- 3 days ago
Season 13 (1998-1999)
Featured Book: My Life with the Wave
Reviewed Books: Water Dance
Our Wet World
Here is the Coral Reef
Original production funding provided by: Kellogg’s Cereal Company
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
PBS Viewers Like You
National Science Foundation
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Featured Book: My Life with the Wave
Reviewed Books: Water Dance
Our Wet World
Here is the Coral Reef
Original production funding provided by: Kellogg’s Cereal Company
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
PBS Viewers Like You
National Science Foundation
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Help all kids learn and grow with PBS Kids. Thank you for supporting your PBS station.
00:30Friends to know and ways to grow.
00:33A Ritty Rainbow.
00:36I can be anything.
00:42Take a look. It's in a book.
00:46A Ritty Rainbow.
00:49Ritty Rainbow.
01:00That one almost got me.
01:05I'm avoiding the waves today because it's still early spring here and the water's just a little bit cold.
01:11But I love coming down to the ocean's edge and watching the surf.
01:20Today here on Long Beach, the waves are not too big and they're not too little either.
01:24In fact, they're just about right.
01:26But on beaches all over the world, waves can be totally different.
01:56Almost everyone is fascinated by the energy and rhythm of waves.
02:01But when you're a surfer, you actually get on top of a wave and ride it, as best as you're able, back toward the beach.
02:09Surfers straddle their boards and paddle out beyond the breakers, always in search of a ride on that perfect wave.
02:14Well, fellas, are you ready?
02:15Yeah.
02:16I think that surf is up.
02:17Let's go surfing.
02:18Let's go surfing.
02:19Let's go surfing.
02:20Let's go surfing.
02:21Let's go surfing.
02:22Let's go surfing.
02:23Let's go surfing.
02:24Let's go surfing.
02:25You see.
02:26We are.
02:27Okay.
02:28We're good.
02:29We're good.
02:30We're good.
02:31We're good.
02:32We're good.
02:33We've got a nice ride on the roads and a little bit of a natural park on the trail.
02:35Let's go!
02:37Let's go surfing!
03:05Let's go!
03:06When you catch a really good wave, I don't think there's anything that really compares to it.
03:35That was cold!
03:36Fantastic!
03:37I've been surfing for 16 years, since I was 12.
03:40I can't compare it to anything.
04:05Surfers know that waves are a little bit like people.
04:19Each one has its own unique personality.
04:22And whether they're big and powerful, or mellow and smooth, one thing is for certain.
04:27Waves are definitely unpredictable.
04:30That's why the boy in this book gets into a wave and ends up a little bit over his head.
04:37It's called, My Life with the Wave.
04:42My Life with the Wave.
04:47Based on the story by Octavio Paz.
04:51Translated and adapted for children by Kathryn Cowan.
04:55Illustrated by Mark Buhner.
04:58Narrated by Scott Irby Rinne.
05:02My first trip to the seashore, I fell in love with the waves.
05:07And just as we were about to leave, one wave tore away from the sea.
05:13When the others tried to stop her by clutching out her floating skunks, she caught my hand.
05:19And we raced away together across the wrinkled sand.
05:22My father tried to send her back, but the wave cried and begged and threatened until they agreed that she could come along.
05:34The next morning we went to the station and boarded the train.
05:37The wave was tall and fair and full of light.
05:41She was bound to attract attention.
05:43If there was a rule forbidding waves from traveling by train, the conductor might throw her off.
05:49So cup, by small cup, when no one was looking, I emptied the water cooler.
05:56And she hid herself inside it.
05:58When we arrived home, the wave rushed into our house.
06:04Before she'd been one way.
06:16Now she was many.
06:17She flooded our rooms with light and air, driving away the shadows with her blue and green reflections.
06:23The whole house shone with her laughter.
06:26Her smile was everywhere.
06:28The sun came into our old dark rooms and stayed for hours and hours.
06:33It loved dancing with the wave and me so much that it sometimes forgot to leave.
06:39The wave and I played together constantly.
06:42If I caught and hugged her, she would raise up tall like a liquid tree,
06:47then burst into a shower and bathe me in her foam.
06:51If I ran at her and she stood still, I'd find myself wrapped in her arms.
06:58At night, we lay side by side, whispering secrets with smiles and smothered laughter.
07:07She rocked me to sleep in her waters and sang sweet sea songs into the shell of my ear.
07:13Sometimes in the dark, she shimmered like a rainbow.
07:17Other nights, she was black and bitter.
07:22Cloudy days enraged the waves.
07:27She smashed my model train, soaked my stamp collection, and covered my room in her gray and greenish foam.
07:37She was pulled by the moon, the sun, and the stars.
07:44Her moods were as changeable as a tide.
