MANFISH, A story of Jacques Cousteau, written by Jennifer Berne and Illustrated by Eric Puybaret

“Now he could swim across miles of ocean, his body feeling what only scales had felt, his eyes seeing what only fish had seen. The water made him feel like he was flying. Just like in his dreams…He had become a mannish.”

A little baby boy was born in France, and his parents named him Jacques. He loved everything about water.

One day he read a story about a deep sea diver, and dreamed of a day that he can breathe underwater too. He spent his younger years immersed in play, experimenting, and creating. Fascinated by machines and captivated by cameras, he filmed everything in his world.

After his schooling, he joined the French navy and sailed on a ships that took him all around the world! And of course, he documented every minute of it!

One day a friend gave him a pair of goggles, and through those new lenses he discovered the ocean world. He was captivated. Soon enough Jacques and his friends started to dive to great depths of the sea, taking his now waterproof (handmade) camera with him. He desperately wanted to be a manfish, he just needed more air. So he invented the aqualung, which we know as an oxygen tank today. Now his dream of breathing deep below the blue waters had come true. He HAD become a manfish!

And with great luck, he found an old, wooden navy ship that drove him and his friends through the deep blue, exploring great discoveries of fish and life in the deep depths. He filmed every moment to share with people all over the world!

But through the years, Jaques saw a sudden change in his fish friends and underwater haven. He saw firsthand how people were damaging it with garbage and poisonous chemicals. And so he know exactly what he had to do…

Make more movies so others could see what he saw.

He spoke to very influential leaders around the world, encouraging them to help save our planet. It was his greatest love, adventure, and mission to protect the underwater sea he called his home. It would become his greatest legacy.

There is no doubt, that with his childlike sense of wonder and joy, Jaques opened our world to his world of discovery.

Author Jennifer Berne, tells the life adventures of the legendary Jacques Cousteau in the most captivating and appealing fashion. With absolute detailed and delightful illustrations of artist Eric Puybaret, the overall book brilliantly captures the mystique and importance of this accomplished man and his contribution to our world.

The colors depicted in the illustrations even offer the mysterious tone of the underwater sea. The playful poem at the beginning of the book lures readers into the unexplored world of the water. Through playful font, and creative page play, every detail of this story piques the reader’s wonder and excitement as each page unfolds.

Children of primary all the way through elementary grades will enjoy this book. Parents who may of hear of Jaques will no doubt become more knowledgable and appreciative of his discoveries, inventions, and crusade to teach us about our underwater world and how to protect it. It’s a book that belongs in every home library to enjoy again and again!

"No one had ever seen and no one could ever have imagined.” But author Jennifer Berne and illustrator Eric Puybaret have captured it perfectly!

Rainbow Reading Tip: There are so many exciting ways this book can be incorporated into your classroom or homeschool instruction. It’s a great read aloud to point out alliteration at the beginning of the book. It’s a great example of creative nonfiction writing. So if students are exploring writing biographies or presenting the information they learned, this is the perfect and creative example to introduce them to for inspiration.

Of course this book is a great support for learning about our oceans and protecting our environment as well. Extended research can be conducted on various fish species, the current state of our oceans today, global warming, famous deep sea divers, and more! Perhaps students can even write a story about how if Jacques was alive today, and took a dip in our oceans, what would he think? How would he feel? What would he do? And I definitely think an art project to reflect on the beautiful illustrations of Eric Puybaret would be fun too. Maybe some research about him and having students paint their own underwater adventure and write a story about it!

Students can visit The Cousteau Society for further research, where they can also receive a Cousteau Kids magazine! Many of Jacques’s films are available from libraries all over the internet as well. Did you know that Jacques wrote over 50 books!? Discover these and find out which museums have exhibits dedicated to his work.

The author also suggests this creative idea: “Get a camera and start photographing or filming what interests you.” What a fabulous idea! What if all our students were able to film (step in..the IPHONES) and take us into their world, to see things from their perspective, to broaden our horizons, and tell us a story. Its beautiful! Go out and do this ONE thing and let me know how it goes!

To learn more bout Jennifer Berne and her other books, visit her website

To learn more about Eric Puybaret visit his website