Whales in the City

Gr 1-2–Evocative illustrations and easy-to-understand text bring this story of whales living in the Hudson River in New York to life. Initially told from the whales’ perspective, the story depicts the river first as a wild place with clean water and plentiful fish. As humans arrive with their BIG boats, build a BIG harbor and eventually a BIG city, the BIG whales are either hunted or forced to leave due to the increasingly polluted water. After many years, people living near the river decided to take action, at which point the story takes the humans’ point of view: “We missed the whales and the fish…We protested, marched and voted.” Citizens of the city joined together on the first Earth Day in 1970 to raise awareness about the river and other environmental concerns. When the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, the river was cleaned up, and in 2016, a century after they left, whales returned to the river. Back matter includes an author’s note, whale facts, a time line, sources, and brief information on people significant to the conservation effort, including singer and activist Pete Seeger.