SAVING THE WHALE

An urgent call to join efforts already underway to save these threatened ocean creatures.

Addressing, like the other volumes in this series, “mission-ready” younger readers, Eason surveys threats ranging from modern whaling to climate change, abandoned fishing nets, and plastics pollution. She supplements an overview of conservation-related careers with vignettes featuring children who describe personal actions such as small-scale beach cleanups. Messy page design impedes the presentation; a jumble of text boxes, some askew, in various hues are placed on each spread over color photos of different sorts of whales—and also other threatened varieties of sea life, mostly mammals. Still, all the glimpses of appealingly posed whales, whale babies, and other animals will crank up reader empathy, and the twin messages come through clearly enough of the pressing need for action, and that we can all do our part, from making simple changes in our daily behavior to pursuing actual jobs in the field. Most of the appended websites are career-oriented, but the backmatter also includes resources for the intended younger audience.

Utilitarian, but earnest and cogent.