The Whale also covers the permeation of whales into popular culture and imaginations, often as the deadly, gluttonous villains they once were perceived to be — Nazi Germany was depicted in a cartoon as a whale opening its jaws over Europe. Nestor’s look at what scientists have learned about dolphins’ communicative abilities was mind-boggling: they address each other by name, and “speak their names when they approach humans.” How amazing is the world sometimes? But I make an exception here and there and that one does sound really interesting! Discerning between a cows and calves, discussing feeding habits, and listing the ninety species of whales around the world, this book is a perfect addition to a science-loving child’s home library. Whales. Like the oceans themselves, as mentioned above, we know precious little about whales, except that they don’t need us and we do them more harm than good: “How little is yet known about the wildness that attends the whale, I realized, and how well the world is built to work without us.” So much of that is our fault: before we tried learning more about them, basically at the eleventh hour, we’d been busy killing whales for centuries. Since we’ll all be seeing (and hopefully loving) this epic historical tale this winter, let’s do our research and know a little something about whaling and sailing before we get there. No, I don’t think I’ve heard of the movie. I really enjoyed it. A Book about Whales - Acting as a first book of whales, A Book About Whales teaches young readers everything they need to know about the largest mammals on earth: how they have evolved over millions of years, what and how they eat, their migration patterns, and more! Having strong reading comprehension skills will also help in other subjects. Author: Created by loulabell86. Reading comprehension worksheet. We knew what the world looked like before we knew what the whale looked like. Yay, I’m so glad I could introduce you to all of them! Great selection of books! Year 2 English. Miss Roe and Miss Thornton will start you off! Occasionally the philosophical musings resonate, like some lines about the “hauntedness that stems from regret” that stopped me in my tracks, but most of the time they felt melodramatic. She seemed equally moved and disturbed by it, which led her to explore the question of what whales indicate about the ocean’s state, how they reflect it and always have: “Whales were how the western environmental movements first learnt to tell a story as big as the world.”. Like Deep, this is another book built on fascinating segues and side stories as it varies between travel and nature writing through history, biology, and memoir. Created: Jun 3, 2013 | Updated: Jan 20, 2015. This reading comprehension includes interesting facts about whales. (I spend way too much time on these, honestly, so again, it makes me so happy that someone enjoys it!!). Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale by Marcus Pfister (784 copies) Dear Mr. Blueberry (Aladdin Picture Books) by Simon James (712 copies) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home by Vonda N. McIntyre (711 copies) Whales on Stilts! Thanks so much for that and glad we can share lots of good recommendations! It’s exhilarating, but dangerous. But it’s impossible to just elide this from the history of our interactions with them. It’s definitely worth the read! Why are so many whales in danger? Deep was such a fascinating read, I really recommend it. This classic non-fiction work of literature by Victor Scheffer fictionalises a year in the life of a newborn Sperm Whale calf. NO ITEMS. The book is both fun and full of surprising information about this wonderful creature." I have been fascinated by free diving ever since I watched it ages ago. The writing is excellent; he keeps a narrative thread even while jumping topics, and imbues it with so much personal passion that it’s contagious. Nonfiction November: Year in Nonfiction – What's Nonfiction? Nestor puts it thusly: “If you compare the ocean to a human body, the current exploration of the ocean is the equivalent of snapping a photograph of a finger to figure out how our bodies work.” It can seem this is a time when we have so much figured out about how the world works, and although I knew oceans are still vastly unexplored, I didn’t realize how much was actually unknown, including about marine life. ( Log Out /  Lesson 3 - Grammar Practise and Play –Similes Task 1: Can you remember what a simile is? Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Look at the completed chart and discuss how the information in the two columns is similar and different. You must have a goodreads account to vote. This is so so nice to discover, I’m happy that my recommendation inspired you to read the book and even more books on the topic, and now I get great recommendations from you! 25. One Breath: Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B017HHY34M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_xweEFb8T7426Z, Ok I am weird, but I really laughed when I read your line, “ blood coming out of every hole on your head, basically.