Walt Smith’s Children’s Book: Bula Buddies
Just before MACNA Deb Smith reach out to me about an upcoming project from her husband Walt. It was a children’s book geared towards educating kids about the wild reefs.
The Book series was to be titled “Bula Buddies”. Walt’s book is a fully illustrated underwater action-adventure series about a group of characters that notice changes taking place on the reef where they live. As you read you’ll meet many interesting characters as they take on the mysterious force threatening their home.
Walt Smith (of Walt Smith International) has long been an advocate of mariculture and sustainability of the saltwater aquarium hobby. Walt is the founding member of the ADE Project which focuses on conservation and restoration of the wild reefs in Fiji.
I received my copy of the book and was pleasantly surprised at how well written and illustrated it is. As a parent, I read to my kids every night and the first night I read Bula Buddies to them it was a hit. My kids have grown up around saltwater aquariums, for them to have a book with corals just like the ones in dad’s aquarium was very exciting for them. Did I mention, they can’t wait for the next book in the series and I’ve read this book 20 times already.
Can Bula Buddies Save the Wild Reefs?
As hobbyist and a community it’s very important to do everything we can to protect and restore the wild reefs. It’s important because there could be a day where they no longer exist and the ripple affect may be more than we could ever imagine. That’s why it’s so important to support folks like Walt Smith and the ADE Project.
I strongly recommend picking up this book for the kid(s) in your life and I leave you with a few words from Walt Smith.
Friends,
Around the world, our oceans and seas are facing problems at levels that we’ve never seen before.
From warming waters that stress our corals and their symbiotic algae partners to damage from fertilizer and chemical run-off, as well as, large-scale commercial fishing – our Coral Reefs and the benefits that they bring are being threatened daily.
Our Coral Reefs are not only a source of inspiration by their beauty but are an ecosystem not seen anywhere else on the planet. Corals shelter algae that live inside them. The algae supply the corals with the nutrients that they need to survive. In turn, the coral by-products allow the algae to thrive.
Algae and other marine plants create between 70-80% of the oxygen
in the atmosphere so the effect of coral health on humans and animals is
massive.By creating this book series I hope to bring more awareness to the issues that surround our coral reefs today. A portion of the sale of every book will go towards supporting ADE. To learn more about this worthwhile project I invite you to visit www.adeproject.org.
I hope that you enjoy taking the journey with our Bula Buddies and are looking forward to our next addition.
Walt