Follow the coastline. Explore tide pools, sea caves, kelp forests, and wind-shaped shores where land meets the Pacific.
Can You Read Nature? · National Parks
Wild coastlines. Hidden island life. Adventure is waiting offshore.
Follow sea lions, seabirds, tide pools, and windswept trails through a family field guide to Channel Islands National Park.
Ages 5–14+Family nature bookArt by Lauren Kapphahn
Read before you go see ten times more!
Hardcover
The keepsake for curious explorers
$29.95hardcover
- The perfect gift for curious kids
- A nature book for your next coastal adventure
- Original art that makes wild science memorable
- $1 to Children and Nature Network
Ebook
The digital nature book you can take anywhere
$12.95instant download
- Your perfect park companion, see 10x more
- Kinder to the planet, nothing in a landfill
- Island science shines on a screen
- $1 to Children and Nature Network
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Gives back$1 supports nature
Look closer
Every spread opens a window onto island wildness.
Meet the island neighbors. Watch sea lions, foxes, seabirds, and tiny tide-pool creatures thrive in their ocean home.
Meet the artist
Lauren Kapphahn
Artist, storyteller, and coastal explorer
“I wanted these islands to feel both wild and welcoming, full of details that reward a closer look.”
Lauren Kapphahn is an American Artist and Marine Scientist fascinated with the natural history of places that have shaped us. Vivid florals, ancient creatures and coastal elements appear in her collection. The self taught artist began in painting in 2008.
Native to Port Hueneme, California, the Channel Islands have been a backdrop of her life. Just offshore peeking through the morning haze or standing bold against the setting sun, inspiring fantastic stories of creatures, pirate caves and wonder, the Channel Islands have many personalities. Ancient trade routes of the Chumash people mark the coastal corridor with the presence of shell beads and culture from the mainland to sacred middens on Santa Cruz Island. Modern fish tales from family, friends, tug boat operators, longshoreman and surfers led her to complete a Bachelors of Science in Marine Science with a minor in Biology. Focused on the ecology of groundfishes in California, her experiments on Copper and Blue Rockfishes were published in 2019 in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology along with co-authors: Scott Hamilton, Susan Sogard, Cheryl Logan, Neosha Kashef, David Stafford, Evan Mattiason, and Erik Bjorkstedt. These fishes along with many other species inhabit the coastal waters of the Channels Islands National Park. In 2020, she created Rockside Studio to showcase her work alongside local artisans that share the goals of sustainability and ocean conservation. Studio proceeds support her goal to establish seaweed based aquaculture systems in Southern California. Her other works can be viewed at
www.rocksidestudio.com
Lauren’s illustrations invite families to look closer, listen to the sea, and care for the wild islands just offshore.
About this book
What is inside
Explore Channel Islands’ tide pools, kelp forests, sea lions, island foxes, seabirds, wild coastlines, conservation, and ten must-see experiences.
About the author
Narrated by Neil Rosen, children’s book author and founder of WildStork. Neil writes every book as an invitation to look closer, stay longer, and discover what families miss when they move too fast.
Reading level
Ages 5 to 14. Designed for the whole family, with lyrical storytelling and real science to share together.
Wear the wonder
Bring the islands home. Wear the adventure.
Pair the hardcover field guide with the matching Channel Islands shirt for a gift that keeps the coast close long after the final page.
$59.92$79.90
Save $19.98
Choose your shirt option before adding both items to your cart.