Beyond Words: What Elephants and Whales Think and Feel (A Young Reader's Adaptation)

by Carl Safina, Carl Safina (Illustrator)

Overview

A middle-grade nonfiction adaptation of Carl Safina's New York Times bestseller Beyond Words, which weaves decades of field observations about elephants and whales into an intimate look at animal behavior and consciousness.

Follow researcher Carl Safina as he treks with a herd of elephants across the Kenyan landscape, then travel with him to the Pacific Northwest to track and monitor whales in their ocean home. Along the way, find out more about the interior lives of these giants of land and sea—how they play, how they fight, and how they communicate with one another, and sometimes with us, too.

Weaving decades of field research with exciting new discoveries about the brain and featuring astonishing photographs taken by the author, Beyond Words: What Elephants and Whales Think and Feel gives readers an intimate and extraordinary look at what makes these animals different from us, but more important, what makes us all similar.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250763525
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Series:	Beyond Words , #1
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	667,868
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Carl Safina is the recipient of a MacArthur Genius prize and a Guggenheim fellowship, among other accolades. He hosted the PBS series Saving the Ocean and his writings have appeared in The New York Times, Time, and Audubon. He lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife, their dogs, and feathered friends.

Table of Contents

Prologue ix

Part 1 Lives of Elephants 1

Chapter 1 Hitting Reset 3

Chapter 2 Seeing Elephants 5

Chapter 3 The Same Basic Brain 13

Chapter 4 We Are Family 21

Chapter 5 Motherhood Happens 29

Chapter 6 Playing for Fun 37

Chapter 7 Elephant Empathy 39

Chapter 8 Good Grief 45

Chapter 9 Elephant Talk 51

Chapter 10 It's Going to Be Tough 57

Chapter 11 Ivory 63

Chapter 12 They Know Who They Are 71

Interlude: Between Land and Water 76

Part 2 Killer Whales 79

Chapter 13 Sea Rex 81

Chapter 14 A Complex Species 87

Chapter 15 Super Social 91

Chapter 16 Singing and Sonar 97

Chapter 17 Diverse Minds 101

Chapter 18 Brain Power 105

Chapter 19 Defying Explanation 109

Chapter 20 Helping in Mind 119

Chapter 21 The Cost of Captivity 127

Chapter 22 The Big Picture 135

Epilogue 143

Notes 145

Selected Bibliography 153

Acknowledgments 155

Index 159

Editorial Reviews

*"A must for middle-grade animal lovers."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

*"This excellent, documentary-style account will captivate budding animal behavioral scientists."—School Library Journal, starred review

" [An] excellent book."—Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2019

Gr 4–9—In this young readers adaptation of the author's 2015 book, Safina contemplates the inner life of the largest land mammal, the elephant, and the largest dolphin, the orca. He writes of his travels to Kenya to observe elephants and interview scientists and conservationists who study them and attempt to protect them. After an interlude connecting the two species, he relates his travels to the Pacific Northwest, where he spent time with Ken Balcomb, who for 40 years has studied orcas. In beautiful, accessible, often heartbreakingly poignant prose, the author explains how many have proven, anecdotally and scientifically, that animals exhibit complex emotions and thought processes. Both elephants and orcas have strong and complicated family bonds and experience joy and grief. Safina also hammers home the real threat that the animals, especially elephants, face—poachers and habitat loss for elephants and food source loss for orcas. This well-researched volume contains many black-and-white photos, 10 pages of source notes, and a thorough bibliography. VERDICT This excellent, documentary-style account will captivate budding animal behavioral scientists.—Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

School Library Journal

★ 2019-01-15

Safina recounts time spent and insights gained among elephants and orcas in their native habitats.

The text, adapted from his 2015 book for adults, has been unerringly edited for young readers. Safina insists that the best research focuses on understanding the animals themselves. He subtly reminds readers of this while keeping them entranced by true stories highlighting the complex social behaviors, intelligence, and compassion of the largest land mammals and the largest dolphins on our planet. Of course, comparisons to ourselves cannot be ignored, as examples of these gentle giants teaching their young, being creative, and showing empathy abound. Photographs of daily lives of elephants and orcas accompany many of the short, conversational chapters. The first part of the book is devoted to elephants and the second to orcas, with a brief interlude in which the author describes similarities between the apparently disparate species. In one of many amusing quips, he invites readers to "think of it this way: An elephant is a mammal outfitted for hiking, a whale is outfitted for diving…under the gear, there's a lot in common." The hardest chapters are "Ivory" and "The Cost of Captivity," which bring home the somber truths about horrific damage done to both species by human beings. However, the overall tone is a winning mixture of reverence, wonder, and even playfulness.

A must for middle-grade animal lovers. (notes, selected bibliography, index) (Nonfiction.10-14)

Kirkus Reviews