The Girl Who Built an Ocean: An Artist, an Argonaut, and the True Story of the World's First Aquarium by Jess Keating, Michelle Mee Nutter
Published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on October 25, 2022
ISBN: 0593305116
Pages: 40
Genres: Biography/Autobiography
Format: Picture Book Nonfiction
Goodreads

This is a beautifully illustrated biography of Jeanne Villepreux-Power, who started out designing and sewing in-demand dresses but soon found her calling as a naturalist. After moving to the Mediterranean she discovered the beauty of ocean life and loved collecting and studying specimens. Some of the specimens proved too elusive, though, so Villepreux-Power designed the world’s first aquarium. With her new aquarium Villepreux-Power studied argonauts to find out how their papery shells formed.

While I would have loved to see some of the trial and error that goes in to inventing a water tight glass box, this is a solid, eye-catching biography that will do well in a library or classroom.

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski, Patten Free Library, Bath