Bouwman, H. M. (2017). A Crack in the Sea. 375 Hudson Street, NY: G. P. Putman's sons, 357 pages, Grades 4-6, fiction, ISBN 9780399545191.

This book is a fiction that tells a story of specific children born with powers and unique skills. Pip's powers is the ability to speak to fish. His sister Kinchen does not have any powers however, she feels obligated to protect her brother from those who would misuse his powers. Some of these people include the Raft King. The King is on a mission to find a portal that will lead him and his people to their homeland. He kidnapped Pip and replace him with another child name caesar . Caesar has the ability of water but cannot talk with fishes. As Kinchen, Caesar and Ren (Kinchen and Pip's grandfather) are on their way to rescue Pip, Ren told a story about twins with magical powers whom were once sold as slavery with their uncle to an unknown land. These were the same twins plus refugees who escape the post war in Vietnam, and a sea monster came and join with Pip and his sister to their quest to finding a mystery land through a portal in the sea.

I personally love this book. I do recommend that we use this book in social study when introducing wars and slavery in the past. When the grandfather was telling the story about the powerful twins, I as a reader was able to see through the twins eyes what it felt like being sold as slave. It was told in detail how they saw people dying, how it smelt like dead people everywhere, and how the captain was throwing sick people off the ship so that they can collect the insurance money. These were actual things happening in the past. Though this may be a fiction story, it will help the student learn and see what it felt like being in a slave trade ship. Where people were treated unequal. This wasn't the only historical detail given in the story. There were children whom were trying to escape a postwar Vietnam, whom were weathering a ferocious storm, and escaping a  vicious pirate attack. Their stories are events that actually took place around the world in the past.