Grade 7 Up-In an easy narrative style, Bankston chronicles the life and accomplishments of the man who shared his love for the ocean with a television audience 30 years ago aboard Calypso. Comprehensive for its length, this biography develops the natural progression of Cousteau's boyhood fascination with water, cameras, and machines to becoming a French Navy lieutenant, oceanographer, and filmmaker. He is portrayed as a determined man, focused on the problem of developing a device that would allow divers to breathe while exploring the ocean's depths. After many failed attempts, he and friend Emile Gagnan succeeded in inventing the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus or "SCUBA" gear. A full-page photograph of Adolf Hitler is imposing and sets the tone for the chapter on Cousteau's assignment as a part of the French Resistance disabling German mines in the waters of the Mediterranean. Other photographs are more biographical but not always chronological or related to the text. Cousteau's efforts in speaking out about ocean pollution are only briefly mentioned. Students will find this a great resource for reports and will be intrigued enough to want to read more on the topic.
Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
Like space, the ocean is a place that has inspired people to describe it in fantastic stories. In the twentieth century, however, one very special man sought to uncover its secrets. He would shatter diving barriers by going deeper than anyone before him. He developed a system which made it possible for anyone—not just professional divers— to explore the ocean at depths only once imagined. Through filmmaking, he brought the wonders of the ocean into the living rooms of people around the world.
As a teenager, he was a rowdy youth, a juvenile delinquent even, the kind of kid parents worry about and teachers feel will never amount to anything. He proved them wrong, but not before enduring a tragic accident that nearly ended his life, and then gave him his life's work. His name is Jacques Cousteau and this is his story—the story of a man who brought the ocean's mysterious depths to the surface.
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