Lore of the Deep: Folklore & Wisdom from the Watery Wilds by Claire Cock-Starkey, Illustrations by Stacey Rozich


Cock-Starkey plunges deep, far, and wide into the oceans and the sea in her latest Nature’s Folklore series. Putting her sailor hat on, the Lore of the Deep: Folklore & Wisdom takes the readers on a sailing adventure across the seven seas and five oceans.

Written over six chapters she introduces how the seas and the oceans were named — the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic was named by early explorers because the water there is covered in brown sargassum seaweed or how the Black Sea was named so because the overhead dark storm clouds reflected their dark colour on the surface of the sea.

Each of the six chapters begins with a folklore from different cultures; always a welcome sign in children’s book as you open them to a diverse world at a formative age. Folktales from India, China, Japan, and of Indigenous regions and people, find mention in the book, We hear about how crucial a role the sea played in rescuing people from their imminent death, of how the sea got its salt and became salty, and of course, the famous sailor Sinbad.

We visit mythical cities submerged underwater, of creatures (friendly and scary) living deep within the depths of the sea, of spirits and gods and goddesses, of treacherous journeys, of pirates and captains, of superstitions, and buried treasure. In Cock-Starkey’s eyes, the ocean and the sea are burgeoning with stories to tell the children about.

Cock-Starkey has the narrative style pat down for combing folklore with facts without comprising on the precious aspect of any lore, its magic and the lesson. In Whales, Dolphins, Sharks, and Rays, she talks about how early cultures that lived near the coast often had reverence and worshipped sea creatures as gods. While their revenant status is still question, her mention of the respect for sea creature is crucial and should be celebrated.


The illustrations by Rozich as very reminiscent of murals from Greek and Roman times — alluring and telling a story on their own, particularly the pages of Shape-Shifters of the Oceans. They add further depth to Cock-Starkey’s vivid prose.

The book, for 6-12 years old, is rich in its tapestry of mythology, lore, and facts and is perfect for those kids who are interested in the voyages of the sea.

Lore of the Deep, written by Claire Cock-Stanley and illustrated by Stacey Rozich, is a delightful book with its art, graphics, and tales about the world below the surface. Every page features immersive elements that helped to visualize the written details . The whimsical style of the art adds a fun level of depth to the storytelling, making this book a visual treat and an engaging narrative. I do think adjusting the font color, especially on the pages where the text is black, could further add to the visual appeal. Whether you’re a young or old, a fan of the sea and lore, or just enjoy pretty pictures, Lore of the Deep is a book worth diving into.

This book was so interesting. I loved the diversity of the cultures represented as well as the inclusion of so many indigenous peoples. The illustrations are stunning, swimming across the pages. The format is easy to follow, intriguing, and allows for the covering of so many aspects of sea lore. Anyone interested in folklore or even just expanding their knowledge of cultures I would highly recommend this to.

“Given the nature of the Oceans, it might no cme as a surprise that many sea gods and goddesses are wild and unpredictable.”

I loved that children’s book. Illustrations are very colorful and inviting to dream, attractive.
I read a lot of lore books these days, especially the ones for children as they don’t go too deep into the tale and are the perfect tool for inspiration.
This one was a bit more, though. It alternates thematic presentations of creatures and myths and short stories, which makes the book a perfect tool for children while they are learning how to read: they can read the short tales with their parents as a bedtime story, and try to read the little descriptions in the other pages by themselves.
I appreciated the fact that the book presents folklore from all around the world. I didn’t know some of them, and it made me want to dig more about it.
I saw it’s a series (there are 4 other books), and I’ll definitely read the other ones, before gifting them to my nieces and nephews to make them dream and learn about different cultures.

Thank you to the authors, Quarto Publishing Group – Wide Eyed Editions and NetGalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own.

A beautiful dive into folklore from all around the world. The stories were well told for the most part, and the illustrations were absolutely beautiful.
I wish there had been a few more stories that went into more depth (like the Sinbad one), as there were a lot of tidbits that it would have been nice to hear more about.
I also found the font hard to read at times, as the spacing between letters and between words was sometimes not clear.
However, I really loved reading this book and I learnt a lot of new things.

First, a huge thanks to the author, Claire Cock-Starkey, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book, Lore of the Deep. I will share my review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble upon release. This is a children's picture book focusing on stories and characters from mythology and lore around the ocean. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, the colors are so pretty and make you want to put the pictures on your wall. The cover pulled me in immediately, with all the details and elements of the stories. This book reminds me of the Greek mythology and Egyptian mythology books that I adored as a kid, and this will likely be a hit in the library, whether at home or at school. I think kids from ages of 3-10 or so would enjoy this book, even if they are too young to fully understand the stories. This book will grow with them, and they will appreciate the illustrations even more as they grow. This is a really beautiful and lovely book - looking forward to gifting it to kids in my life! Thank you again!

