Review: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox

Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas is a bit of New Zealand historical fiction. Elizabeth is an elephant seal who decides to call Christchurch her home. Every time locals attempt to take her back out to sea, she manages to find her way back to the Garden City. It also details how much a boy called Michael (and the town) loved Elizabeth. Secretly wanting her to find her way back to town.

What's great about this book is the description of the Elizabeth and what she does. The story line references determination, love and perseverance but what my class kids and I loved is the detail in the book. The illustrations compliment the words and there are some great fun facts about elephant seals at the  back. This was a nice touch and the animal lovers in my class loved this part. What better way to get children interested in animals than having a story about animals and then giving them real life facts about it.

 

Lynne Cox is an open water swimmer who has written several books. She also has another children's book called Grayson, about how a teenage girl encounters a baby whale off the coast of California.