07:47I thought she might be lonely and gave her seashells and a tiny sailboat to play with.
07:54After she smashed these against the wall, I brought home a small fish for her.
07:59She swept them into her arms and whispered, and played with them by the hour.
08:06Finally, I grew angry.
08:09Another wave spent all her time playing with the fish and never played with me.
08:13I tried to catch them, but they darted like ghosts between my fingers, while the wave poured over me in foaming laughter.
08:26With the coming of winter, the wave had nightmares.
08:31She filled the house with phantoms and called up monsters from the deep.
08:36My father said she would have to go.
08:39The wave was making us all crazy.
08:42Since I could never catch the wave, we packed up and went away for a time.
08:48Leaving her behind in the cold.
08:52When we returned, we found the wave frozen.
08:57A beautiful statue of ice.
09:01Though it broke my heart, I helped my father wrap her in a quilt.
09:06And we carried her back to the sea.
09:13Now the house is dark again, and the corners are filled with dusk and shadows.
09:19Sometimes I remember.
09:22My parents say, good riddance to bad waves.
09:25And I'm never to bring home another.
09:27But I miss my friend.
09:29Maybe next year, if you go to the mountains, I'll bring them a cloud.
09:40Clouds are soft.
09:42And cuddly.
09:44And would never act like a wave.
09:46I guess some things are best left where they belong.
10:03Waves belong in the ocean, not in the living room.
10:06But isn't it really cool to imagine what it might be like to bring home something totally outrageous?
10:13What would you bring home that's absolutely crazy?
10:17If I had to bring something home really, really outrageous, well, it's hard to decide.
10:28It'd be either a giraffe or a roller coaster.
10:31I really love to go fast.
10:36So with a roller coaster, I could go as fast as I wanted.
10:42If I had some ice cream and some milk, I could go on a roller coaster.
10:46And at the end of the ride, I'd have a milkshake.
10:50If I brought home a roller coaster, I'd always have something fun to do.
10:54I could go, like, up or down or, like, really, really fast.
10:59Like...
11:01If I could bring home anything in the world, it would be a cloud.
11:08It's soft and fluffy.
11:10And whenever I'm tired, I can just sit on it and it'll take me wherever I want it to go.
11:17If I wanted to play hide and seek, I could just go right into the cloud and my sister Molly would never find me.
11:25I could play guessing games with the cloud.
11:29I could lay in my bed and the cloud could go up to the ceiling and form different shapes.
11:35And I could guess what they are.
11:37I could have my friends over and play a game.
11:40Whoever guesses the most shapes of the cloud wins.
11:43If I could bring home anything totally outrageous, I would bring home an elephant.
11:51I'd like to bring home an elephant because when I think of an elephant, it's usually big and heavy and has huge floppy ears and a long, long trunk.
12:05Since elephants can spray water with their trunks, I could use it as a sort of elephant sprinkler.
12:15Could you imagine giving an elephant a manicure?
12:20I could buy pretty big bottles of nail polish and paint its toenails weekly.
12:29The more I think about it, it'd be really cool to have an elephant at home.
12:33Great ideas.
12:34But you know, in real life, we humans actually do care for some pretty spectacular and unexpected creatures, especially those who have gotten into trouble.
12:47These friendly, funny-faced manatees are too big to fit into the bathtub and wouldn't be a bit happy on the couch.
12:57So park ranger Betsy Dirth and veterinarian Mark Lau take care of injured manatees in the quiet waters of Homasassa Springs.
13:04These marks on Amanda's back, they kind of look like scars.
13:07That's right, LeVar, they are.
13:09At times, their curiosity has gotten them into trouble, getting entangled in crab-trapped lines and also getting too near boats and getting injured from the boat propellers.
13:18From propellers.
13:19And that's one of the major causes of manatee injuries is boating.
13:23They get too close to these boats and their propellers cut into their skin.
13:27Right.
13:28You can see the several lines in a row there.
13:30Right.
13:31These scars right here, she got being hit by a boat and those scars she'll have the rest of her life.
13:36All these white marks right here are the scars.
13:38Now, Betsy, what's on the menu today? What are we feeding these manatees?
13:41Okay, these biscuits right here are monkey biscuits. These are vitamin mineral biscuits.
13:49We give them lettuce, cabbage, and carrots here.
13:52They're vegetarians.
13:53They are vegetarians, right?
13:54Out in the wild, of course, they don't get lettuce.
13:56They eat the hydrilla grass and hyacinths that grow out in the river.
13:59They like to eat.
14:00They can spend most of their day eating, sleeping, and playing.
14:03Not a bad way to live, huh?
14:04Right.
14:05Eat, sleep, and play all day.
14:07So, let's talk about where the manatee come from, Dr. Mark.
14:11They're descended from which animal, do we think?
