Manfish, A Story of Jacques Cousteau By: Jennifer Berne (Biography)

Manfish, A story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne is a biography about Jacques Cousteau. I really enjoyed this biography because it was told like a childrens story instead of a more formal biography. Jacques Cousteau is one of the worlds most famous oceanographers and explorers of the sea. This story starts out by describing Cousteau as a child and his love for the water. He often dreamed as a child that he could swim and breath underwater. He was fascinated by machines and cameras as well. As a child he was always creating, experimenting and playing. As Jacques grew up and finished school he joined the French Navy and sailed all around the world. Everywhere Cousteau went he would film his surroundings. His love for water and the ocean grew stronger and Cousteau and some of his friends began diving. He soon became frusterated that he could only stay down for one breath and began thinking of ways to stay under water longer. This led to his invention that he called the "aqualung." He was finally able to breath underwater! He was now ready to explore the oceans and he purchased a boat named Calypso. Jacques and a crew set out to explore the oceans, and film everything they encountered. Many of his films were played in movie theaters and television. This was the first time many people had seen and been able to learn about the ocean. Jacques soon realized after many explorations of the sea how polluted the oceans were. He began to make movies about this pollution and how humans were destroying the water. Cousteau spoke to presidents, kings and queens of all dfferent countries to help save and preserve the oceans. He also spoke to children about how to help conserve the waters and hoped to that people everywhere would continue to help. I think this would be a great book for students to learn about the ocean and explorers. It's also a very inspiring book on how to help preserve our oceans and our world. There are many lessons that can be learned from this book!