World Without Fish

World Without Fish is the uniquely illustrated narrative nonfiction account—for kids ages 8 to 12—of what is happening to the world’s oceans and what they can do about it.

Written by master storyteller Mark Kurlansky, World Without Fish connects all the dots—biology, economics, evolution, politics, climate, history, culture, food, and nutrition—in a way that kids can really understand.

The book describes how the fish we most commonly eat, including tuna, salmon, cod, swordfish—even anchovies—could disappear within fifty years, and the domino effect it would have: the oceans teeming with jellyfish and turning pinkish orange from algal blooms, the seabirds disappearing, then reptiles, then mammals.

Explore the back-and-forth dynamic of fishermen—the original environmentalists and scientists—who not that long ago considered fish an endless resource. Learn why fish farming is not the answer and why sustainable fishing is, and how to help return the oceans to their natural ecological balance.

Interwoven with the book is a twelve-page graphic novel to keep young readers engaged. Each beautifully illustrated chapter opener links to the next to form a larger fictional story that perfectly complements the text.

“A wonderfully fast-paced and engaging primer on the key questions surrounding fish and the sea.” —Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish

“A compelling narrative for young people.” —The New York Times

“Urgent.” —Publishers Weekly

Mark Kurlansky is a former commercial fisherman, journalist, and the New York Times bestselling author of Cod, Salt, The Big Oyster, and dozens of other books of fiction and non-fiction. He’s won numerous awards, including the James A. Beard Award, ALA Notable Book Award, and New York Public Library Best Books of the Year Award, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Audubon Magazine, Food & Wine, The Los Angeles Times, and more.  He lives with his wife and daughter in New York City and Gloucester, Massachusetts.


Frank Stockton is an artist and illustrator whose work has appeared in Esquire, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.