14:13We think they're descended from the elephant.
14:15Uh-huh.
14:16It's their closest relative on land.
14:18And they have an upper lip that's very similar to an elephant's trunk.
14:22It's called prehensile, meaning that it will grab.
14:26Here we go with one reaching and grabbing.
14:28Yeah.
14:29You see how they're reaching with that.
14:30Just very similar to an elephant would reach and grab something.
14:32With the end of his trunk.
14:33Right.
14:34He has that, they're like almost fingers, sort of.
14:36Right.
14:37Yeah.
14:38And then, of course, the flippers and the nails on the flippers.
14:40Right.
14:41They look like elephants' toes, don't they?
14:42Right.
14:43The very small nails, again, very similar to the elephants.
14:45I just love the way their skin feels, don't you?
14:51Isn't that neat?
14:52And they do have sparse body hairs.
14:54It's very difficult to see, but along their back you'll see some very fine hairs.
14:59Oh, yeah.
15:00One of the things that makes them a mammal.
15:03Body hair.
15:04His body hair.
15:05Right.
15:06Uh-huh.
15:07Now, manatees hold their breath like we do, don't they?
15:10Right.
15:11Just as they go underwater, you'll notice there's a little valve on the nostril that closes.
15:14Uh-huh.
15:15And this keeps the water out of their nose.
15:16They breathe about every three to five minutes on the average.
15:19Oh, yeah.
15:21There he is breathing.
15:22And then he goes back down again.
15:24Now, their tails are really huge and flat, almost like a beaver's tail.
15:30Right.
15:31They use this tail to propel themselves through the water, especially when you're looking
15:35at a 2,000-pound manatee.
15:36They need a large tail to push them through the water.
15:41About how many manatees are left, Dr. Mark?
15:47The latest figure we had was around 1,450-some manatees in Florida.
15:53Uh-huh.
15:54That's not an awful lot, is it?
15:56Not very many.
15:57You know, Dr. Mark, they're really gentle creatures.
16:00That's, I think, the most amazing thing for an animal this size.
16:04They seem to be just so gentle and loving.
16:07They're called gentle giants.
16:08Gentle giants is exactly what they are.
16:11When a manatee playfully tumbles in the water,
16:16it's a sign he's healthy again.
16:19That's when he's ready to return to the wild.
16:27The ocean is home to many living things that need our care.
16:30But beyond the waves and beneath the surface of warm ocean waters
16:34live the creatures of the coral reefs.
16:39Beautiful fish, magnificent corals, and sponges all live beneath the waves
16:45like an underwater garden.
16:47Harold Hudson and Page are two scientists who are helping to save the coral reefs
16:51when they are damaged by ships which come too close.
16:54When most people dive to the coral reefs, they come to enjoy the beauty.
17:03My assistant, Page, and I are here on business.
17:06We're looking for a coral that we can move or transplant to another location
17:11where the natural beauty has been damaged or destroyed.
17:15Alcorn coral grows easily and quickly.
17:22I think this piece will do nicely.
17:27People call me the reef doctor because I helped to heal the reef
17:31by mending broken corals, treating the corals that are sick,
17:35and transplanting new corals to damaged reefs.
17:38First, we'll measure the coral so we can track its growth at the new site.
17:45Page records its measurements and takes notes on a waterproof pad
17:51with a waterproof pencil.
17:53Next, we very carefully remove the coral, chiseling away at the base,
18:06not harming the live coral on top.
18:11Because living coral tissue can be injured by too much handling
18:15or even touching it, it is a good rule to look and not touch
18:20unless, like the reef doctor, you have to in order to do your work.
18:43Besides the alcorn, we remove two other corals for transplant,
18:47brain, and staghorn.
18:50The coral is so fragile it could easily break.
18:53So handing it up to Elizabeth on deck is the most dangerous part
18:56of the transplant process.
18:58Since coral can't live outside its natural environment,
19:02we carefully place it in seawater for the time it's above the surface.
19:07Oh, boy. Those really do look nice.
19:10Oh, these are beauties.
19:11They are.
19:12Now, remember, the living surface is just this very thin skin that you see.
19:23Everything underneath is stone.
19:27Or like a skeleton.
19:28Right, that he's left behind as he continues to grow.
19:31We have a nice base on this one, too.
19:33Oh, we have a beautiful base for transplanting.
19:35This is the area where we're going to place the transplant.
19:43A large freighter went off its course here into the shallow water
19:48and completely destroyed the coral.
19:50That's why it's so flat, barren, and lifeless.
19:53This coral will be its first new inhabitant, renewing the cycle of life.
19:59We need a good stable rock to anchor the coral to.
20:05So we'll chisel this one down to make a good foundation.
20:16I'll check the rock to make sure the coral fits.
