In the WORLD OF WHALES: An Incredible Vicarious Experience

 Sperm whales were hunted to the brink of extinction. Now, more than forty years after regulation, they are still a rare and endangered species. All whales inspire awe and amazement at their size, intelligence, and mystery. Sperm whales are the subject of this remarkable picture book, but its account of this actual, documented experience is really a book about WONDER. Wonder beyond our general knowledge of whales. WONDER. linked to a specific and brief experience that changed a lifetime.

NEAL PORTER BOOKS, 2025

IN THE WORLD OF WHALES is written by Michelle Cusolito and illustrated by Jessica Lanan. I've read and appreciated many other astonishing and revealing picture books about whales (HERE, HERE, among others). Each account, each revelation leaves me with that sense of wonder, as well as increased awareness of enormous gaps in my personal knowledge of whales. I am grateful for nonfiction picture books like these that convey so much in such a compact, compelling, and memorable form. 

In this case the author's note reveals that her choice of voice was intentional. TWO free-dive partners submerge  together, practicing the safe steps and training that allowed them to experience and share so much of life beneath the surface. The narrative makes the partnership clear, as do the illustrations. Despite that, as these immersive (no joke intended)  and stunning events unfold, the narrative voice accomplishes an impressive revelation of a single diver as he witnesses and actually interacts following the rare event of a sperm whale birth. The experiences were fully recorded, but even after watching several of their remarkable videos I found this picture book was able to include me in the experience in a more powerful way.

Even a summary of this book is impressive. Free divers and their crew notice a clan of sperm whales that suddenly submerge. The divers with cameras enter the deep, seeing a circle of sperm whales surrounding a mother whale as she has recently given birth. Dependent on repeated surfacing and dive cycles, the divers manage to convey their interest without intrusion, mimicking the fluid movement patterns of whales. In successive pages readers share those observations and patterns, the whales' tolerance and then acceptance of human presence at this most vulnerable of moments. After the final resurface, the divers leave, forever changed.  A double spread scientific drawing of a sprem whale with annotated labels is informative and intriguing, followed by two more pages about free diving and whales, books and resources. One final turn provides a breathtaking photographic image as well as notes by both the author and the illustrator. 

Both narrative and illustrations provide readers with a sense of participation. The narrative pattern makes the vulnerability of free diving real by dividing this overall event into segments of holding one's breath. The diver lifts his backside and plunges deeply, observes, then returns to the surface to breathe out-breathe in-return to the deep. In each case I sensed the compulsion to stay under longer, the lungs demanding air, the frustration of turning away from a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The illustrations are so watery, wistful, and wondrous that I held my breath between those resurfacing pages. Perspective and relative size played a part in the drama, but so did the text that manages to convey a multi-sensory engagement, including the clicks and vibrations, the varied pitch and the manner of approach of the whales to these tiny creatures, these human observers. The text is careful not to assign emotions or meanings to the actions of the whales, but does suggest potentials. 

When anyone is asked about moments in life that change them forever, a birth in the family often makes the list, usually leads it. That's true for mothers, fathers, grandparents, and more. The birth of any new life is a jaw-dropping experience, from litters of puppies to calves and even to the emergence of a monarch butterfly from its chrysalis. In this case, though, the undeniable intelligence, community, and communication among and from this clan of whales is all the more impressive since it has never before been directly witnessed by humans. 

Don't miss out on your chance to experience it yourself.  

If you are on Facebook or Instagram, you may want to subscribe to FRED BUYLE's feeds to view more videos of this and other wonders of undersea life. Unless we fill our knowledge gaps, and increase our wonder-capacity, regulation alone will not insure their preservation.