This is such a great book! It's fun and informative, the illustrations are beautiful and I liked the layout. There are both smaller bits of information and longer stories that are very informative but also concise. And as a bonus, they really touch on places all over the world. The only issue I had was the font

This book was phenomenal! My son loves mythology so I was excited to read this book and see if it would be appropriate for him.
The illustrations are beautiful. The stories weren’t too long so young children won’t lose their attention, yet it’s in depth enough that you get a great tale.
The book is broken up into six parts and has folklores from all over the world with the most stunning illustrations to go along with them.
Not only would this be a great read for kids but it’s also enjoyable and informative for adults too.
I’m so excited to buy this book for my son!

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

Lovely and interesting, great for an enthusiastic young reader, but with font problems | The artwork here is just perfect, and the design and layout both show it to great effect. A young reader who has already been through the book a time or two could still enjoy inspecting the illustrations, and as a bedtime read-aloud with a caregiver, the child would have plenty to look at while they listen. Other than the six page-long stories, each of which opens a new section, nearly every tidbit in the book is just two or three sentences. This makes them ideal for the kids who love to memorize and recite trivia, but also a good jumping-off point for little researchers who want to learn more. The only real problem with the book is the font choice. Overall it's attractive, but capital I, capital N, and lower-case f are problems throughout. For adult readers who see references to the Ionian Sea or to Io, it doesn't matter if the I has top and bottom stems, because we're familiar with the words. For children, capital I needs to not look like a lower-case l. The capital N is just odd, it required a second look to be sure of what I was seeing. But the f creates a space in the middle of tons of words throughout the book. Of ten. Sulf urous. Gratef ul and thankf ul and beautif ul and peacef ul and helpf ul. Shapeshif ters and af ter and fif ty. Etc. Strangely, though, not every use of these words printed like this, and plenty of words containing f have no space in them. This probably seems like I'm being unbearably picky, but it legitimately interrupted the reading experience. Young readers with learning difficulties may find it deeply frustrating.
Two Welsh references!

This is a stunning book. The illustrations are beautiful.
The book provides folklore and information about different cultures. I loved this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Claire Cock-Starkey and Quarto Publishing group for this Arc

This might be the best middle-grade anthology of folklore I've ever read! The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and the layout makes for an incredibly engaging and thoughtful reading--just enough to pique your interest and cause you to want to do more in depth research. There are stories and info about folklore and creatures from cultures all over the globe, and the info included is utterly charming and fantastical, making imagination run wild.

I can't get over how well done the art is for this book--every single page is a colourful masterpiece, every story and every creature get an illustration which just makes reading this book so magical. Totally in love.

This book was a lovely illustrated guide to lore, mythologies and fables, surrounding various ocean topics. Mainly the book is structured around spreads covering a theme such as "deep sea monsters" but occasionally there is a longer story. The illustrations are lovely, having a depth and handpainted feel that make the book feel like something really special. The breadth of exploration on the topic is also impressive, sharing stories from all over the world and exploring topics from sand dunes to ocean caves. This seems to serve as a good starting point into researching some myths deeper, however, as there is not enough time to develop much of each myth. I learned of some things I would love to read about in more depth like the kushtaka, klabautermann, and more! Really a lovely book especially for fans of the ocean or mythologies!

Wow! A gorgeous and informative book. I love books like this because it provides information in such a captivating way. I love how they weave all folklore from a variety of cultures/ancient civilizations with different themes.

I did not expect this book to be so beautiful! But they really took their time to illustrate and highlight folklore from many cultures about the ocean. I loved how many different stories were mentioned! The author did a great job showing all of the ways the ocean has been woven into different mythologies. The illustrations were gorgeous & perfect for the book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Claire Cock-Stanley, and Quarto Publishing for the chance to read and review! My opinions are my own.

The illustrations alone could sell this book! What I think works amazingly well is that the information is in bite-size chunks for the reader. It's swirls about the page with the illustrations creating a journey in itself. You have the capability of going anywhere in the book, in any order and still learning a TON of lore!

Lore of the Deep is such a good book. If you want to read this book but you don't know If you'll like it.... please do yourself a favor and pick it up.

Does Wide Eyed never fail? This book is full to the brim with gorgeous colour illustrations and fun facts. This book takes a deep dive (I know, I know) into all things ocean, showcasing a wide range of cultures, past and present. It has everything you could want, shapeshifters, mythology and real life animals. A feast for the eyes and mind.

I love this book. As a k-6 librarian I feel like this book will be a great addition to my library especially for this students interested in more mythology. I have many dated books in this topic and this would be a perfect update to this section!

This is such a fun children's book! It is unique in that it genuinely covers folklore from around the world. I don't remember seeing really any of this when I was little. I really wish I had this when I was a child, as I would have likely wanted to read it before bed and after school regularly.

The art is just gorgeous and absolutely breathtaking, and I'm always pleasantly surprised when a children's book teaches me something new.

I will say some of the text was difficult to read due to the beautiful art, so this may be an issue for some readers, but if you squint you'll likely be just fine and the art is something I just wouldn't touch - it's too beautiful.

Thank you so much for letting me enjoy and read this book!

This lore is not only for children but for grownups alike.
It is inspiring, and informative. A lovely resource to connect with children, folklore and the seas and oceans.