Book Description
HARVEY THE GREAT LAKES WHALE By William George NelsonThe story is about a young whale named Harvey, who, while chasing a ship on the ocean became caught on the ship's rudderHarvey the whale is dragged through the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes. Along the way he meets various fish. The fish are unable to free Harvey from the ship.Eventually, Harvey breaks free from the ship's rudder when he arrives in Lake Superior.He becomes a close friend with Tommy Trout and Gertrude the gossiping gull. They take Harvey on a tour of Lake Superior.Harvey the Great Lakes Whale eventually arrives in Marquette, Michigan where he spends the winter. He finds a home by a large rock formation in the lake near the town of Harvey, Michigan.It's a tale of a whale and a whale of a tale. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I loved this book and hated to see it end!
Reviewed by Brianne Plach (age 10) for Reader Views (2/08)

Have you ever taken a wrong turn and ended up somewhere wonderful? Sometimes making a mistake can lead to an exciting adventure. Harvey is a young whale who doesn't always listen to every thing his parents tell him. His not listening has led him to become entangled in a ship. Unable to free himself, he ends up traveling many miles from his home and the salt of the ocean.

Being in fresh water rather than salt water gives him an opportunity to make new friends and learn about where he now lives. His new best friend is Tommy Trout. Being friends they help each other out of difficult situations. Some of the other characters he meets are: Gertrude the Gossipping Sea Gull, Susie Salmon and Stuart Sturgeon.

This is more than just a great story book. After each chapter, there are descriptions of many different types of fish. It is like a travel book to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I have visited some of the very same sites that Harvey visits. I remember feeling much the same way when he found himself inside the Soo Locks between the United States and Canada. I loved this book and hated to see it end!

If you are looking for a book to get your young fisherman or fisherwoman hooked on reading, you will definitely want to catch "Harvey the Great Lakes Whale!"

A Whale of a Tale
"Harvey the Great Lakes Whale" truly is a whale of a tale. The back cover promises it is "educational and fun for kids of all ages" and it fulfills that promise brilliantly.

The story begins when the young whale, Harvey, rather than listening to his mother and staying away from the ships in the North Atlantic Ocean, decides to try and race one. Harvey ends up getting his fluke--his tail fin--this is an educational book so we learn about fish fins among other interesting facts--caught in the rudder of a ship. The ship is too fast and bad weather makes the water too rough for Harvey's family to rescue him. Harvey soon finds himself being pulled by the ship through the St. Lawrence Seaway, then Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and finally Lake Superior. He passes through the many locks along the Great Lakes, and he meets many fish who try to help him without success; only when he reaches Lake Superior is he able to free himself, and then Harvey cannot get back through the Soo Locks to his family.

But Harvey's adventures have only just begun. He soon meets many interesting characters in the Great Lakes--not only fish, but also Clyde the clam, and my favorite, Gertrude the gossiping seagull. Being young and playful, and not quite having learned his lesson from getting his fluke stuck in a rudder, Harvey enjoys surprising humans who cannot believe their eyes when they see a whale in Lake Superior. Harvey amazes the tourists on the glass bottom shipwreck tours in Munising Bay, and he even frightens an ice fisherman. Although he gets in trouble with the fish council for upsetting the humans, Harvey eventually comes to feel at home in Lake Superior.

Amid telling all of Harvey's adventures, author William Nelson has inserted many details about the history of the Great Lakes. Each time Harvey meets a new kind of fish, a page is inserted describing the type of fish, including its Latin name, how much it weighs, its color, and some interesting facts--did you know carp actually came to North America from China, or that sturgeon can live for seventy-five years? These short descriptions of various fish will be educational to youngsters and serve as an early guidebook to future fisherman. Harvey also learns a lot about shipwrecks on the Great Lakes, including the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which he visits in its watery grave. The illustrations, by Emily Mauchmar, are not only charming pictures of Harvey and his friends, but they are also accurate portrayals of different kinds of fish, ranging from pike and trout to sturgeon and salmon, including whiskers and number of fins.

