The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino, ill. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

From boyhood, Jacques Cousteau loves the sea and spends his entire life exploring the underwater world, sharing its beauty with viewers through his documentaries. The colorful undersea illustrations are amazing.

    - ISBN 978-0375855733

    - Media: Gouache and airbrush on watercolor paper

    - Rating: 5Q/5P

    - Curricular Connections: Grades 5-8, Biography, Science

    - Artwork – Yaccarino’s illustrations are very colorful and give a sense of the wonder that Cousteau experienced when he first began exploring the undersea world. The lines done in gouache are geometric yet playful, but it’s the airbrushing that gives the underwater illustrations their “watery” feeling. The airbrush appears to be used on top of the gouache and in “waves” so that the underwater illustrations are not as clear as the above-water illustrations.

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DPower 7/31/09