the surface of the water. Our greatest ocean fear is immediately introduced to use as we are presented with a great white shark jumping out of the ocean. With each turn on the page, readers are taken further and further beneath the surface. Their attention is kept with the introduction of stranger and weirder creatures the further and further we go. It is obvious that Mr. Jenkins has done his research and has a strong passion for the information presented. He has shared his knowledge in a manner that is easily read independently by an emerging reader and easily understood with little assistance to beginning readers and loved by adults. It is no wonder that this selection was picked as a Texas Bluebonnet Nominee book.

Review Excerpts:

Awards:
Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee
ALA Notable Book 2010
2009 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book
New York Times –one of the eight most Notable Children’s Books of 2009
2011 Beehive Book Award Nominee

Reviews:
“For capturing the scale and biological richness of the ocean in a picture book, it seems hard to do better than “Down, Down, Down.” Through the almost magical use of cut paper, Jenkins takes the reaser on a voyage from the surface to the sunlit shallows to the very bottom of the sea.” –New York Times Book Review

“In this plunge into the deep, Jenkins displays his usual keen awareness of what is fascinating about biology and imparts it without sensationalism –the facts speak for themselves.” – Booklist

“Depicted in Jenkins’s signature handsome collages, the denizens of each level swim again ever-darkening backgrounds ranging from sunny blue to deepest black.” –School Library Journal

Connections:

Other books by Steve Jenkins:
-Bones
-Actual Size
-Biggest, Fastest, Strongest
-What Do You Do With a Tail Like This

-Have students create a collage in the style of Steve Jenkins

-Pick one animal introduced in Down, Down, Down to research further