Constance Levy

   WHEN WHALES EXHALE
There’s a horn sound
from the blowhole
and a high-speed spout
when a whale at sea
blasts the old air out.
It breathes up a geyser,
a flare of fizz,
a white cloud that shows you
where it is
in the endless waves
of the great green sea.
Oh, whales exhale
magnificently!

" ...From the familiar image of a short-order cook preparing fried eggs to the more extraordinary sighting of an eclipse, these verses about the natural world are illustrated with sensitive black-and-white pictures. They will stir young readers’ imaginations and deepen their appreciation of the world around them... "
(from book flyleaf)

"Levy shows herself to be a thoughtful observer of nature…(She ) accomplishes the true poet’s trick of showing the extraordinary beauty in anything closely and intelligently observed… to read Levy is to see the wonder of the everyday world."

--School Library Journal

"WHEN WHALES EXHALE, a collection of 42 poems, is a delightful testimony to Constance Levy’s gift for writing fresh, appealing musical lines, and to her four major awards in the children’s book field. Levy covers an extraordinary range of subjects (and images) in her verse: animals (camels, cats, tigers, bears and, of course, whales); vegetables (radishes, mushrooms, crabapples); insects (bees, ants, bugs), weather (snow, wind, rain, fog) and all of the seasons ... But these are just a few of Levy’s imaginative, whimsical "things" parading through her sprightly lines..."

--St. Louis Post Dispatch