Else Bostelman was an artist who helped people understand what deep-sea creatures looked like by painting them underwater. The time was the 1930s, and world-renowned scientist William Beebe explored the waters off Bermuda, in the Atlantic Ocean. He hired Else to capture the images of things he discovered. Her adventures are told in a picture book by Jeanne Walker Harvey, Else B. In The Sea: The Woman Who Painted The Wonders Of The Deep.

Else descended underwater wearing a helmet that let her breathe as she worked. She developed a technique that actually let her paint what she saw with oils while below the surface, which helped her capture the way color changed as light from above grew dimmer.

Else also painted in her studio, recreating creatures that had been brought ashore. Her paintings, along with notes from Beebe, appeared in National Geographic magazine during the Great Depression.

Else B. In The Sea lets young readers discover more of Else’s exploits with an author’s note that talks about her life. Illustrations by Melodie Stacey have a dreamy quality that evokes the soft look of life underwater.

The author provided a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.