Secret Seahorse. Written & Illustrated by Stella Blackstone and Clare Beaton

Blackstone, Stella, and Clare Beaton. Secret Seahorse. Cambridge, Mass.: Barefoot Books, 2004. Print. 20 pages
Age Group:	0-4 years
Book Format:	Board Book
Annotation:	Caves, underwater creatures, and coral are all introduced by a seahorse in this sturdy board book.  The sea horse travels through the wonderfully illustrated pages with recognizable vocabulary to spark the young reader’s love of literacy.
Personal Reaction:	I love the home made style illustrations that have a somewhat realistic view.
Keywords/Tags:	Coral Reefs and Islands, Coral reef animals, marine animals, seahorses, fiction, stories in rhyme
Early Literacy Skills Enhancements:	Vocabulary Skills ~Promote literacy and the love of language ~Develop and increase emergent literacy skills and vocabulary Print Motivation ~Increase interest in and enjoyment of books Visual Literacy Skills by observing the illustrations. ~Pictures have meanings ~Pictures and words are different Reading Readiness, which includes understanding that ~Pages turn from right to left ~Books have a front, back and right side up ~Stories have structure and development of a sense of story Print Awareness ~Provide a language enrichment environment ~Show the importance of and provide an opportunity for young readers to listen, observe, imitate, and practice language while interacting with books. Narrative Skills ~Young readers will be able to re-tell a story based on the illustrations in Picture Books Phonological Awareness ~Enhanced by guessing rhymes ~Repeating repetitious words