RECIPIENT of the Mom's Choice Award® Gold — Honoring Excellence WINNER — 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Award (1st Place): Animals/Pets · Green Books/Environmental · STEM WINNER — 2026 NYC Big Book Awards, Educational Series (Pre-Teen Nonfiction) WINNER — 2026 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award, Best Children's Book (Preteen) WINNER of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award From the award-winning So You Want To Be A… Series GRAND PRIZE — 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards SILVER AWARD — 2026 CIPA EVVY Book Awards, Children's Nonfiction Seventy-one percent of this planet is ocean, and humans have laid eyes on about one thousandth of one percent of its deep floor. If your kid has ever stood at the water's edge and wondered what lives beneath the surface — and whether they could be the scientist who finds out — this book was written for them. So You Want To Be A Marine Biologist is an illustrated nonfiction guide for young readers ages 10–14 who are ready to learn what this career actually looks like — not the glossy documentary version, but the real thing. The unglamorous grant applications that fund the glamorous expeditions. The patience required to observe animals in an environment that was never built for human bodies. The teamwork between marine biologists, lab technicians, ship crews, and conservationists working to understand a world we have barely begun to see. Each section brings kids deeper into the daily reality of marine biology — from mapping coral reefs and monitoring ocean ecosystems to cataloging sea creatures and studying the connections between species that scientists are still working to understand. Young readers will discover how marine biologists conduct laboratory research and open-water fieldwork, what it means to live and work aboard a research vessel for weeks at a time, and why patient observation is the skill no equipment can replace. But this book goes beyond the adventure of exploration. It tackles the urgent science of ocean conservation — why coral reefs are disappearing, how pollution threatens sea life, and what marine scientists are doing right now to protect the ecosystems our planet depends on. It also addresses the physical demands and intellectual rigor the profession requires, honestly and without talking down to its audience. Kids who are curious about biology and drawn to the ocean deserve real answers about what this path takes, and this guide gives them exactly that. Along the way, young readers will learn what they can do right now to explore marine science — the habits, the curiosity, the action steps that help a kid who loves the ocean figure out if this calling is truly theirs. Because the best time to start thinking like a marine biologist is long before you ever set foot in a lab or pull on a wetsuit. Includes a glossary of marine science terms, fun facts, and a curated page of books, websites, and citizen-science projects for readers who want to go further. Part of the So You Want To Be A… series, introducing young readers to the full range of human work. The ocean still holds more questions than answers. And somewhere out there is a young scientist who will spend a lifetime chasing what we don't yet know. This book is where that journey begins. Ages 10–14. Illustrated nonfiction. Careers, science, and the sea.