Granny's Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas

PreS-Gr 2—Hodson details a pod of orcas' celebration of the birth of a baby, their hunt for salmon and how they share the fish, and how the 100-year-old matriarch teaches two of her great-grandchildren to scan for echoes of salmon. She tells how the whales "perform" for the people on nearby boats, then stop to doze, awakening to Granny's loud song, which attracts other families that join them to form a noisy, playful "superpod." Finally, the huge group nears the shoreline filled with people, and orcas and humans sing together. While there is too much fictionalization to recommend this book as nonfiction, two appended pages offer information on the identification of individual whales, anatomy, echolocation, food, and communication with one another and with people, and a list of informative websites-all great report sources. Using pastels, Jones has created soft panoramas showing whales eating and playing in the Pacific Northwest ocean and bay.—Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Heights Public Library, OH