“ . Again, In the Heart of the Sea was a primer here, so I’m not sure how appealing the topic would be otherwise. Draw pictures and label them. The brilliant photographs look fantastic on Kindles, iPads, PC’s and other tablet devices. list created June 30th, 2013 And if they don’t die they can still have horrible effects — blood coming out of every hole on your head, basically. Wow, these all sound interesting… Deep sounds especially intriguing. It’s a fictional (Luc Besson) movie about free-diving, which is visually stunning with a lot of underwater scenes. It had lines that struck me (“Inside the night-time house of itself, the humpback sings,”) and I loved a chapter exploring humpback whales’ singing and the significance of whalesong. The bits about whales in culture were my fascinating, although sometimes a bit stomach-turning, involving how often they’ve been food. That rules out def metal concerts too. Hoare underscores that basic truth — we know so little about whales; we even knew what Earth looked like from space before we knew how a whale looked swimming underwater: The first underwater film of sperm whales, off the cost of Sri Lanka, was not taken until 1984; our images of these huge placid creatures moving gracefully and silently through the ocean are more recent than the use of personal computers. They see less of their world, because we see more of ours.”), This feels primarily about the long-term ripple effects of pollution and human damage to the natural world. Oh gosh your work rate continues to impress, in the time I have another cup of coffee and look at 36 memes about dogs you have read and written your wonderful insightful reviews of another 9 books….I want to read the free diving book, I have had a book about this on my wish list forever, don’t think it’s the same one, but do find it a fascinating topic. His descriptions are powerful too: “And there it is, this thing, two feet from our faces, at a depth equivalent to twice the height of the Chrysler Building, watching us with its non-eyes, communicating with its non-brain, and dazzling us with its Las Vegas lights.”, I also began to understand here how little we actually know about the oceans. Have you read any of these? Reading comprehension - Whales (non-fiction) Year 2 English. Perhaps I should give The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea a try. My surprise favorite of this reading phase was Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves. Like Ishmael, I was drawn back to the sea; wary of what lay below, yet forever intrigued by it, too. —The Vermont Country Sampler “The Blue Whale is a stunner of a non-fiction picture book. These books are a mix of fiction, memoir, and non-fiction that all pay tribute to the beauty, mystery, and power of the oceans to capture our imaginations and fascination. Making Inferences from Pictures 2 . And yet, days later, after I return home to San Francisco, I can’t stop thinking about it. LOG IN. Parts of Deep were a bit eerie but I guess I could feel enough remove from it — like it was interesting that other people do it; wouldn’t be for me. There are more living things here and more different kinds of life in the ocean than anywhere else in the known universe […] it strikes me, and not for the first time, that the farther we descend into the lightless depths of the sea, the closer we get to understanding our origins — our amphibious reflexes, our forgotten senses, where we came from. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. List their responses in the fiction and nonfiction columns. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of divers are injured or die every year. A stirring tale of travel and discovery, this John Steinbeck novel is considered his best non-fiction work. Topics that I always appreciate learning something about, but I’m not sure why I felt such a pull now. 27. Posts include affiliate links. Loved your reviews! There’s a lot around Moby Dick, which, although it’s a book I’m never interested in reading, I find surprisingly interesting to read about. Year 1 children read gorgeous books about tigers, whales, sharks and polar bears. How do whales breathe? Andrea Antinori’s whimsical black-and-white illustrations bring their underwater world to life. I had never heard of it and it ended up being so much what I was in the mood for right then and such a good book! Tuned in to some unseen circuit of food and communal intent, they knew instinctively where they were, while we wonder constantly what on earth we are doing.” (published 2010 by Ecco). The diving is totally fascinating but I’m with you, I would NEVER. There is some really good information on their migration patterns which I find fascinating. It blends memoir, science, adventure, and natural and technological history with competitive freediving as the springboard. It was so good! You may wish to do some further research about the animals to help you. Year 2 English. I’ll see if I can watch it somewhere. The cornerstone of the book are his numerous paintings of a variety of whales. Deep sounds like an interesting book. Maybe the yearning to be elsewhere and if that elsewhere is as far-feeling as possible from the world as we know it, all the better. This list may not reflect recent changes . Making Inferences from Pictures 4. Journalist James Nestor learned of it while working in Greece, encountering the world of competitive freedivers — people who take a single breath and descend into the ocean’s depths sans equipment except sometimes fins, staying under for up to four minutes. This book covers whaling somewhat extensively, which is an upsetting topic but I got a graphic introduction to it in one of my favorites, In the Heart of the Sea, so it wasn’t as shocking. Do you mostly watch documentaries? The whales on the bus ride round the town, All day long! I also love whale watching, but haven’t bothered to read any books about whales. So glad I could introduce you to them!! 26. 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