A boy and his father discover a whale tangled in their only fishing net.
Is the whale dead? While the man worries about losing their net, the boy
worries about the whale. He remembers the fear he felt when, caught in a
net himself in childhood, he almost drowned before being rescued by his
father. When the whale blinks an enormous eye, the boy knows that he has
to try to save the creature, no matter how dangerous doing so may be.
Expressive and perfectly paced, this powerful story, The Boy and the
Whale, by Caldecott Medal-winner Mordicai Gerstein was inspired in part
by a real-life video of a whale's rescue, and the creature's joyful
dance through the waves after being freed.