My latest book, A World of Fishes and Whales: Over 400 Fishes and Water Animals from Around the World , is done and available in Amazon in physical and eBook form. It is a beast as far as kid's books go, meant for reference as much as just paging through and looking at cool fishes and sea life. Technically, there are 377+ fishes (some fishes have seagoing or alternate forms, boosting the count to over 380), 28 mammals (seals, dolphins, manatees, baleen whales), 7 birds (including 4 penguins), 8 living reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, snakes), 38 invertebrates (crustaceans including: crayfish, shrimps, crabs, deep sea jellies, squid, octopus, worms, and snails), 4 extinct sea going reptiles (dinosaurs, of course), megalodon, xiphactinus (think giant tarpon with teeth), dunkleosteus (armored sea monster fish), and orthocone. All are organized loosely by groups and shapes. Each species has the common name, scientific name, and location. Also put in a few underwater pictures for kid's to try and pick out real fish (adding 3 more species too) taken from my adventures, and a few above water fish so real world fish can be compared to drawings in the book. There are diagrams to explain how sharks are different from bony fish and mammals, a global map to key fish locations, and a guide to what a fish's shape says about how it lives. 140 pages of fishy goodness and cool biological art.
Anyone should be able to grab the book, and go to an aquarium, pond, or beach, and take a guess at what they see. While I couldn't ever draw every fish (over 40,000), this one gets a kid into the ballpark. It is the fish book I wish I had when I was a kid, looking at fish, and wondering what they are.
and yes, every fish, whale, and dinosaur in here can be purchased on shirts, hats, shower curtains, wallpaper, etc. too.
