A great holiday is upon us. It’s not Face Mask Appreciation Day, and it’s not about baking bread at home from scratch. June 8th is World Oceans Day. The oceans are our earliest cradle, our largest playground, and our last undiscovered country. They are so much more than just a great place to catch some lazy rays, although let’s face it, we love that too.
It can be hard to reconcile our feelings about pollution and climate change threatening the oceans with those of our first innocent experiences there. But their inexorable draw is entwined with our need to care for them. Although it looks like few of us will be able to visit one this summer, we’re sure you can find something in our expansive collection that helps you connect to why you love the ocean. How does it call you back?
There is nothing simple about these epic puddles. They are centers of technological advancement and have served as moneymaking goldmines. Some of us respond to the power and fury, some to the hypnotic waves and the gorgeous scenery, while others ruminate on the secret depths robust with life and possibilities. Certainly, none of us know all there is to know about them. But, the library has scads and scads of fiction, nonfiction, photography, and scientific literature on oceans and everything in them or around them, all of which you can check out with our curbside pick-up service.
The sea holds something for everyone. Some love the intrigue and historical weight of international discovery and conflict, some recall childhood sandcastles under a bright sky. There are beaches with sand so white and fine and warm that you could melt away and never question it. There are beaches rocky and wild, and beaches with long waving grasses that seem to carry our memories across the horizon. And how could I leave out the beaches where you can catch some waves yourself?
Many have never seen the ocean, and they put the event squarely on their bucket list. We here at the library can help with that too in our travel section! The oceans have also carried pirates across the globe on their pirate ships with stories delicious and despicable. Let me tell ya the books and movies we have on pirates . . .
Whether it’s researching marine life, learning how to go crabbing, reading about U-boats, or going 20,0000 leagues under it, take some time this June and explore the boundless sea through the Laramie County Library System.
Below are some ideas to get you started:
 Moby Dick by Herman Melville– the one and only whaling classic |
 Beyond the Blue Horizon : How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans by Brian M. Fagan – Chronicles ancient people’s efforts to discover the mysteries of the sea |
 Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic : The Ocean’s Greatest Disaster by Marshall Everett– Originally published in 1912, this graphic account tells the story of one of the oceans’ most famous disasters |
 Flying Deep : Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin by Michelle Cusolito– a children’s book about submersibles and how scientists conduct research |
 The Jetsetters : A Novel by Amanda Eyre Ward – an dysfunctional family goes on a cruise together. What could go wrong?? |
 The Inn at Ocean’s Edge by Colleen Coble – On a beach in Maine a woman encounters her own mysterious disappearance |
 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the movie – Because they don’t!
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~Stephanie Martin