St. Luke Library
Read. Think. Learn. Follow your curiosity.
"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
---Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder." ---E.B. White
"I am still learning." ~Michelangelo, age 87
A Letter from Mrs. Burns, 21 April 2020
I hope you're well and enjoying the spring flowers, sunshine and warmer weather. Remember we can travel anywhere in the world when we read? This week, let's travel to the ocean and beach. Can you smell the salt air, listen to the waves, feel the sand under your feet as you jump into the refreshing water? Jacques Cousteau, French explorer, scientist, naval officer, filmmaker of 115 films, photographer, author of 50 books, inventor and marine conservationist loved and studied the ocean and all sea life. Jacques Cousteau once said that Mexico's Sea of Cortez was the largest aquarium in the world. My family swam with sea lions in the Sea of Cortez in the spring of 2013. We drove from Todos Santos to La Paz and then traveled by boat for one and a half hours to Isla Espiritu Santo, where sea lions have a permanent colony. The playful sea lions swam over, under and all around us. One of my favorite moments was when time stood still and I was eye to eye with a sea lion. It was an amazing experience! Have you read the wordless picture book, Flotsam, by David Wiesner? I always think of Flotsam when I remember my son, Sam swimming with the sea lions. His Go Pro camera fell while he was taking photographs. Our scuba diving guide, Juan dove and dove, trying to find the camera, which is probably still on the bottom of the Sea of Cortez. Unless another photographer has discovered my son's camera, like the boy in Flotsam. Do you know that Jacques Cousteau lived in an underwater sea laboratory for 30 days in the Red Sea in 1963? His grandson, Fabien Cousteau lived in the last operating underwater laboratory, Aquarius for 31 days in 2014, off the Florida Keys. Currently, The Cousteau Society is refurbishing Cousteau's ship, Calypso.
Eugenie Clark was a dedicated American oceanographer, marine biologist, author, explorer, teacher and scientist, known as an ichthyologist. ("Ichthyology is the branch of biology devoted to the study of fish. Scientists have discovered over 32,000 living fish species so far.") Eugenie Clark was passionate and curious about the ocean, sea life, fish and shark behavior. She went on more than seventy submersible dives, wrote several books, over 175 articles and she was an avid scuba diver to research. She completed her last dive when she was 92 years old. A couple years ago, our family enjoyed visiting the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, where Eugenie Clark/Shark Lady worked later in her life. It's astonishing to learn that there are over 400 species of sharks and only a dozen are known to be dangerous to humans. Sadly, humans kill more than 100 million sharks each year.
Have you ever visited a lighthouse? Enjoy reading the beautifully illustrated and 2019 Caldecott winning book, Hello Lighthouse. I've shared this week's books below and on our Library Google Classroom. Follow your curiosity and explore the other resources within this newsletter, if you'd like. I hope you'll be inspired by Jacques Cousteau, Eugenie Clark, the ocean, all sea life and sharks. You may want to read, research and learn more about the ocean, all sea life and sharks. Do you know that 95% of the ocean is unexplored? You might grow up to be an marine biologist, oceanographer, inventor, author or scientist!
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Wishing you a wonderful week! : )
Mrs. Burns
Manfish: The Story of Jacques Cousteau, by Jennifer Berne
Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist, by Jess Keating
Hello Lighthouse, by Sophie Blackall
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, based on the book, by author + illustrator Oliver Jeffers on Apple TV
"TOMORROW WILL BE A GOOD DAY!" ---Captain Tom Moore
Captain Tom Moore
c/o Post Office Limited
67 Bedford Road
Marston Moretaine
MK43 OLA
Bedfordshire, England
You can learn more about Captain Tom Moore:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs
TODAY is a good day, too. : )