In the World of Whales

Cusolito (Diving Deep) starts this gripping real-time picture book account with a splash: as the work opens, a dinghy of people looking for sperm whales spots a clan, and a free diver slips over the edge. The diver’s long, arcing flippers make him look like an aquatic creature himself as he approaches. Lanan (Jumper) captures with elegance the way the whales’ massive bodies dwarf that of the diver, who realizes with amazement that the whales are guarding a newborn calf—“with wrinkled skin and folded fluke.” Like the infant whale, who needs to be nudged to the surface to take its first breath, the diver, too, must head upward in “a rush of bubbles as he exhales, ‘Hwaaahh!’/ breathes in, ‘whooooh!’ ” When he dives again, he witnesses the whales joining in a moment of underwater communion that sees him involved, too. 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. Ample back matter includes creators’ notes. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)