• The Shark Chronicles: A Scientist Tracks the Consummate Predator by Musick & McMillan
• Among Whales by Roger Payne
• Eye of the Albatross by Carl Safina
• Captain Charles Moore's Plastic Ocean
• Beach Wars: 10,000 Years of Conflict and Change on a Barrier Beach
• Mattanza by Theresa Maggio (Bluefin Tuna Fishing in Sicily)
• The Last Fish Tale by Mark Kurlansky (Atlantic Ocean issues centered around Gloucester)
• Cod by Mark Kurlansky (One of the best books ever about ocean fisheries and you get recipes too)
• The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson (Good science and story too)
• Salmon Without Rivers by Jim Lichatowich (One of the most important books written about Pacific Salmon and their mismanagement at many levels. This book helped create wild fish management actions in the Pacific Northwest)
• The Year of the Whale by Victor Scheffer (Remains a wonderful account of the life history of sperm whales)
• The Life Story of the Fish by Brian Curtis (Interesting stuff here for anyone with interest in fish)
• The Founding Fish, by John Mcphee
• The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck (It is a little less strictly marine science, but is a great read and definitely ignites curiosity for a plethora of things -- marine science, seamanship, history, geography, human psychology. It would probably beg a more multi-disciplinary approach, so I guess it depends if you want to go that direction. (I'm sure English teachers would be excited to hear you were using Steinbeck!) Either way, it might be a good one to introduce kids to non-fiction works, as it still really is an engaging story.)
• The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch (is one of my favorite fictional stories. Very inspirational. http://www.jimlynchbooks.com/the_highest_tide_113805.htm)
• The Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts For non-fiction, is hard to beat. (http://www.york.ac.uk/res/unnatural-history-of-the-sea/)
• Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans' Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter (2011, Univ. Chicago Press)
• Chasing Science at Sea by Ellen Prager(lots of fun stories from marine scientists working in the field)
• The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson(An additional favorite on a list that my students select from. Great fun) I teach a dual enrolled Oceanography class and one project we do is a write a critical book review of a non-fiction marine science book, using the New York Times book review as a model. My students have never done this before. Some don't read much non-fiction, and Ellen's books are always class favorites.
• Between Pacific Tides, Fifth Edition by Edward F. Ricketts and Jack Calvin
• Any on the Shackelton voyage. Nat Geo has a good one.
• Van Dover's "Octopus's Garden" The struggle to become an DSV pilot on the Alvin.
• Voyage of the Beagle by somebody called Charles Darwin, whoever that was. (And of course the tome of tomes.)
• The Enchanted Braid: Coming to terms with nature on the coral reef by Osha Gray Davidson (My Marine Biology students are discussing this title online, and in-public: http://stjoeh2o.ning.com/forum/topics/who-has-known-the-ocean-the-enchanted-braid Any folks in the field care to join our network and weigh in along the way at any point? We're only one chapter in, and it is obvious that we are reading close & slow. You have time, get it!)
• Lost at Sea by Pat Dillon
• The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey
• Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay by William W. Warner
• Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks by Juliet Eilperin.
• The Last Whales by Lloyd Abbey. Post-apocalyptic journey of a blue whale.
• Jaws by Peter Benchley
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenburg (read a review here.)
• Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
• On the Run: An Angler’s Journey Down the Striper Coast by David Dibendetto
• Giant Bluefin by Douglas Whynott
• The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America’s Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town by Mark Kurlansky
• The Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts
• Tuna: A Love Story by Robert Ellis
• The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America: H. Bruce Franklin
• The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat by Charles Clover
• The Empty Ocean by Richard Ellis
• 5 Easy Pieces: The Impact of Fisheries on Marine Ecosystems by Daniel Pauly
• Striper Wars: An American Fish Story by Dick Russell(http://beachchairscientist.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/12-good-non-fiction-books-about-fish/)
• With admission of shamelessness…I would be remiss not to suggest Backyard Carolina, an easy to read collection of short essays I wrote as public radio commentaries from 1987 to 2006. Might inspire students to write up their own observations in nature, and also to not shy away from including their insights and impressions.- Andy Wood-Backyard Carolina
• Okay, have to add - if they are interested in biodiversity, would like wacky creature stories, how society relies on marine life, and a discussion of related issues - students seem to really like my last book - a bit of salacious title - but completely appropriate for high school students - Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans' Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter (Chicago Press. Lots of great info on marine life, not generally in textbooks - and entertaining besides!Dr. Ellen Prager
• My students read "Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway when we discuss ocean currents and "The island of the blue dolphin" by scott o'dell when we learn about ecology, biodiversity, and study the islands off the coast of california ...we are in los angeles.
• I have given to students these books mainly (non-textbook)
• "Sea Change" by Sylvia

http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Change-Message-Sylvia-Earle/dp/0449910652/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355945904&sr=1-1&keywords=sea+change+by+sylvia+earle

• "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Spring-Rachel-Carson/dp/0618249060

• "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana ( and yes....here in OC we have the city of Dana Point named after him since this is the port he would pull into to get hides for trading, he kept a diary about his sailing that led to the book)

http://www.amazon.com/Years-Before-Mast-Signet-Classics/dp/0451531256/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355945974&sr=1-1&keywords=two+years+before+the+mast+by+richard+henry+dana

• Books that I recommended to my high school & college students included nonfiction: Bay Country by Tom Horton, Beautiful Swimmers by William Wyler, Life in the Chesapeake Bay by Alice Jane Lippson & fiction: Chesapeake by James Michner. There are actually a lot of books written about the Chesapeake Bay if you want an East Coast estuary focus.

Susan