The fictionalized nonfiction picture book On Kiki’s Reef by Carol L. Malnor (illustrated by Trina L. Hunner; Dawn Publications, 2014) tells about the life cycle and habitat of a sea turtle named Kiki in the coral reef habitat. Parallel text appears on each page: one provides details about Kiki’s life (in a serif font), and a rhyming couplet summarizes one main action on the page for the youngest readers (in a sans-serif font). The illustrations show details of all the actions happening in the larger block of text. These illustrations are detailed with soft watercolors and few dark outlines, nicely capturing the feeling of a living, watery coral reef.
It is a nice introduction to both sea turtles and the coral reef habitat for young readers, as it is education nonfiction at its best (in the midst of a story). I’d suggest reading both parts of the text for older children, as I really enjoy the rhymes, but the non-rhyming text could also suffice for learning about coral reefs. If you only read the rhyming couplet (for the youngest readers), you may want to point out the part of the image explaining the action in the rhyme. Lots of facts fill the end matter, as well as a map of the coral reefs of the world.
