Our Ocean Family - by Terria Smith & Muriel Ammon (Board Book)

Book Synopsis

A board book that introduces babies and toddlers to California sea animals, how they live together, and their connections with Native cultures.

Meet the fascinating creatures who live along the Pacific Coast--salmon and seals, pelicans and plovers, turtles and whales galore. Our Ocean Family celebrates the relationships that California's sea animals have with each other and with this land's first peoples, for whom these delightful creatures have always been family. Crabs and shrimp play hide-and-seek, otters eat urchins and give abalone room to grow, and mollusks keep ocean water happy and healthy. Richly detailed full-color illustrations by Eric Wilder immerse little readers in sea life and include homages to the Native tribes who call these coastlands home. Learn the names for "ocean" in California tribal languages and uncover the wonders that await at land's end. Adorable and fun, Our Ocean Family rejoices in the ways that people and sea animals are all related.

About the Author

Terria Smith (Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians) is the editor of News from Native California magazine and director of the Berkeley Roundhouse at Heyday. She is an alum of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Muriel Ammon is a California Native from the Tsnungwe village Le: lding along the Trinity River. Ammon has written for News from Native California magazine and was the 2024-25 Graton Heyday Berkeley Roundhouse Writing Intern.

Eric Wilder is a member of the Kashaya Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria. He is a freelance artist with professional experience in graphic design and animation. Wilder was trained early in his life as a traditional singer and storyteller by grandparents and has served as chairman for his tribe.