PEG AND THE WHALE
by Kenneth Oppel & illustrated by Terry Widener
Pushing seven and eager to make something of herself, a strapping young salt leaves her parents’ fishing boat to sign on with a disreputable crew of whale hunters. Hooking a huge sperm whale, Peg ties herself to the mast for a wild “Nantucket Sleigh Ride,” until a rival treacherously cuts her free and inside the monster she goes. Undaunted, she sets up housekeeping in the whale’s stomach, climbing up to perch in the blowhole when her blubbery vessel surfaces. Red-haired and rosy-cheeked, Peg exudes self-confidence in Widener’s richly colored acrylics—and is that a twinkle of amusement in the immense, dark-gray cetacean’s eye? After a tour of the frozen North, Peg steers her finny friend homeward for a joyful (but temporary, as there are still worlds to conquer) family reunion. Fans of Edward C. Day’s John Tabor’s Ride (1989), or Alexis O’Neill’s Loud Emily (1998), will delight in this new nautical yarn. (Picture book. 6-8)