RINCON — Rincon’s Samantha Rezentes discovered an interesting way to get children to dive into the sea of knowledge.

She penned a book for young ocean explorers entitled “Curious Cooper Have You Heard About Sharks?” 

“Hopefully, it will spark interest in children and their parents in the sharks that we have around, the sharks that we have in our oceans and how important they are, and how interesting they are,” Rezentes said. “That’s the point.”

Set to go on sale Nov. 4, the book is already receiving positive reviews.

“The text and illustrations really complimented each other in communicating facts about each shark species,” said Hannah Medd, lead scientist at the American Shark Conservancy. “As a scientist, we can be really picky about artistic depictions of sharks and these were endearing and accurate! Loved the Greenland shark!”

Tim Hood, assistant superintendent of the Effingham County School District, echoed Medd’s thoughts.

“Curious Cooper’s underwater adventure is a fun lesson about sharks,” he said. “Interesting illustrations and catchy rhymes provide information for children of all ages. The work is warm and humorous while also ecologically sensitive.”

The book’s target audience is toddlers through second graders. It has a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of 1.5.

Rezentes added that “Curious Cooper Have You Heard About Sharks?” is the start of a series.

 “In this first book, Curious Cooper and his little sister Remi go on an underwater adventure and meet 13 unique species of sharks,” she said. “Basically, they learn a little fun fact about each shark.”

Cooper and Remi are the names of Rezentes’ children. The new author plans to put them in other environments in subsequent books.

“For example, I may do one about whales specifically because there are so many different types of whales,” Rezentes said, “but the next one will be ‘Curious Cooper Have You Searched the Shore?’ That one will come out next spring.

“Curious Cooper and Remi will go to the beach and enter the tidal zone.”

Rezentes said she is fascinated by marine biology, a trait shared by her children. It’s what prompted her to write the books.

“I thought other parents and their children might like to learn what we share our world with as well,” the author said. “If a kid likes a book, they want their parents to read it over and over again so I tried to write something that would be fun and not tedious to reread.

In addition to writing the books, Rezentes provides the illustrations for them.

“I tried to take a page out of the Disney book,” she said. “The illustrations are whimsical — you might even say fictional except the sharks do look like each species of shark — but I tried to do it in such a way that it makes sense for kids and be humorous for the parents who are reading it to their children.”

Curious Cooper Have You Heard About Sharks?” can be purchased through Relevant Publishers LLC or Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Amazon. The cost is $15.99.

Rezentes also plans to make the series available to local libraries.