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A Baby Whale Ventures North
The North Atlantic Ocean is home to a wide variety of wildlife. Whales, dolphins, fish, and seabirds are just a few of the creatures that live in or near the sea. Join a humpback whale calf as she discovers many new sights and sounds during her first summer in the waters surrounding Newfoundland. Though the world around her constantly changes, one thing remains the same—her mother is always by her side!
36 pages, Paperback
Published August 19, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 4, 2022
What a great story and beautiful artistry. I read this to my grandson today and we looked back for the items listed on the back. I also learned a few things about a whale's journey. Great compilation from the mother and daughter duo who I liken to the Momma and Baby whale. Well done.
September 26, 2022
Hands up if you remember Sagebrush Sam.
Who?
Sagebrush Sam — aka Omar Blondahl — a folk singer of Icelandic ancestry who, when I was an unwashed bay-boy, recorded and popularized Newfoundland folksongs, especially those published in the Gerald S. Doyle songbooks.
Hands? One? Two?
No odds, neither Sam, nor Omar have much to do with A Baby Whale Ventures North [Pennywell Books].
Only peripherally anyway.
Among the songs Sam sang — songs Sam sang! — was one about Jack, the sailor who was swept overboard in a livin’ gale and, to save himself, latched onto a whale’s tail.
About that whale…
… it headed straight for Baffin Bay, an arm of the North Atlantic squat in between Greenland and Baffin Island.
So what?
Well, the whales — mother and baby daughter — venturing north in this shiny-new picture book don’t head straight for Baffin Bay, even if that was their intention. They arrive in the relatively warmer waters surrounding Newfoundland and decide to linger and glut themselves on capelin.
(Dawn, I did see the crab hiding in the kelp off to one side of the school of capelin.)
Mother and daughter have a grand old time slurping down wee fishes and flapping their flukes, sometime splashing tourists applauding them from tour boats.
B’ys, especially kiddies (this is a children’s picture book after all), there’s a lesson to be learned about symbiosis in this whale tale.
Momma seagulls nesting on bird rocks and watching the whales know that “where there are humpback whales, there is food.” Fine chance to feed their chicks, eh b’ys?
See, sharing. Kind of symbiosis, idden it?
(Yes, Dawn, I did see the gull chick hatching.)
Turn the page.
Read the next line: “The world below the waves is just as fascinating as above the surface.”
Actually, the world below the waves gives me the yim-yams. There’re creepy creatures deep in the briny. For frig sake, have a gander at the monstrous wolf-fish on this page — an ugly brute with a face that might sound the depths of a Momma’s love.
(To distract myself from the wolf-fish I counted ossie-eggs and continued to do so on the following page until I found the deeplet sea anemone.)
Whale tales are famously popular. Just ask Herman Melville’s ghost. Baby Whale obviously isn’t Moby Dick but, nonetheless, Samantha Baker’s yarn pasted, so to speak, on a background of her Momma Dawn’s illustrations will fascinate children and the grown-ups who read to them …
… and scare them a little bit, which, on reflection, sort of saddens me.
Once upon a time I had granddaughters to…well, to torment Missus used to say. Now they’re grown and no longer willing to sit on the Lay-Z-Boy’s arms and listen to old Pop read. But if they were still tots, I certainly would try to frighten the bejabbers out of them with the picture of that beastly wolf-fish.
(Tricky one Dawn, but I did find the northern comb jelly.)
B’ys, colour me pathetic. I read this book alone — except I did try to Boo! Missus with the wolf-fish. All by myself — except for memories of two little girls tucked under my wings— I sought out the hidden items.
(I confess, I had a bit of trouble finding the periwinkle.)
But b’ys, you can’t trick me for long. Sure once upon a time I spent dozens of Grandpa hours pointing out that friggin’ mouse in Goodnight Moon.
Samantha, Dawn, come again. Someday I might have great-grandchildren — not yet, not yet! — and I’ll have a shelf of picture books to share with them.
Thank you for reading.
Who?
Sagebrush Sam — aka Omar Blondahl — a folk singer of Icelandic ancestry who, when I was an unwashed bay-boy, recorded and popularized Newfoundland folksongs, especially those published in the Gerald S. Doyle songbooks.
Hands? One? Two?
No odds, neither Sam, nor Omar have much to do with A Baby Whale Ventures North [Pennywell Books].
Only peripherally anyway.
Among the songs Sam sang — songs Sam sang! — was one about Jack, the sailor who was swept overboard in a livin’ gale and, to save himself, latched onto a whale’s tail.
About that whale…
… it headed straight for Baffin Bay, an arm of the North Atlantic squat in between Greenland and Baffin Island.
So what?
Well, the whales — mother and baby daughter — venturing north in this shiny-new picture book don’t head straight for Baffin Bay, even if that was their intention. They arrive in the relatively warmer waters surrounding Newfoundland and decide to linger and glut themselves on capelin.
(Dawn, I did see the crab hiding in the kelp off to one side of the school of capelin.)
Mother and daughter have a grand old time slurping down wee fishes and flapping their flukes, sometime splashing tourists applauding them from tour boats.
B’ys, especially kiddies (this is a children’s picture book after all), there’s a lesson to be learned about symbiosis in this whale tale.
Momma seagulls nesting on bird rocks and watching the whales know that “where there are humpback whales, there is food.” Fine chance to feed their chicks, eh b’ys?
See, sharing. Kind of symbiosis, idden it?
(Yes, Dawn, I did see the gull chick hatching.)
Turn the page.
Read the next line: “The world below the waves is just as fascinating as above the surface.”
Actually, the world below the waves gives me the yim-yams. There’re creepy creatures deep in the briny. For frig sake, have a gander at the monstrous wolf-fish on this page — an ugly brute with a face that might sound the depths of a Momma’s love.
(To distract myself from the wolf-fish I counted ossie-eggs and continued to do so on the following page until I found the deeplet sea anemone.)
Whale tales are famously popular. Just ask Herman Melville’s ghost. Baby Whale obviously isn’t Moby Dick but, nonetheless, Samantha Baker’s yarn pasted, so to speak, on a background of her Momma Dawn’s illustrations will fascinate children and the grown-ups who read to them …
… and scare them a little bit, which, on reflection, sort of saddens me.
Once upon a time I had granddaughters to…well, to torment Missus used to say. Now they’re grown and no longer willing to sit on the Lay-Z-Boy’s arms and listen to old Pop read. But if they were still tots, I certainly would try to frighten the bejabbers out of them with the picture of that beastly wolf-fish.
(Tricky one Dawn, but I did find the northern comb jelly.)
B’ys, colour me pathetic. I read this book alone — except I did try to Boo! Missus with the wolf-fish. All by myself — except for memories of two little girls tucked under my wings— I sought out the hidden items.
(I confess, I had a bit of trouble finding the periwinkle.)
But b’ys, you can’t trick me for long. Sure once upon a time I spent dozens of Grandpa hours pointing out that friggin’ mouse in Goodnight Moon.
Samantha, Dawn, come again. Someday I might have great-grandchildren — not yet, not yet! — and I’ll have a shelf of picture books to share with them.
Thank you for reading.
September 29, 2022
A simple and delightfully written tale with bold and colorful illustrations, A Baby Whale Ventures North is a precious story of a baby humpback and her Momma as she travels north to the cold Atlantic waters. Check out my review here!
https://firesidecollections.blogspot....
https://firesidecollections.blogspot....
March 22, 2025
A baby humpback whale journeys with her mother to the North Atlantic, where there is a lot of food for them in the colder water. The illustrations in this book are beautiful and show so much about the life of whales as they spend the summer in the Atlantic Ocean.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews