Else B. in the Sea: The Woman Who Painted the Wonders of the Deep

Else B. in the Sea is a poetic picture book biography about a daring and pioneering woman artist that combines themes of art and science from author Jeanne Walker Harveyand illustratorMelodie Stacey.

Else Bostelmann donned a red swimsuit and a copper diving helmet and, with paints and brushes in hand, descended into the choppy turquoise sea off the coast of Bermuda. It was 1930, and few had ventured deep into the sea before. She discovered a fairyland six fathoms below the surface--fantastic coral castles, glittering sunbeams, swaying sea plumes, and slender purple sea fans. And fish! Flashy silverfish, puckering blue parrotfish, iridescent jellyfish.

Else painted under the sea! She painted what she saw with her own eyes, and, back on land, she painted the never-before-seen deep-sea creatures described by world-renowned scientist William Beebe on his momentous 1930s bathysphere expeditions for the New York Zoological Society’s Department of Tropical Research. It was a daring and glamorous adventure and a dream come true for Else B., who shared this new, unfathomable world with humankind.

Jeanne Walker Harvey is the author of several picture books, including Boats on the Bay, published by Cameron Kids, as well as the well-received picture book biographies Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas and Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines. She lives in Sonoma, California. Melodie Stacey is a fine artist and illustrator whose work can be found in the picture book Beautiful Useful Things, published by Cameron Kids. She lives in Brighton, United Kingdom.