The Whales by Cynthia Rylant

This is a simple and profound book. Or at least it seems that way to sleep deprived me. We have been out of cell service for a few days of loveliness and recharging and we came home to a lot of terrible things in the news. And reading this book about whales and their world was quietly reassuring. Even when humans get up to some pretty crazy things, whales are still just doing their thing in the ocean. 

Cynthia Rylant is a very prolific kids book writer, but I have never seen her illustrate any of her books yet. These pictures are simple, bright, and fun. 

Love the vibrant colors.

In the blackness of the Black Sea,

the whales are thinking today,

Thinking of those things

that matter most to them:

friends, family, supper.

A song they used to know.

Whales sound like good people.

They swim in places with beautiful names.

Past Cape Farewell, they say good-bye.

At the Cape of Good Hope, they make a wish. 

Whales love their children, and when they are born,

the babies are gently pushed 

to the top of the water

where they take their first breath

and see their first sky and gasp

at the loveliness of living.

Isn't that gorgeous? ..gasp at the loveliness of living. In our over connected and over knowledgeable world, it is easy to forget to feel the wonderment and excitement that is everywhere around us if we are looking in the right place with the right eyes. 

Humpback whale songs change as the whale ages. 

I am picturing an old humpback whale singing in a barber shop quartet in a quavery old man voice. 

Whales

And whales do not know, 

as they rise up for a big breath of air,

that someone is standing on a shore

and his heart is filling up.

Filling up and ready to burst.

Whales do not know how they change people,

how they make them better,

how they make them kind.

Like angels appearing in the sky, 

whales are proof of God.

Oh, the joy and amazement bursting out of those lines!

This is a lyrical poem/book. 

I hope you find something to make you gasp at the loveliness of living today! It is there somewhere on this busy Monday. Keep looking 'til you find it!

Happy Monday!