Whales in the city

The city in question here is New York City, and with today's skyline shown on the cover and first page of this lovely work, readers might be puzzled. Whales in the Big Apple? The first line states, though, that "before there were ships and streets and buildings and a city called New York, we were here." "We" are the whales that "floated and spun from the wide blue ocean into the river, and around the great wild island" once upon a time. A time line in narrative form follows, with the whales bearing witness to changes that saw a "BIG," polluting city beginning to grow and the creatures leaving. Next, the "we" changes to people, people who are determined to help and whose protest was followed by passage of the Clean Water Act. And the whales returned! As well as a history lesson here, the text--emphasizing the BIG creatures, problems, protests, and ideas that make this story--shows the importance of standing up for nature and that change is possible. The heartening tale is accompanied by detailed watercolor illustrations that show snapshots of history and wonderfully underscore the majesty of whales, with their bulk taking up most of a city view sometimes, the huge animal underwater in the foreground and the relatively puny city behind. Back matter includes a Hudson River time line and more about protests and whales. Environmental studies classrooms and school and public libraries will welcome this uplifting work.

Citizen activism takes on industrial pollution in the Hudson River and makes way for whales to return to New York Harbor in this historical picture book. The whales themselves narrate, imparting the river's arc from "clean and fresh and clear" to "sickly sweet." In digitally finished gouache and graphite spreads, Groenink paints increasingly polluted waters following colonial settlement. Next, humans, portrayed with various skin tones, take up the story; Castaldo conveys how "we protested, marched, and voted" until the Clean Water Act is signed. After cleanup begins, fish return; then, finally, so do whales. A dramatic aerial view from behind the Statue of Liberty shows a whale approaching a tour boat full of passengers. Though the central narrative elides mention of the region's Indigenous peoples, the creators convey the shifts' long timeline and the possibility of change. Includes extensive back matter. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)

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. VERDICT A fascinating and accessible story about whales and the water they live in. Great for a read-aloud, especially for Earth Day.--Sue Morgan

The first half of this informational picture book is narrated by the collective "we" of generations of humpback whales: "Before there were ships and streets and buildings and a city called New York, we were here." Subsequent pages depict whales and other sea creatures cavorting in what would soon become New York Harbor, with devastating harpooning and ship traffic and choking pollution to follow. The once-rich waters are no longer habitable, and the whales take off for "cleaner waters and a safer home." In a (somewhat abrupt) turn, the art and text shift perspective, moving onto the land, and the narrative "we" becomes the voice of New York's human inhabitants in the decades before and after passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. Diverse groups of New Yorkers are shown marching in support of environmental action; later, people clear litter from the river and enjoy boating, fishing, and other activities -- eventually rejoined by a new generation of New York Harbor whales. Detailed back matter includes whale facts, a timeline, brief profiles of significant activists, and calls to action. Castaldo's text, accompanied by Groenink's detailed and expansive gouache and graphite illustrations, offers hope for aspiring citizen activists and makes a compelling case for taking the long view and not giving up the fight. Norah PiehlJuly/August 2025 p.109 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Driven from the waters around New York by pollution and overfishing, whales have come back in the wake of a concerted clean-up campaign. In a somewhat disjointed yet heartening narrative that abruptly switches collective voice midstream from a cetacean "we" to a human one, Castaldo describes how New York ("A great BIG city. Bigger than us great BIG whales") grew to became a hostile place for marine life, its waters "sickly sweet with smelly, stinky waste." So away the whales went, until people began cleaning up the trash. "We protested, marched, and voted." Thanks to concerted efforts and the 1972 Clean Water Act, aquatic populations began to grow again. "We marveled at our river with pride," and the whales, too, returned. In Groenink's art, humpbacks arc with sinuous grace through sludgy (later sparkling) waters, poking their heads up to peer back at boatloads of whale watchers. As noted in a dense afterword--which also includes a timeline to 2022 and tributes to some of the activists who led the Hudson River cleanup--sei, North Atlantic fin, and right whales have recently been spotted, too. The groups and crowds of (human) New Yorkers in the illustrations are realistically diverse. A sincere record of an environmental success story. (source list, suggested activities)(Informational picture book. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.