Storm Whale

Three sisters walk to the beach on a windy day to find a huge whale beached on the shore. The girls try everything to help the poor whale, throwing endless buckets of water over its giant body to keep it alive. An encroaching storm sends the girls home where they spend a restless night worrying about the whale. The storm washes up all sorts of litter onto the beach, and carries the whale back into the ocean where it belongs. 

A long rhyming text with some complicated words and odd structures make this picture book one for slightly older readers or listeners. The illustrations are impressive with dark shadowy tones and a strong sense of atmosphere, and the traditional style will appeal to fans of Shirley Hughes and Helen Oxenbury. The images of the whale itself are particularly striking.