By Dame & Dusa
DK £7.99
ISBN: 9780241715307
An unnamed Jellyfish lives in the deep sea where it is normally very quiet and so it is intruiged by a loud regular noise which is called a thoomp. A wise fish explains that it is a heartbeat and that every living creature has one. This calls some consternation to the Little Jellyfish as the wise fish can’t hear a heartbeat from it all. On travels the Little Jellyfish encountering a range of other denizens of the deep including a seal, octopus and even human divers. All heartbeats are compared but it isn’t what it is looking for and until it eventually tracks down the owner and comes to a realisation about their own existence.
Dame & DUSA are actually a collective of Austrian designers and architects and is translated into English by Anna Taube. Although there isn’t much architecture on view, we do get stylised drawings of the fish and mammals that populate the sea and these are vividly depicted.
What is particularly good is that after the main story is complete we then get a depiction of a heart and for recognition’s sake it is a human one and an explanation of how it works. But that isn’t all as there are details of the hearts of a range of animals such as bears, crocodiles and even an earthworm and another animal that like the Jellyfish does not have a heart. We also get to see the wide range of heartbeats per minute from 1,000 for a hummingbird through 70 for a human down to 2-8 for a blue whale (when diving), all with small illustrations.
We enjoyed this different look at the watery world which combines a biological explanation with a story of discovery and look out for reflective items on the cover. 48 pages and aimed at the younger reader.