If I Were a Whale
Written by Shelley Gill
Illustrated by Erik Brooks
Little Bigfoot   2/21/2017
978-1-63217-104-7
20 pages    Ages 0—3

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“Spyhopping, twisting,
and slapping my tail,
I’d have fun every day
if I were a whale!

“From best-selling children’s author Shelley Gill comes this colorful, rhyming board book playfully featuring whales found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans. Toddlers will love to learn about whales swimming in the deep blue sea in this beautifully illustrated board book that shares simple whale facts in an imaginative way.” [PRESS RELEASE]

Review
[WC 311]
If I Were a Whale, what would I be? Would I be a beaked, beluga, or blue whale? Maybe I’d be a fin, minke, pilot, or gray whale? There are always the big guys and the unusual: the orca, humpback, and Narwhal. And if none of those are right, there is always the right whale. If I Were a Whale, what would I become if I could become a whale, if even for just a day? I think I’d try them all, getting a taste of every ocean.
Gill gives little readers eleven different whales in If I Were a Whale! Most get their own double-page spread, though a few share this space with another whale. Children will learn one or more traits about each whale. The first two whales—sharing a spread—are the beluga and minke whales, both from the cold Arctic Ocean, playing with icebergs on summer days that never seem to end.

Kids will love the imagination-inducing narwhal, seen with its long center tusk. The whale with the largest space, maybe because it is one of the largest whales, is the humpback whale. Off the coast of Hawaii, the humpback seen rocking on the waves, exploring the deep-sea coral, or heard singing its beautiful song. If you were a whale, what kind would you be?
Brooks illustrations are beautiful renderings of each whale, swimming in its ocean. A few have barnacles on their skin, hitching a ride in the bright blue ocean waters. The images are large enough to be seen from a back row, making this board book a good read-aloud for teachers. With its thicker than usual pages, kids can grip and twist without too much fear of tearing a page. Young children who like fish, animals, or who have been to an ocean and enjoyed the trip will love If I Were a Whale!

IF I WERE A WHALE. Text copyright © 2017 by Shelley Gill . Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Erik Brooks. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Little Bigfoot, Seattle WA.

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Reprinted with permission from IF I WERE A WHALE © 2017 by Shelley Gill, Little Bigfoot, an imprint of Sasquatch Books. Illustrations © 2017 by Erik Brooks.

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Copyright © 2017 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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If I Were a Whale
Written by Shelley Gill
Illustrated by Erik Brooks
Little Bigfoot 2/21/2017
9781632171047