My Thoughts:
Full disclosure: I adore sea otters, so I was predisposed to like this book. It is absolutely packed with information. The way each organism coexists in an ecosystem is fascinating, and I found the explanations easily accessible

Possible Objectionable Material:
Once again, the lexile level is high for the suggested age range.

Who Might Like This Book:
Sea otter fans, science fans, anyone fascinated by the symbiosis of different organisms.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
This review is also posted at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2020/07/childrens-nonfiction-keeps-learning.html

Not only are they cute and cuddly but scientific studies have proven they are in the front line in the fight to save one of our most endangered marine ecosystems. Follow the trail from sea otters to crabs to sea hare and ultimately to the algae that destroy the sea grass. This fifty page book packed with information clearly explains the interwoven relationship of geography, plants and animals. The research format to studying a problem and the resulting data provides a good foundation for budding scientists. Well placed photos, diagrams, and vocabulary add to the wonderful format.
Just as the release of wolves altered the environment and geography in Yellowstone, the study of sea otters in California have changed our perception of that marine ecosystem.

Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem by Patricia Newman is a non fiction book for children and adults. Marine biologist Brent Hughes didn't think sea otters and sea grass had much in common. But his research at Elkhorn Slough, an estuary on Monterey Bay in northern California, revealed a new and surprising connection between the two. The scientist expected this estuary to be overrun with algae due to the fertilizer runoff from surrounding fields. But it wasn't. Why?

Sea Otter Heroes goes into well organized and worded detail about the hows and whys behind Brent Hughes investigating why Elkhorn Slough was not overrun with algae like other similar locations. What inspired him and how he went about the research is an important portion of the book, with made me happy. Too often, books explore scientific mysteries or studies leave this important part of the story out. I liked that readers got to see how complex and layered the effort was to discover what made this particular slough different than others, and how the research and studies were hard but satisfying work. I loved the information that was presented, and how the images were used to further connect the reader to the information, bringing everything into a clearer focus. As someone that spends a good portion of the summer loving the ocean, and loves all animals I was interested and enthralled with the read. As the mother of a young animal lover that has been insistent for years that she is going to take care of wild animals as a career, I found that this book offered her further inspiration for that desire. Furthermore, the book offered a better understanding of ecosystems and the nature of scientific research and studies that are needed to make that kind of job possible and effective.

Sea Otter Heroes is a great book for exploring how studies like this are done, and how seemingly little changes in the environment can have very important effects on the ecosystem. It is well organized, interesting, and understandable read that might inspire young readers to be out future scientists or simply more aware of the environment and how interconnected the individual creatures- regardless of size- can impact each other.

Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem by Patricia Newman is a nonfiction children's book, which has an interesting story to tell. The ecosystem of California’s Elkhorn Slough showed some abnormalities. The seagrass was unusually healthy, considering the pollution that drained into the slough. As marine biologist Brent Hughes investigated, he found complex relationships among various plant and animal species in the region, including sea otters. Sea Otter Heroes emphasizes the scientific methodology involved in Hughes’s work, and thoroughly explains the connections between the biota under study. The sea otters are important players in the story, but they are not the primary focus suggested by the title.

Featuring an extremely cute sea otter on the cover, this upper elementary read documents the biologists process, describes the problem and lets the reader see for themselves the results. There’s even a “do it yourself ecosystem mini experiment” at the back of the book for budding environmentalists (involving spiders and crickets and grasshoppers). A superb example of the scientific process in action. Pages are full of captioned photographs, sidebars, charts, and graphs. Also includes tips to protect the environment, source notes, index, a glossary and bibliography, plus a list of books and website sources to find out more.

The book is not for young children as there is a lot of text and detail, but certainly middlegrade students studying ecosystems would get a lot out of this book. The photographs add so much to the book and make it easier to understand.

I received this ARC from Lerner Publishing Group and Hillbrook Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really good piece of narrative nonfiction that fits in so well with what our young students need to know and be able to read and interpret. How the scientific process works, forming hypotheses and testing them in a small scale and then in a larger environment. Asking questions, being inventive. Also very good questions on the relative roles of conservationists vs. fishermen - although that could have been fleshed out a bit more.
Would love to see this as part of a series looking further at wolves (top predators- mentioned in this book), Rhinos (umbrella species) and elephants (keystone species) in a similar fashion.

A perfect book to introduce kids to science - definitely recommend for anyone with young kids who are interested in marine biology. Or anyone who just loves sea otters. Sea otters are objectively the best.

Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem is an interesting and informative book written by Patricia Newman.

According to the inside cover, "In Elkhorn Slough, an inlet on the California coast, seagrass grows healthy and strong in the shallow water, providing homes for fish, preventing erosion, and trapping carbon from the environment. This healthy seagrass baffled marine biologist Brent Hughes...signs pointed to an unexpected player helping to keep seagrass healthy: sea otters.... Brent's amazing discovery solved a modern science mystery--and gave scientists insight into the delicate balance of ecosystems."

Along with the introduction, this book is divided into four chapters: A Journey Begins, The Mystery Unfolds, The "Aha" Moment, Proof, and Unexpected Heroes. Throughout this book, there are full-color photographs and colorful diagrams, as well as excerpts titled as Otterisms and Seagrass Science. The back of book includes Source Notes, Glossary, Selected Bibliography, More You "Otter" Read and Watch, and Index.

Sea Otter Heroes is a delightful fifty-six page non-fiction book, and it's geared toward children, particularly grades four to eight.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Sea Otter Heroes has an interesting story to tell. Brent Hughes uses the scientific method to solve a coastal mystery. Why was the sea grass in California’s Elkhorn Slough (pronounced Slew) flourishing when it should have been dead or covered with slimy algae. The farms in the area used pesticides which ran off into the slough and promoted algae growth. He tried again and again to determine why. He began from the bottom up as scientists usually do, but eventually, he used data from a tour boat captain and began to look top down, specifically, the Sea Otters. After many tests and experiments, Brent came to the following conclusion. It turns out that otters eat crabs that eat sea hares that eat algae growing on the grass. Because algae blocks sea grass photosynthesis, the expectation that the sea grass would die does not happen. When more otters eat more crabs, more sea hares survive to eat more algae, resulting in healthier sea grass—a process called trophic cascade. This same process was evident in Yellowstone when the wolves were brought back and the ecosystem became healthier.

The book is not for young children as there is a lot of text and detail, but certainly middlegrade students studying ecosystems would get a lot out of this book. The photographs add so much to the book and make it easier to understand. A good book to have in school and public libraries.

This book is a great introduction to ecological systems, the scientific method, and SEA OTTERS. The author does a great job explaining the science while not feeling like it's being "dumbed down." By following one scientist's experiment from hypotheses to conclusion, students will get a real feel for what a career as a scientist could look like. Plus did I mention it has SEA OTTERS?