Whales

We are having fun learning about whales and thought we would share some of our favorite whale books.

Whales by Gail Gibbons: This book is full of information about different types of whales. It is probably best for children age 6 and older. We looked at the illustrations together and I chose to read the information that I thought C and R would understand and enjoy learning. I do this often with books that are too old for them.

Giant of the Sea A Story of a Sperm Whale by Courtney Granet Raff : This book was perfect for C and R. It is a fictional account of how a pod of sperm whales work together to defend the youngest member of the pod from a hungry killer whale. While this book is a work of fiction, there are a lot of great facts about sperm whales in the book. Also, the book comes with a small stuffed sperm whale (this was a huge plus, of course).

Water Beds Sleeping in the Ocean by Gail Langer Karwoski: This book explains how marine mammals sleep in the ocean in a very soothing way. There is a great educational section at the back of the book to further extend the learning. I really like this book and think it is a worthwhile investment.

Ocean Seasons by Ron Hirschi: Seasons change in the ocean, just as they change on land, and this book describes how the ocean changes. This book also has a nice educational section that can be photocopied or downloaded from the publisher's website.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville (adapted for young readers): We have an adaptation that was compiled by the City of New Bedford, MA in 2001, I have not seen it available on-line. This book is for older children (probably age 10 and older) but we enjoyed the illustrations. I am adding this book to T's summer reading list; he is twelve.

If you have a favorite book about whales or the ocean, please let me know.

Here is a link to the whale craft we did last week. We started learning about whales during our Connecticut portion of the fifty states project, but C and R were so fascinated by the whales that we just extended our learning; that is a great thing!