Where Is the Great Barrier Reef [Paperback]

In this Where Is? title, kids can explore the Great Barrier Reef—big enough to be seen from space but made up of billions of tiny living organisms.

The Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, is the world's largest coral reef system. Stretching more than 1,400 miles, it provides a home to a wide diversity of creatures. Designated a World Heritage Site, the reef is suffering from the effects of climate change but this fascinating book shows this spectacular part of our planet.Nico Medina is the author ofWhere Is Mount Everest?andWhere Is Alcatraz?and three books in the Who Was...? series.Where is the Great Barrier Reef?


August 26, 1768
 
 
The HMSEndeavour, under the command of Captain James Cook, set sail from England. The British Royal Navy, and a scientific group called the Royal Society of London, were sending Cook halfway across the globe—to the South Pacific island of Tahiti.
 
Why?
 
With an astronomer and other scientists, Cook was to record the passage of the planet Venus across the face of the sun. They would compare their measurements to measurements other astronomers were taking around the world. This would help them figure out the distance between the earth and the sun.
 
Months later, in June 1769, the work in Tahiti was done. But Captain Cook was not going home. Not yet. He had been given a sealed letter before he left England. Now he could open it. The letter contained a set of orders for a second mission—a secret mission.
 
Cook was to sail from Tahiti to a place known only asTerra Australis Incognita. This is Latin for “Unknown South Land.” Today, we call it Australia.
 
Forty-year-old Captain Cook was a very experienced sailor and explorer. The British Royal Navy wanted him to explore Australia’s east coast. No European had ever seen this land.
 
OnlÈ