Humphrey the Lost Whale

The heartwarming true story of a wrong-way humpback whale who is helped and cheered back to freedom in San Francisco.

Humpback whales are magnificent creatures that sing beautiful songs to each other underwater. In the whole world there are very few of them, so each one is quite special.

And they are intelligent. Every winter they travel south, every summer they head north, and they always know the way.

But even whales can make mistakes . . .

In October 1985 a forty-five-foot long, forty-ton humpback whale wandered into San Francisco Bay and for twenty-six days struggled mightily to find his way back to the ocean. This true, illustrated story of Humphrey's adventure has been a children's favorite for more than twenty-five years. The 2014 edition has updated news on whales but retains the beloved art and text for big-ocean-mammal lovers everywhere. Adopted for Reading Rainbow.