Big Blue

Author: Shelley Gill Illustrator: Ann Barrow
Product Code: 13525
ISBN: 978-1-57091-352-5
Binding Information: Hardcover
Ages: 5 - 8
Availability: Out of stock. Backorder policy
Price: $15.95

Kye knows everything there is to know about whales, and dreams of swimming with a blue whale. When she travels to Mexico with her mother, Kye is closer to her goal than ever. Will her wish of swimming with Big Blue come true?

Author's Note

When my nine-year-old daughter, Kye, came home from school and asked me if she could swim with a blue whale, I was hooked! It's illegal to pursue whales, or to harass them. And for sure those were the last things we wanted to do. So we went swimming every day, hoping that one day a whale would come. And one did!

Whales have lived in harmony on this planet for 18 million years. Imagine a young blue whale. Like you, whales love to play and sleep. They zooom along the surface of the water, using their tails as sails. They spy hop to get a look around, and if their mother is not paying enough attention, they drape themselves across her blowhole, cutting off her air until she gets the picture!

Once there were some 400,000 blue whales swimming the waters of the world. My daughter and I were approached by Big Blue off he coast of Mexico. There, in the winter of 1932, 29,000 blue whales were killed in one season. To save whales, to save ourselves, I think we must examine human nature and make a choice for peace.
— Shelley Gill

If you like this book, you'll like:

Dory Story

Families of the Deep Blue Sea

Whale Snow

Also Available As:

Big Blue

Binding Information: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-57091-667-0
Availability: In stock.
Price: $7.95

Awards:

ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award (finalist)

Reviews

School Library Journal - August 31, 2003

While it seems unlikely that a child could actually fulfill a dream of swimming in the ocean alongside a blue whale, this story is evidently based on an event that really did happen to the author's nine-year-old daughter. Kye narrates, telling readers that she knows "just about everything a kid can know about whales." She goes on to explain many facts about their size and bodies. Kye's mother facilitates her daughter's dream. "My mom… drives a whale-research boat in Alaska. She hangs out with marine biologists." Soon they are part of a small research trek to Baja, Mexico, where the dream is realized. "Time stops. This moment belongs to Big Blue and me. I twirl like a manta ray in her surge, dancing in the depths of her deep, blue sea." Watercolor and colored-pencil views covering the full spreads provide fine perspective in scenes of a whale skeleton suspended from a museum ceiling and children and whales swimming underwater. More adept at drawing landscapes and animals than humans, Barrow creates a good sense of place as she depicts the child at home the trip by Jeep to the study camp in Mexico, and the undulating figure of the impressive whale. The possibility of an ordinary child living out such a grand dream makes for a nice adventure story, and the book adeptly blends considerable information about whales into the telling. Children will enjoy the package for personal reading, and it should find good use in classrooms as well.

Science Scope - January 31, 2004

If your science class is anything like mine, your students are fascinated by the magnificant blue whale. Big Blue is an enjoyable story that integrates sound scientific information about the ocean's largest mammal with the universal theme of dreams becoming reality. In Big Blue, a young heroine dreams of swimming with a blue whale. Her adventure takes her and biologist friends to Baja, Mexico. Snorkeling in the warm waters, the heroine encounters eels, skates, and dolphins in her search for the blue whale. Beautiful colored illustrations take the reader along with the heroine on her adventure. This book is unique in that it is not entirely about whales and other marine life. There is room for many classroom discussions about dreams, goal-setting, and character traits such as persistence, dedication, and responsibility. If you like to integrate good literature into your science class programs, Big Blue is highly recommended.