How The Sea Came To Be: And All the Creatures In It

How The Sea Came To Be: And All the Creatures In It written by Jennifer Berne and illustrated by Amanda Hall, published in 2023, is a magnificent children’s nonfiction picture book telling an epic story, spanning 4.5 billion years of history of the Earth’s oceans.

The book begins with the dramatic geological formation of the young fiery Hadean Earth, bombarded by asteroids and with a bubbling molten surface of erupting volcanoes. Next we see the cooling Archean Earth bathed in clouds of steamy vapour, which create the first rains – a deluge that lasted for thousands of years, bringing terrifying storms and monumental floods. This is the birth of the sea.

The story continues, millions of years later as the tiniest and simplest life appeared in the sea. Life became ever-more complex, increasing in size over billions of years to form the soft-bodied and hard-shelled predecessors of our modern sea life. We see how marine creatures evolved to give us the astonishing biodiversity we have in our oceans today – from the strange, glowing monster fish dwelling at the ocean’s depths to the familiar turtles, blue whales, dolphins and angelfish swimming near the sunlit surface of the ocean.

Written by Jennifer Berne in lyrical, captivating verse and with Amanda Hall’s vivid and powerful illustrations, How The Sea Came To Be is perfect for reading alone or aloud – both at home and in the classroom. Meticulously researched and engaging, this book is a wonderful tool for teaching marine biology and its related STEM subjects.

The illustrations in this picture book were created using a mixture of watercolor inks, gouache, pencil and pastel crayon sometimes on black watercolor paper.

Email Amanda via her contact form and your inquiry will be forwarded to her licensing agent.

How The Sea Came To Be

Written by Jennifer Berne

“A lyrical, spectacular history of the ocean—from its dramatic evolutionary past to its marveously biodiverse present.” 
— Google Books