Secret Oceans, The

Betty Ballantine, renowned for her contributions  to publishing for more than four decades, takes  readers on a visual odyssey through the vast and  deep oceans of the world, with the help of 12 leading  artists and a story that will entertain as well as  gently inform. Meet the crew of the Turtle, an  exploratory submarine whose mission is to establish  communication with whales. Almost immediately, they  encounter the cetasapiens, a remarkable thinking,  mammalian species who have an equally important  objective: to establish communication with humans,  and to teach them about the fragility of the ocean  ecosystem they are thoughtlessly destroying. The  cetasapiens have until this time kept their  existence secret from humankind, who have only explored  one and a half percent of the undersea world. But  secrecy is no longer a protection against human  destructiveness --and the cetasapiens intend to do  something about it. The dramatic art creates the  tale, with gorgeous full-color paintings of  burgeoning kelp forests, vibrant coral reefs, and  mysterious arctic waters The cetasapiens serve as the  submarine crew's guides. Just as Dinotopia illuminated  a fantastic world where humans and dinosaurs  co-exist, The Secret Oceans brings  alive a world that exists only beneath the ocean  surface -- and in the imagination.