Product Review:  Olly the Oyster Cleans the Bay [Hardcover] (Geared toward Preschool to grade 2)

“You don’t understand,” said Olly. “I want to do something important.” “Important?” said Mr. Oyster. “Yes,” Olly explained. “I want to help clean the bay like the blue crab and the barnacle and the sea cucumber and the sea urchin.”

I did not grow up in the Chesapeake Bay area, but I did grow up surrounded by two rivers in the Appalachian valley in Ohio and I am very familiar with pollution in our water system.  There was one summer afternoon before my sophomore year in high school where a group of my friends and I decided to tube down the Muskingum River starting from a local dam to the mouth of the Ohio River.  That day the amount of trash, dead animals and stink that floated past us during this aquatic adventure still haunts me to this day.  The fact that I spent so much of my youth in two rivers filled with chemical byproducts and waste is disturbing.  I am not going to stand on my soap box to spout about the scarcity of jobs and why the area I grew up has so much pollution, but I don’t think it is unrealistic to want a cleaner environment for our children.  If my generation can’t make our water supply byproduct free, I do have hope that my daughter’s generation won’t make it any worse than it is now and maybe even make it cleaner.

Olly the Oyster Cleans the Bay is a sweet book about one oyster’s mission to clean up his newfound watery home of the Chesapeake Bay.  The illustrations are lovely and feature beautiful colors and sea creatures that have an important message of how we all have an important role to play in our ecosystem.  Olly feels like he finds his purpose by cleaning the sea through eating and filtering particles in the Bay’s water.  Along this journey, he meets a variety of entertaining friends that teach their part and help him in his realized mission of cleaning up the Bay.  It is a great lesson and book for all parents that want to help show their kids that keeping our environment clean is a group effort.  Plus, where else can you read the word ‘detritus’ more than once in a paragraph?

About the Author:  Elaine Ann Allen lives and grew up on the shores of Maryland and has a passion for the Chesapeake Bay.  She has written several additional children’s books including a second Olly the Oyster feature of Olly’s Treasure.  Elaine also has a delightful blog at http://elaineannallen.blogspot.com that features her many adventures inside and out of the covers of her books.

Elaine’s Latest Book Now Available with Pre-Order!  Elaine’s upcoming book, Mallory the Forgetful Duck, offers the same beautiful Bay area illustrations and is about a forgetful duck who can’t remember where she left her nest of eggs.  Mallory hits stores in mid-March and is available with pre-order through Amazon.com and Schiffer Publishing.

About Schiffer Publishing:  Schiffer Publishing is located on the Schiffer Book Farm (adorable!) 30 miles east of Lancaster, PA.  They have such an interesting collection of so many different types of books with my favorite being their historical, artistic and children’s educational books.  Check out their website for their full collection of fascinating books.  For the quirky or nautically- enthusiastic parents, check out the ABCs of Boating Terms book out in March!  Got an idea for a book?  Schiffer Publishing considers authors and new ideas the means of their business and is always looking for like minded-individuals to support.  Check out their proposals section of their website if you can add to their wonderful collection of books!

Olly the Oyster Cleans the Bay [Hardcover]

http://www.ollytheoyster.com/

List Price: $13.95 (Currently on sale for $11.86 through Amazon.com)