Book reviews | The Secret World of Whales, World without Fish

Once you see the Field Museum's enthralling new exhibit "Whales," which we reviewed when it opened last month, or "Jellies" at the Shedd Aquarium, which we reviewed in April, your kids (and you) are likely to want to learn more about these fascinating ocean dwellers. Fortunately two new books aimed at middle-school kids provide a wealth of information with an aim toward environmental sustainability: The Secret World of Whales (whose title says it all) and, casting a wider net in order to discuss a far greater number of ocean dwellers, World without Fish.

Developed in part as a fundraiser for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, The Secret World of Whales (Chronicle Books, $16.99, 110 pages) packages together words by journalist Charles Siebert, illustrations by Molly Baker (check out the slideshow, above) and a variety of compelling photos. The shots range from century-old black-and-white images of whale hunts (none too graphic) to gorgeous color pictures of whale flukes breaching the water. The chapters give a nice overview of humans' various interactions with these spectacular marine mammals, beginning with ancient myths (including the well-known tales of Sinbad and Jonah). The book contains overviews of whale biology, whale hunting and the destructive effects of human noise in the ocean—from immense ships, underwater oil drilling and especially sonar.

Meanwhile, New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky (author of the surprise hit Cod, from 1997) delivers a book with a more dire message. While Secret World balanced its tales of human ignorance and cruelty with happier whale tales, World without Fish exists to shine a light on a very dire picture: how climate change and overfishing of salmon, tuna, cod and other fish could lead to an environmental catastrophe. Tailoring his sobering message for a younger readership (of a generation that might be more inclined to alter its behavior), Kurlansky's text is matched with with hand-lettered passages, illustrations and comic-book pages by Frank Stockton. Those pages combine to tell "The Story of Kram and Ailat," about a fisherman and his daughter, which follows her growth from young girl into adult, when most of the world's finish have disappeared. Amazingly, one species that would likely thrive in such a scenario are the jellyfish—"actually a very highly evolved type of plankton," Kurlansky writes, that is "the cockroach of the sea."

Happily, the book is not content to merely project a gloom-and-doom scenario; Kurlansky offers his readers multiple ways to try to affect change, including presenting a guide of which types of fish to eat and which fish to not. For example, he writes about supporting fisheries that operate under a sustainable model.