The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau Spiral-Bound | May 8, 2012

Jacques Cousteau was the world’s ambassador of the oceans. His popular TV series brought whales, otters, and dolphins right into people’s living rooms. Now, in this exciting picturebook biography, Dan Yaccarino introduces young readers to the man behind the snorkel.

From the first moment he got a glimpse of what lived under the ocean’s waves, Cousteau was hooked. And so he set sail aboard the Calypso to see the sea. He and his team of scientists invented diving equipment and waterproof cameras. They made films and televisions shows and wrote books so they could share what they learned. The oceans were a vast unexplored world, and Cousteau became our guide. And when he saw that pollution was taking its toll on the seas, Cousteau became our guide in how to protect the oceans as well.Jacques Cousteau was the world's ambassador of the oceans. His popular TV series, "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau," brought whales, sea elephants, otters, and dolphins right into people's living rooms. Now Dan Yaccarino introduces young readers to the man behind the snorkel.

As a boy, Cousteau was encouraged to swim to build up his strength. When he was given a diving mask as a young man, he truly looked under the water for the first time. What a world he saw! Beautiful fish and plants and corals! He was desperate to see more, to know all about them. That was the day he became a scientist.

He invented new kinds of diving equipment so that he could go deeper under the water and stay longer. He outfitted a retired navy vessel as a research lab and sailed the seas in the Calypso--always finding new undersea wonders, always testing the boundaries of water and air. And he devised waterproof casings for cameras and underwater lights so that he could take pictures and films and share what he saw with everyone else. He literally introduced the world to the incredible array of life under the sea.

And he was among the first to notice when the seas began to die. He saw the toll that pollutants were taking on the seas and from that day his mission changed. He became an environmentalist and a clean-water advocate, starting the Cousteau Foundation to spread the word.

His motto was, "we protect what we love," and he spent his life making the world fall in love with the sea.