The story emphasises the importance of the child as the guarantor of the future. It is a beautifully produced book with dreamy, soft-focused illustrations of the Thames and the whale’s damning pictures of environmental damage. A great starting point for environmental discussion in the senior primary classroom. - Inis Magazine

Sir Michael Morpurgo is one of the greatest storytellers for children writing today and has written more than one hundred books, the most famous of which, War Horse, has been adapted for stage and screen to internatonal acclaim. He has won numerous major literary awards, including the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, and was Children’s Laureate 2003–2005. In 2006 he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to literature, and in 2018 he was made a Knight Bachelor. Michael now lives on a farm in Devon, and describes himself as “oldish, married with three children, and a grandfather six times over.”

A highly talented illustrator who uses chalk pastels to create luminous, emotionally charged images.