"Harvey the Great Lakes Whale" is a great book for all ages, either to be read aloud to young children, or for children ages eight or older to read by themselves. Adults will find it just as enjoyable, while they also learn a bit about the Great Lakes. I, for one, had no idea there were ten locks a ship would have to pass through to get into Lake Superior from the Atlantic Ocean. After reading the book, children will be more interested in the Great Lakes, and probably insist they go on a boat tour to try and spot Harvey.

The "About the Author" section at the end of the book states that William Nelson used to work for the correctional department and often drove prisoners from Munising to Harvey. On one such trip, a prisoner asked him what was that object out in the lake. From that moment, the tale of Harvey was born. Did William Nelson make up the story, or is Harvey the Whale really in Lake Superior? I don't know the answer, but the photograph of the author on the back cover gives better proof of Harvey's existence than any photographs I've seen of the Lochness monster.

I congratulate William Nelson on his first book. I hope he writes many more. I would enjoy another tale of Harvey's adventures!

- Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D., author of Iron Pioneers
... Read more

Book Description
George Orwell is best remembered for ANIMAL FARM and 1984, but it is his essays that launched him. In them he not only demonstrated how he thought, but proposed a rule as to how thinking ought to proceed. Tracing his arguments and their development in these essays is a rich and rewarding exercise.

The range of Orwell's interests was limitless, and a glance at the titles of some of his subjects in this book gives us an idea..."Shooting an Elephant," "Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool" and "England Your England."

"Orwell requires of himself that he think his way through things using truthfulness as his only star. His contribution to our culture came during a desperate era, and helped us navigate the trackless post-war years." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

All's well with Orwell
Please note that this review is of the book, and not the audio tapes. Also, please check out www dot yourwords dot ca for this review and others.

While there is normally (and quite understandably) a certain stigma attached to essay collections, this is one very noteworthy exception. Covering topics from political discourse and sociological perspective to Shakespeare and "penny-dreadfuls," each essay is written fluidly and intelligently, with insight and understanding. In fact noteworthy is a perfect word to describe Orwell's writing, as I found myself jotting down notes constantly while I read.

In my final year of high school, my English teacher whom I'd respected very much handed out photocopies of an essay called "Politics and the English Language" and encouraged us to read it on our own time- assuring us that it had blown him away. Needless to say, and though I had understood significantly little of the essay at first reading, I too was taken by the ideas within the text and have read it repeatedly since then. After randomly picking up "Inside the whale..." in a used-book shop and seeing "Politics..." in the index, I knew I had to have this book.

There are far too many ideas in the book to discuss at length, but what can be said is that Orwell's breadth of ideas is staggering. I find myself reluctant to continue this review because I cannot intelligently say enough to give anyone a proper idea of just how influential several of these essays were on me, so consider my words to be inadequate as you read on.'Politics and the English Language' and 'The Prevention of Literature' both observe the decay of language and literature in the face of oppressive governments in so accurate an analysis that this reader couldn't help but nod in solemn agreement as the words enlivened my imagination. It is within these two essays that many ideas later used in 1984 can be found germinating in the writer. The only essay I found to be laborious was the last of the collection, 'Boys' Weeklies,' in which he describes various comics that many young men of his generation grew up reading. This simply didn't interest me because I had never heard of any of the comics, and so the point was ultimately lost on me. 'Shooting an Elephant' could well have been a chapter straight out of Burmese Days, and is particularly noteworthy for Orwell's very personal account of social expectation forcing one to do what one otherwise would not.

If you're into Orwell's writing, this book is a must-have. If you aren't, there are several essays within the collection that everyone should read- even if only to consider the ideas put forth, as they are ideas that do and will affect anyone born into a society such as ours. ... Read more

Book Description
Marine mammals are some of the most amazing animals on earth. This full-color, magnificently illustrated guide gives information on:Natural history and evolution of these fascinating creaturesDistribution and migratory patternsConcisely written and easy-to-understand, this is a must-have guide for nature buffs and animal lovers of all ages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Whales, Dolphins- Golden Guide Book
My kids love these little books.They have been around for many years and are great to collect.I remember using these books when I was a kid to write reports in school. ... Read more

Book Description