20:19Then, when I know it's right, I send Paige up for one ball of the special cement Elizabeth is mixing on the boat.
20:26Okay, here you go.
20:50This cement is made especially to work under water, but it hardens very quickly.
20:55We've got to get it in place right away.
20:57It's made of a fine powder that sheds easily.
21:02As you can imagine, this makes it quite difficult to work with.
21:09Once the cement is in place, we fit the coral onto the rock and press with all our strength.
21:13Once the cement is in place, we fit the coral onto the rock and press with all our strength.
21:14Once the cement is in place, we fit the coral onto the rock and press with all our strength.
21:18Once the cement is in place, we fit the coral onto the rock and press with all our strength.
21:25After we're certain it's attached, we know our job is done.
21:27After we're certain it's attached, we know our job is done.
21:32Now it's up to nature to take its course.
21:33Now it's up to nature to take its course.
21:39In time, this coral will help bring life back to a part of the reef that would have been lost for years.
21:46There's only one thing I want to do this.
21:47There is only one thing I want to do.
21:48It's only one thing I want to do, it's only one thing I want to do.
21:49There's only one thing I want to do.
21:50It needs to be a fun little thing.
21:51After we're certain it's attached, we know our job is done.
21:56Now it's up to nature to take its course.
21:59In time, this coral will help bring life back to part of the reef that would have been lost for centuries.
22:10There's only one thing I like better than Relaxing by the Surf, and that's Relaxing by the Surf with one of my favorite books.
22:23So, if you're feeling a wave of affection for some reading perfection, then here are three books you might want to enjoy.
22:31But, you don't have to take my one for it.
22:35Hello kids, I'm Takiyah. I just read a beautiful book.
22:40And it's all about water. The name of the book is Water Dance.
22:45Each page shows water in a different way.
22:50Spiraling, plunging. It's a waterfall.
22:56Rain falling from the sky. Water is always moving.
23:02Look, a mountain stream. Still and deep. It's a lake.
23:09Look at the yellow moon over the sea. Isn't it beautiful?
23:16I absolutely want all you kids to read this gorgeous book. Remember the title? Water Dance.
23:24Hi, I'm Alex. Have you ever been to a stream? A pond? How about the ocean?
23:30Well, you can visit these places in this book, Owlet World.
23:34There's water everywhere in our world.
23:37There are streams and rivers, and ponds and lakes, and many other water ecosystems.
23:46Water is a place for some animals to live.
23:49Do you see the fish in this lake?
23:52Many sharks live in the water, too.
23:56Water, water, it's everywhere.
24:00The whole world's a watery place.
24:03You want to find out more? Read Our Wet World.
24:07Did you ever think there was life under the sea?
24:11Well, there is.
24:12It's all beautifully shown in a book called Here is the Coral Reef.
24:17There are so many beautiful and strange creatures under the sea.
24:22Ooh, look at the parrotfish.
24:25A big, beautiful cod.
24:28A giant sponge.
24:30I wonder what it feels like.
24:33The water is a home for many animals.
24:36Look at this giant ray.
24:39And this mean-looking shark.
24:42I'm Jabril Champion.
24:44Next time I go to the beach, I'll be thinking of all the beautiful creatures under the sea
24:49in this book called Here is the Coral Reef.
24:53Down where the water breaks is where I cook up some of my best ideas.
24:57So right now, I'm going to share with you one of my favorite beach recipes.
25:01All you need is a bucket, a shovel, and you're in business.
25:05First, you grab some sand.
25:10Put it in your bucket.
25:13And then, you go out and grab a piece of wave.
25:17Always make sure you have a little bit more wave in your bucket than sand.
25:29The rest is a piece of cake.
25:33You grab handfuls of sand, and then you just sort of dribble it into these piles like you see here.
25:45It not only looks great, but it feels terrific between your fingers, too.
25:51Just one word of advice.
26:01Try not to build your castle too close to the water's edge.
26:07Or some naughty wave just might come and wash it all away.
26:17I'll see you next time.
26:19I can go anywhere.
26:37I can go anywhere.
26:49I can be anything.
26:54Today's Reading Rainbow books are My Life with the Wave by Kathryn Cohen.
26:59Based on a story by Octavio Paz.
27:02Illustrated by Mark Beener.
27:04Published by Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard Books, a division of William Morrow and Company.
27:09Water Dance by Thomas Locker.
27:12Illustrated by Thomas Locker.
27:14Published by Harcourt Brace and Company.
27:16Our Wet World by Sneed B. Collard III.
27:21Illustrated by James M. Needham.
27:23Published by Charles Bridge.
27:25Here is the Coral Reef by Madeline Dunphy.
27:29Illustrated by Tom Leonard.
27:31Published by Hyperion Books for Children.