“She drifts slowly. The late afternoon sunlight slants through the rippled water overhead and streams down the skin on her back.” “She” is a blue whale, earth’s largest animal. “Her years are told in her ears,” where layers of wax mark her age like the rings of a tree trunk. This whale is old, and when she dies, her body begins to transform, first bloating, and then, as the gases escape, drifting down to land on the seabed. There, her body begins to break down, providing nourishment and shelter across decades. After 150 years, there are still parts of her skeleton harboring organisms and other sea life. This fascinating book conveys the science and beauty of this cycle through lyrical text and dramatic watercolor and gouache illustrations capturing the grace of the blue whale in life, and the details of its transformation in death over time. Print and online resources are provided at book’s end.

Follow a blue whale’s enormous body to the bottom of the ocean, where it sets the stage for a bustling new ecosystem to flourish.

All living things must one day die, and Earth’s largest creature, the majestic blue whale, is no exception. But in nature, death is never a true ending. When this whale closes her eyes for the last time in her 90-year life, a process known as whale fall is just beginning. Her body will float to the surface, then slowly sink through the deep; from inflated behemoth to clean-picked skeleton, it will offer food and shelter at each stage to a vast diversity of organisms, over the course of a century and beyond.

Caldecott Medalist Jason Chin’s astonishing artwork enriches and amplifies engaging, well-researched text by Bill Nye the Science Guy writer Lynn Brunelle. Young lovers of the macabre will relish each page of Life After Whale. Meanwhile, those grappling with the hard subject of death will take solace in this honest look at the circle of life, which closes on a young whale enjoying the same waves as her ancestor. Additional back pages offer further info and reading recommendations on whales, whale falls, and ecosystems.

An Orbis Pictus Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
One of Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year