Whether classified as an easy reader or as science information, this illustrated book in the All Aboard Reading series is a lively introduction to the landscape at the bottom of the ocean and the creatures that live there and the way we find out about them. Bright blue-green pictures show robots going into the deepest trenches, where they find a variety of creatures, including the viperfish, with lights right inside its mouth, and the giant squid, with huge green eyes bigger than a man’s fist. There are sea slugs and tripod fish that walk along the bottom, and there’s the sea cucumber that sucks up mud like a vacuum cleaner. Demuth explains the marvel of how lava heats seawater to the boiling point in some places and how spider crabs as big as dinner plates settle near the hot water. Kids will see that reading can introduce them to an amazing world and may go on to find out more in other books and other media. Hazel Rochman