"Whale ho! Thar she blows!" Decades of commercial whaling nearly decimated a variety of species of whales. These intriguing animals, which capture humans' imagination, are a keystone species. They and other keystone species are indicators of the overall health of Earth's habitats. While whales have made a comeback through an international ban on commercial whaling, they are still threatened with extinction. In fact, two whale species―the Cook Inlet beluga whale and the Southern Resident killer whale―are endangered. Global warming, water and noise pollution, and commercial shipping and fishing are among the most serious threats to whale survival. Meet the scientists, citizen scientists, researchers, whale watching guides, their crews, and other concerned citizens who are working together to protect whale populations around the globe. Learn about whale biology, habitats, and behavior, and discover more about the high-technology tools and apps that help researchers in their work. Discover whales in pop culture, from Moby Dick to Kilikum, the popular SeaWorld orca and star of Blackfish , an in-depth documentary film about whales in captivity. And find out how you, too, can join the effort to protect Earth's largest mammals. Gr 7 Up—Whales have long captured the human imagination, from the Old Testament story of Jonah and the whale to Herman Melville's Moby-Dick to the 1993 film Free Willy. Young explores these majestic animals in 10 fact-filled chapters. Readers learn about the whale family tree and the 80-plus whale species that exist, as well as how these animals eat, breathe, mate, and migrate. The author also examines the booming whaling industry of the 19th century and its devastating effects on global whale populations. Subsequent chapters focus on the efforts of organizations such as the International Whaling Commission to protect whales and the attempts of cetologists to research and understand whales in order to better safeguard them and the oceans they inhabit. Interspersed throughout the text are photographs and "Whale To Watch" sidebars that highlight individual specific cases. An extensive amount of back matter concludes the volume. VERDICT Whale lovers and budding oceanographers will surely appreciate this thorough title.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn "A succinct and valuable introduction to whales . . ."― VOYA "[R]esearchers will be well served by this compact volume's breadth of information."― Booklist "An informative, well-researched, and engagingly written look at global efforts to protect Earth's largest mammals."― Kirkus Reviews "Whale lovers and budding oceanographers will surely appreciate this thorough title."― School Library Journal Karen Romano Young has dived to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a tiny submarine, crunched through Arctic ice in an icebreaker, and visited labs, museum workshops, and research institutions across the U.S. to write and draw about science. She was a lead science communications fellow aboard Dr. Robert Ballard's research ship E/V Nautilus. Karen has written and/or illustrated more than 30 books for children and is the creator of Humanimal Doodles, a science comic. Her nonfiction books include Try This! and Try This Extreme! (National Geographic). Her fiction work includes The Beetle and Me: A Love Story ; the graphic novel Doodlebug: a Novel in Doodles ; and Hundred Percent . Her next book for Twenty-First Century Books is Whale Quest . Karen lives with her family in the woods of Bethel, Connecticut. Her next adventure is a stint at Palmer Station, Antarctica, as the recipient of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Grant. She has not yet traveled to space.