Life After Whale
The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Follow a blue whale’s enormous body to the bottom of the ocean, where it sets the stage for a bustling new ecosystem to flourish.
All living things must one day die, and Earth’s largest creature, the majestic blue whale, is no exception. But in nature, death is never a true ending. When this whale closes her eyes for the last time in her 90-year life, a process known as whale fall is just beginning. Her body will float to the surface, then slowly sink through the deep; from inflated behemoth to clean-picked skeleton, it will offer food and shelter at each stage to a vast diversity of organisms, over the course of a century and beyond.
Caldecott Medalist Jason Chin’s astonishing artwork enriches and amplifies engaging, well-researched text by Bill Nye the Science Guy writer Lynn Brunelle. Young lovers of the macabre will relish each page of Life After Whale. Meanwhile, those grappling with the hard subject of death will take solace in this honest look at the circle of life, which closes on a young whale enjoying the same waves as her ancestor. Additional back pages offer further info and reading recommendations on whales, whale falls, and ecosystems.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
One of Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Magnificent watercolor and gouache spreads by Caldecott Medalist Chin capture the grace of a blue whale in life alongside the bustling ecosystem that surrounds it in death, as its body provides nourishment for countless creatures that "will feed, grow, have babies, and thrive on the body of this whale." In illuminating prose and sidebars, Brunelle (Turn This Book into a Beehive!) describes a blue whale's life, size, and krill diet, then chronicles final moments as, after 90 years, "her heart quiets and finally stops." A respectful beat later, the death represents "the end of one story" and "the beginning of another," in which the whale's body "will provide shelter and food for millions of creatures." After birds and fish feed on the carcass, and it sinks to the ocean floor, four phases distinguish the ecosystem that grows up around it. Subsequent pages detail the yearslong first process, in which scavengers feast on the muscle and fat tissue; the two-year second process, in which smaller creatures graze on the remains; and the microscopic subsequent processes, which eventually feed the krill eaten by another young blue whale. Against a background of inky darkness that makes it easy to feel the cold and silence of the ocean floor, the work meticulously and sensitively portrays the countless sea creatures sustained by a single carcass over more than a century. It's a thoughtful breakdown of death supporting life and a brilliant exposition of the way that populations grow and are sustained. Ample back matter concludes. Ages 4–8. Author's agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary.
