In the World of Whales

This breath-by-breath glimpse offers a magnificent snapshot of an otherwise hidden moment that conveys with deep emotional impact the parallels of creaturely life.—Publishers Weekly (starred review)[Cusolito’s] concise yet eloquent text immerses young people in the watery setting, letting them feel the whales’ clicks as they “tingle” and “vibrate” and emphasizing the strength of these animals’ social bonds. Lanan’s fluid, pristine artwork echoes the underwater photography, with clear, blue-washed images that suggest both immense grandeur and the shadowy sublime… . A brief yet powerful moment of intimacy, inspiration, and awe.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)If ever the description of a rare natural encounter will leave readers filled with wonder, look to these spare, luminous observations of a sperm-whale pod clustering about a just-born calf.—Booklist (starred review)It is refreshing to have a book celebrating awhale birth… .The text incorporates effervescent onomatopoeia with whooshing exhales and pfff-ing bubbles… . Lanan’s depiction of the ocean is masterful… . A masterpiece of illustration, this book is essential for all collections.—School Library Journal (starred)The third-person text relays pertinent whale info clearly and succinctly but maintains a respectful, curious tone, underlining what scientists do and do not know about the whale world… .Pair this with the exploration of a whale’s death in Brunelle’s magnificent Life After Whale foran informative look at the beginning and the ending of one of Earth’s most fascinating creatures.—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Michelle Cusolito is the author of Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin, winner of the PEN-NE Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award; Diving Deep: Using Machines to Explore the Ocean, and Window into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty Four Days of Science at Sea. A marine biology major before pivoting to education, she has always found chances to pursue science, such as a summer spent tagging butterflies as a research assistant in Ecuador. She lives with her family in Rochester, Massachusetts.

Jessica Lanan is the Sibert and Golden Kite Honor winning author and illustrator of Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider and The Fisherman and the Whale, a Colorado Book Award finalist and winner of the Bull-Bransom Award for wildlife art. She has illustrated many other books, including The Lost Package by Richard Ho, Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet by Curtis Manley and Thank You Moon by Melissa Stewart. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her daughter and cat.