This story illustrates the impacts of marine debris told through the
eyes of our ocean creatures. Frankie the Porcupine fish takes us on a
journey through the ocean where she and her friends become tangled in
trash. This makes Frankie very CRANKY! . As she has the natural ability
to blow herself up when she is threatened or upset she inflates
throughout the story to the size of a balloon as she sees all of her
friends in oceans of trash. Frankie goes in search of helping her
tangled friends and cleaning up the ocean that they loveThe focus of
this story is on marine debris, which now impacts all marine and coastal
habitats around the world. Our marine wildlife is also impacted by
marine debris and plastic pollution through ingestion, entanglement,
habitat changes and bioaccumulation, with marine debris entanglement now
an internationally recognised threat. As this story is told through the
eyes of Frankie the fish the readers will see the far-reaching impacts
of marine debris on our oceans and wildlife as she swims through the
oceans from the shallows, to the reef to the open ocean. As marine
debris doesn't just appear out of nowhere, it is more important than
ever to educate our future ocean stewards (our children) about the
impacts of marine debris.Through the art of marine science this story
will help children to be more aware of the types of marine debris and
the impacts to sea creatures, along with everyday solutions to help rid
our oceans of trash. Education and awareness through storytelling is a
powerful way of engaging with children and their readers (eg. teachers,
parents, grandparents, family, friends etc) as only through positive
storytelling with solutions can we hope to change behaviours. Based on
the latest marine science the last page of the story is dedicated to the
science of marine debris, which is explained in terms early readers can
understand and teachers can use as part of their classroom discussions
and learning activities.