The blue whale is the biggest animal that has ever lived on Earth. Curious young minds will love reading this sensuous exploration of what a blue whale feels, sounds and smells like, and learning facts about a whale's size, life-span, diet, babies and more. Previously part of the acclaimed "Read and Wonder" series, "Big Blue Whale" has been re-launched in the new "Nature Storybooks" series with a brand new look.

About the Author

Nicola Davies is a zoologist and has produced and presented radio and TV programmes, including The Really Wild Show. Her books for children include Poo (9781844287512), Extreme Animals (9781406305593), Bat Loves the Night (9781406312744) and Ice Bear (9781406302059). She lives in Devon. Nick Maland has illustrated Snip Snap by Mara Bergman, Glog (9781406304053) by Pippa Goodhart and was the Overall Winner at the V&A Illustration Awards 2003 for You've Got Dragons by Kathryn Cave. He lives in north London.

Reviews

K-Gr 3‘Small human figures make occasional comic appearances in the pictures, but this handsome slim volume is an informative introduction to the life of "the biggest creature that has ever lived on Earth." In an effective opening double-page scene, a young man and woman reach up toward an elephant and a giraffe, all of them standing next to the tail end of the whale, demonstrating its enormous size. Davies offers simple, lively descriptions of the blue whale's body, eating habits, child care, migration, and means of communication. "Yet, the blue whale may not be as lonely as it seems. Because sometimes it makes a hum‘a hum so loud and so low that it can travel for thousands of miles through the seas to reach other blue whales." Maland's cross-hatched pen-and-ink drawings, washed in soft tones of blue, gray, aqua, and orange, sometimes appear as smaller, blocked scenes, but more often they fill the double-page spreads with bits of caption gracefully curving around related picture elements. A simple index appears at the front of the book, doubling as a table of contents. Some libraries may assign this to the picture-book shelves, where it will be read as a true-life story, but it will serve equally well as nonfiction. It's a pleasing choice for reading aloud or for classroom use.‘Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

"Nicola Davies is an author who gets the balance exactly right. Her scientific love of the particular translates into the precise, well-chosen language that so appeals to children." TES"