We Leap Together

Though whales live in the water and human beings live on Earth, their mammalian lifeways parallel each other, Neal shows in a series of side-by-side portraits. On most spreads’ verso, a humpback whale mother swims with her baby through ocean depths (“We move side by side”). On the recto, a pale-skinned child walks down a city street with their mother (“Mama always stays close”). Strong, simple graphic forms highlight the pairs’ movements against a palette of gray-blues, the child’s red balloon adding a splash of color. In a vertical spread, the whale duo swim into the ocean depths; the human mother and child descend stairs into the subway (“We dive deep”). Baby whale and child temporarily lose sight of their parent, and both are soon reunited. Views of New York City build to an enthusiastic moment of meeting—and a dual leap—for the twosomes in this moving look at behavioral links and interspecies connection. Human characters are shown with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)