The Complete Aquarium Adventure

The Complete Aquarium Adventure
By Bill and Merilee Clifton
Published at Master Books

About the book
The third book in the popular Complete Adventure Series is a delightfully wet and wild look at the nearly 60 aquariums in the U.S. and 94 aquariums in 30 countries worldwide!

Learn about amphibians, aquatic birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, pelicans, penguins, clownfish, eels, sea dragons, jellyfish, sharks, coral octopus, sting rays, and even whale sharks. Get all hands on deck and prepare to cast off! Your nautical-themed adventure is about to begin! Get your toes wet at you learn. For aquarium lovers 8 and up:

• Why birds need “air sacs” attached to their lungs
• the important relationship between clownfish and sea anemones
• Incredible design features of the unusual hammerhead shark
• Where coral reefs are found, and why they are endangered
• which mammals live in the water and have cone-shaped teeth

Designed for on-the-go learning, the convenient activity kit can be removed to take with you to the aquarium, your local lake or the beach. It includes devotionals and other materials to help in preparing to your visit to the aquarium, as well as activities and helpful tips during your trip to make it safe, enjoyable and educational. When you’ve returned home, there are other activities like BingOcean to enhance learning reinforcement.

Who are Bill and Merilee Clifton?
Bill and Merilee Clifton are creationists, science educators, and the founders of Science Partners in Florida. They are certified Florida Master Naturalists and trained facilitators for a variety of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission programs. They have been married 40 years, have three adult children and 10 grandchildren.

My Thoughts
I already own The Complete Zoo Adventure so when I saw this product on the Master Books website, I requested it for a review. We love going to the zoo or the aquarium and enjoy learning more interesting facts about the creatures that God has created.

It’s amazing the things you learn from various animals. God was indeed very creative when He created them. Think about the various kinds of fishes you can find in the oceans and rivers. It is simply mind-blowing!

Unfortunately, there is no aquarium in our city. To find one, we would have to go on a trip with our RV (and between you and me right now it is a bit too cold (Dec 2009)!). But you can be certain that this wonderful book will find its way in our luggage when we go to our next trip! We can’t leave without it (and without the zoo one for that matter...)!

So one afternoon, I sat down with this marvellous book and explored it. The first thing I looked was the section Before the Aquarium where you, as a parent, are suggested various activities to do before your visit. Included in this section is a letter from the authors which explains how this book is presented from a Christian worldview compared to the information found at aquariums which is based on evolutionary information. In this section, you will also find a checklist of what to plan for the trip as well as a 7 days devotional to do before the visit. Did you know there was a verse in the Bible that explains the water cycle? I sure didn’t and was very happy to learn about this (want to check it out? Go to Ecclesiastes 1:7).

The next section is At The Aquarium which starts with assignments for your group (if you organize a group that is) as well as rules for children and adults so that everyone has a good time and no one gets lost!

At the aquarium you will see various birds and fishes as well as invertebrates, mammals and reptiles. Each of these groups has a section to itself and there you can read about specific animals from this group. Each time I look at the creatures I can’t help but be amazed of what God has created. Isn’t He amazing? I mean we have the lion on land right? But did you know that there was a fish called the lionfish. I’m not kidding. And it sure looks like a lion underwater! Another creature that I find amazing is the leafy sea dragon which is similar to the seahorse but so impressive. In the invertebrate department, God has again been very creative. Think of the various jellyfishes, or the sea star or the octopus. And then He has also created mammals that lived in water too! Whales, dolphins, belugas, seals, and many other ones are only a sample of God’s marvellous imagination. And don’t forget the reptiles who also live in water like the sea turtle for example.

Okay, time for a little interlude in the review... In my province there aren’t sea turtles but there are turtles... and in the fall 2008 we were blessed to find some turtle egg shell from a recent birth.

 

Since then I always wanted to see how a turtle laid her eggs. Mind you I have seen it often on TV but to experience it when you see it – that would be TOTALLY awesome. Well guess what? Somehow my wish has been granted by God. In the spring this year, while my husband had left with the three boys to go fish on the lake at our camping ground, I went for a walk with my one-year-old daughter who was in her stroller. As I walked I spotted a midland painted turtle (chrysemys picta marginata) next to the path where I saw. At first I was wondering what she was doing there. So I came closer to it and realized, to my delight, that she (because it was a she afterall!) was laying eggs on the campground. Fantastic! So I grabbed my camera and shot some pictures.

Okay I got sidetracked a little bit but I wanted to share my experience with you. Pretty cool eh?

Let’s get back to the review now shall we? The last section is called After the Aquarium. In this section, you will find various activities for all ages to do. The activities are; a crossword, a diorama to do, fish scramble, color by number, connect the dots, venn diagrams, find and color pages and much more. In the appendix, you and your kids would be able to go through the aquarium glossary and find observation sheets as well.

At the end of the book, you will find a treasure chest that you can open anytime you want. In this treasure chest, you will find BingOcean cards, information cards about the various zones in the ocean as wlel as information cards about the birds, fishes, mammals and reptiles found in the book.

To top it off, the pictures found throughout the book are just breathtaking! It did give me the urge to visit an aquarium at our earliest possibility. I so wish there was one in town (as well as a zoo for that matter) but it is not the case. *sigh*

This book is so amazing that I recommend it to anyone who has a love for the creatures that God has created. It is worth spending the money on this little gem of a book so that you can be fully prepared when you go to your next visit to the aquarium.

This review was made possible because I received a copy of The Complete Aquarium Adventure from Master Books.

The Complete Aquarium Adventure (as well as The Complete Zoo Adventure and The Complete Creation Museum Adventure) are available everywhere even at christianbook.com, amazon.ca and indigo.ca.