Friday, August 11, 2023

The Secret Life of Whales by Rena Ortego translated by Paula Meiss


This book is a perfect example of the way non fiction has evolved for our children. The publisher Thames and Hudson have designed a large format book filled with facts about whales all presented in varying page formats. There are  pages with frames and others with comparisons of whale sizes and colours. I especially love the page filled with sleeping whales floating upright in the ocean and page that talks about whales songs. It is filled with a partial image of a huge blue whale swimming across the page. See inside the book here


Young readers will enjoy this book which is designed for browsing. There is no index or contents list but this does not seem to matter because each page has a huge heading:

The Cetacean Family; Baleen and Tooth whales; Whale evolution; Migration routes; Fins; Whale behaviour; The blow; The dive sequence; How whales feed. The final pages look at past and present threats to whales such as plastic and fishing nets. 

This book is sure to spark curiosity and add to your understanding of all the different whales in our oceans. Here is the web site for Rena Ortego. She lives in Barcelona.  Here is the Spanish cover of her book:


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