As Long As There Are Whales is specifically about the charming creatures swimming in the St. Lawrence River. More whale species than just belugas romp the waterway.

Author Evelyne Daigle explains the difference between odontocetes (toothed) and mysticete (baleen) whales. She then describes the migrating species—more than 10—that visit the river during the summer. Daigle also manages to impart fascinating scientific information and write about topics we often read about in the newspaper: strandings, seaway pollution, continued hunting, and studying the creatures.

The cover of this book shows a baby whale and its mother floating in spooky, dark water. The title made the book sound even more mysterious. This made me want to find out more about whales. Also, it is good for me to learn about whales because I would like to become a biologist. The book answered a lot of questions I had.

The book is about whales in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. My favourite part was the chapter called “Identifying Whales of the Saint Lawrence”. I was amazed to find that scientists have kept records of almost all the whales that have entered the St. Lawrence. The biologists knew about the whales’ genetics, the kinds of whales, and each whale’s family members.

The book also has a lot of history about what has happened to whales in the St. Lawrence. For example, belugas were over-hunted because people thought the whales were taking their fish. I thought this was a good thing to learn because if I become a biologist I can make sure things like that don’t happen again.

Reading the book was fun because I like to read and this was a new kind of book. I had never really read a fact book about animals before. My overall impression was that the book kept you interested. Out of 10, I’d give the book a 10 and in one word I’d describe the book as excellent.

(Originally published in the Nov/Dec 2004 issue of YES Mag.)