• Notable Books for Children, 2000 — Smithsonian
• Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children, 2002 — Children’s Book Council/NSTA
• 2001 Honor Book — Society of School Librarians International
• "The invisible world that underlies our living ocean, admirably elucidated." —Smithsonian
• "Lights, camera, action, this book has it all. Here we get to see the world of the ocean, which would normally be invisible to us. But with the excellent photography of Bill Curtsinger the ocean lights up for the reader, and the text is so full of action that the book is actually a page-turner. If we begin this book knowing nothing about zooplankton, and not very interested, we end it by being a fan of the author and the photographer, with a new interest in the ocean and its ecology." —Appraisal
• "Curtsinger’s often extraordinary color photos allow readers to envision the often microscopically small creatures delineated in the text, while Cerullo invites them to meet the fastest animal in the world and to discover how zooplankton can turn a submarine "invisible." This is a fascinating look at a watery zoo of creatures whose ecological importance is far beyond the measure of their size. —School Library Journal
• ". . . the color photos are eye-catching and the text’s question-and-answer format provides a clear and logical organization." —Horn Book
• "Bill Curtsinger’s beautiful photos and the strong graphic design of the pages make this an inviting book for even young elementary students. The text is informative and engaging, often in a question and answer format, and appropriate for third grade and older." —Connect Magazine
• "The highlight of the volume is its excellent photography with supporting captions that provide a fascinating introduction for students who are likely to have had little previous exposure to this aspect of biology. The book is not intended to be ‘complete’; rather, it seeks to stimulate interest by emphasizing how different these creatures are from terrestrial ones that will be more familiar to young readers." —Science Books and Films
• "This book is literally filled with excellent photos of seldom-seen animals. . . . In addition to a wealth of information on natural history and the biology of zooplankton, this book contains interesting information about how zooplankton affect humans." —The American Biology Teacher Magazine

• "The microalgae that anchors the planet's food chain are the subject of this engaging voyage into the invisible life of our oceans. The title is accompanied by the equally impressive Sea Soup Teacher's Guide by Betsy T. Stevens." —Kathleen Burke, Smithsonian
• "This attractive book introduces children to an area of biology they may know little about: the world of phytoplankton, plants so tiny that a million can fit in a teaspoon of sea water and so numerous that they produce half the world's oxygen.... The pages are bright with colorful photographs, including many enlarged and amazingly clear shots of phytoplankton seen through the microscope. Sea Soup: Teacher's Guide, provides background information and several activities for each of the eight questions explored. A good introduction to an often-overlooked subject." —Booklist
• "Cerullo capably answers questions students are sure to have. Curtsinger's stunning photomicrography lets the reader appreciate phytoplankton's amazing and unusual forms. . . . [The Teacher's Guide] contains inquiry-based classroom activities that encourage 'hands-on' student discoveries about phytoplankton. Sea Soup is a valuable resource for understanding ocean food chains and the ecology of oceans." —Book Links
• "Single-celled planktonic algae living in the upper reaches of the ocean form the important basis for higher forms of life in the sea. This is a crucially important idea to grasp, but to capture kids' attention, these tiny cells must compete with the immediate interest engendered by sleek marine mammals, ferocious sharks, and exotic fish. What can a marine educator do to turn children's attention toward the really important, but often inaccessible, concepts of science? Mary Cerullo . . . brings it all together in Sea Soup, in which the phytoplanktons take stage front with exquisite photographs and engaging text. Using well-chosen metaphors and eye-catching color to portray the importance of the role of single-celled organisms you can't see without a microscope, she brings honest science to kids . . . a wonderful resource for younger children. . . . Following the most current science education philosophy, the Teacher's Guide is inquiry oriented, teaching readers how to ask appropriate questions, how to search for the answers, and how to draw conclusions that may lead to wise conclusions. . . . The author approaches the material imaginatively, with plenty of sidebars for the teacher who may feel less qualified to teach marine science." —American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science Books & Films
• ". . . a wonderfully unusual resource that provides many opportunities for students to learn about marine life, ecology, and global warming . . . a good purchase for any school or public library serving students this age and their teachers, especially where schools support inquiry-based learning." —Appraisal
• "Outstanding full-color photo-microscopy dominates this volume on the microscopic plants at the bottom of the ocean food chain. The clearly presented information is not available in another single volume for this audience." —School Library Journal
• "Phytoplankton are invisible to the naked eye, yet these microscopic plants 'dominate our blue planet,' supporting all other life in the sea, and producing the oxygen and the earth's atmosphere. Bill Curtsinger's astonishing photomicroscopy produces illustrations that will entrance and inform readers, while leading them to a deeper reverence for the web of life. [The Teacher Guide's] inquiry-based activities engage students in a variety of curricular activities as they seek answers to questions such as 'What is the recipe for Sea Soup?' The plans are well-designed and the activities are compelling." —Yellow Brick Road
• "Every once in a long while a spectacular book comes across my desk, and I don't want to let it go. Sea Soup: Phytoplankton and Sea Soup: Teacher's Guide are just such a pair. They should be read by every teacher of elementary and middle school children... everywhere! —The Gulf Stream
• Outstanding 1999 Books — Appraisal
• "...she brings honest science to kids." — Science Books & Films
• "Notable Books for Children, 1999" —Smithsonian
• "...Sea Soup is a passport to the magical microscopic realm that dominates our blue planet." —Sylvia Earle
• "Bill Curtsinger has captured the microscopic phytoplankton world with the same excitement and visual splendor as he has the mighty giants of the sea like whales and sharks." —John M. Fahey, Jr., President of the National Geographic Society
  

  ---

A teaspoon of sea water can hold a soupy serving of a million phytoplankton and zooplankton! These tiny floating plants and animals come in thousands of amazing variations. Invisible to the naked eye, phytoplankton are the source of our atmosphere, our climate, our ocean food chain, much of our oil supply, and more. They're also food for zooplankton, tiny animals that often look like weird life forms from outer space.
     In these two volumes, Mary Cerullo's text answers intriguing questions about these tiny drifters that have shaped our world, while Bill Curtsinger's extraordinary photomicroscopy serves up tantalizing images of this "sea soup." Many of the photos for these books were taken at Maine's Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science and the Darling Marine Center, using an Axiophot 2 research microscope donated by Carl Zeiss, Inc.
     Mary Cerullo is a children's science writer and the author of Dolphins: What They Can Teach Us, The Octopus: Phantom of the Sea, Reading the Environment: Children's Literature in the Science Classroom, Coral Reef: A City That Never Sleeps, Lobsters: Gangsters of the Sea, Sharks: Challengers of the Deep, and The Ocean Detectives. She lives in South Portland, Maine.
     Bill Curtsinger's photography has appeared in numerous books and magazines, includingWake of the Whale, The Pine Barrens, Monk Seal Hideaway; National Geographic, Life, Time, Newsweek, Outside, Natural History, and Smithsonian.. Bill lives in Yarmouth, Maine.

SEA SOUP TEACHER'S GUIDE
Discovering the Watery World of
Phytoplankton and Zooplankton

Betsy T. Stevens
Illustrated by Rosemary Giebfried