On Kiki's Reef

Book excerpt: Learn about the life cycle of a green sea turtle and its coral reef habitat in this beautifully illustrated picture book. With backmatter on coral reefs, sea turtles, activities for teachers, and more, this book will be staple in your child's library or elementary classroom. Follow a tiny baby sea turtle named Kiki as she scrambles across the sandy beach and into the sea! Floating far out in the ocean, Kiki grows to become a gentle giant, and soon finds her new home in a beautiful coral reef. There she discovers fish and coral of all sizes, and learns how every creature helps out each other, along with a few other surprises: a gang of tangs helps clean the algae growing on her shell, anemones help hide clownfish from predators, seahorses use camouflage, and even more. But something calls Kiki back to the beach . . . and soon she lays her own set of eggs! Soon, she will be a mother to a new group of baby sea turtles. Backmatter includes: Additional facts and information: about coral reefs, kinds of coral, how sea creatures like clownfish and anemones work in symbiosis, kinds of sea turtles, and more Activities for teachers: including creating Venn diagrams for different species of turtles, a coral reef scavenger hunt, and more Additional resources: for further reading and classroom exploration, including the Sea Turtle Conservancy website, NOAA Coral Reef Conservation website, a biography of scientist Archie Carr, and more