Imagine swimming in the ocean at the break of dawn. Marine life swirls around you as the salty water keeps you floating near the surface. Sounds are amplified while your vision is clouded by goggles and dark water. Now imagine that you realize you’re swimming side-by-side with a baby gray whale...
This is the true account of distance swimmer Lynne Cox’s encounter with the whale she named Grayson when she was seventeen years old. Cox was training at her hometown beach in southern California and was just getting ready to swim to shore when she saw the whale. Knowing it had been separated from its mother and needed to be reunited in order to survive, Cox decided to keep swimming with it until the mother could be found. Spoiler alert: the book does have a happy ending, and in addition to the amazing true story, it is also a fascinating look at ocean life and a testament to the power of human-animal connections.
Grayson is a quick, engaging read and will make a great read-aloud for classrooms and libraries. Readers of all ages will enjoy this remarkable story. Pair it with a unit of study on oceans or marine animals, and be sure to read the epilogue for ideas on how teachers and librarians have integrated it with curriculum.
View this book in the Tandem Library Books online bookstore.
