To work off a family debt, 10-year-old Hastin leaves his desert village in India to work as a circus elephant keeper but many challenges await him, including trying to keep Nandita, a sweet elephant, safe from the cruel circus owner.
Over three summers, Tyke journeys with his anthropologist father to the remote and icy wilderness of the Arctic. Each summer bring short intense friendships with the Eskimos, and adventures 'which Mum doesn't need to know about'. Tyke is saved from drowning and hypothermia, joins a bowhead whale hunt, rescues his new-found Eskimo friend, Henry, from being swept away on an ice floe, and witnesses the death of innocence with the killing of the narwhal or sea unicorn. An adventure story set in the endless days of a freezing Arctic landscape, with a haunting presence in the form of the magnificent bowhead whales. A book which will echo in the mind long after the Northern Lights have faded from the final chapters. Call of The Whales is a powerful, captivating novel of coming of age. The story is told by Tyke now an adult, in a series of evocative flashbacks, as he relives the adventures and encounters that have influenced the rest of his life. Call of the Whales was shortlisted for the Reading Association of Ireland award 2001.
In Listening to Whales, Alexandra Morton shares spellbinding stories about her career in whale and dolphin research and what she has learned from and about these magnificent mammals. In the late 1970s, while working at Marineland in California, Alexandra pioneered the recording of orca sounds by dropping a hydrophone into the tank of two killer whales. She recorded the varied language of mating, childbirth, and even grief after the birth of a stillborn calf. At the same time she made the startling observation that the whales were inventing wonderful synchronized movements, a behavior that was soon recognized as a defining characteristic of orca society. In 1984, Alexandra moved to a remote bay in British Columbia to continue her research with wild orcas. Her recordings of the whales have led her to a deeper understanding of the mystery of whale echolocation, the vocal communication that enables the mammals to find their way in the dark sea. A fascinating study of the profound communion between humans and whales, this book will open your eyes anew to the wonders of the natural world.
In Thousand Mile Song, musician and philosopher David Rothenberg uses the enigma of whale sounds to explore whether we can truly understand nonhuman minds. Interviewing scholars around the world as they attempt to decipher underwater music, Rothenberg tells the story of scientists and artists confronting an unknown as vast as the ocean. Along the way, he plays his clarinet live with whales in their native habitats, from Russia to Hawaii, making interspecies music that appears on the included CD. Richly detailed and deeply entertaining, Thousand Mile Song is an imaginative look at the most intriguing creatures of the ocean.
Perfect mini picture books to collect and to treasure. Her grandmother's tales of the beautiful, enchanting whales' song that once filled the ocean leads Lily on a wondrous journey of imagination....
Jodi Picoult’s powerful novel portrays an emotionally charged marriage that changes course in one explosive moment. Sometimes finding your own voice is a matter of listening to the heart... For years, Jane Jones has lived in the shadow of her husband, renowned San Diego oceanographer Oliver Jones. But during an escalating argument, Jane turns on him with an alarming volatility. In anger and fear, Jane leaves with their teenage daughter, Rebecca, for a cross-country odyssey charted by letters from her brother Joley, guiding them to his Massachusetts apple farm, where surprising self-discoveries await. Now Oliver, an expert at tracking humpback whales across vast oceans, will search for his wife across a continent—and find a new way to see the world, his family, and himself: through her eyes.
What if you can't remember the most horrible day of your life? A shocking tragedy leaves Sarah with partial amnesia. Torn by nightmares, she must face her fears...and remember.
Drawing on their own research as well as scientific literature including evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ecology, anthropology, psychology and neuroscience, two cetacean biologists submerge themselves in the unique environment in which whales and dolphins live. --Publisher's description.
Eleven-year-old Isabel is a “plain old” girl living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, who believes that she is destined to accomplish something special. When her fifth-grade class goes on a whale-watch field trip, something amazing happens: Dozens of different species of whales surround the boat, bumping the deck and sending Isabel flying into the ocean. Isabel is shocked to hear the whales speaking to her—she is a mermaid, they tell her, a “Chosen One” who has the ability to turn from a human into a whale and back again. She is destined to live among the whales long enough to learn their ways, and teach them about the human world. Living among her pod is fun, at first, but Isabel has an important mission. She will change the whales’ future forever, and learn a lot about herself in the process.