Richard Hall (16)

A humpback whale becomes separated from his pod, swimming under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay, and then up the Sacramento River to Rio Vista in this lovely picture book retelling of a true story. Soon attracting the attention of the human residents of the Bay Area, Humphrey, as he comes to be known, eventually becomes stuck when the water around him becomes too shallow. It is then that the Coast Guard and local scientists and concerned citizens step in to try to get Humphrey show more turned around, and headed back to deeper waters, and to safety...

Humphrey's inland odyssey was big news back in 1985, when the story first broke, and co-authors (and husband-and-wife team) Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall were both working in the media, Tokuda as a San Francisco news anchor and Hall as a news executive. Japanese illustrator Hanako Wakiyama was studying in the Bay Area at the time of the book's publication. Apparently Humphrey became stranded a second time in 1990, with the Coast Guard and Marine Mammal Center coming to the rescue again, but that would have occurred after the 1986 publication of Humphrey, The Lost Whale: A True Story. In any case, I found this a charming book, appreciating both the story, in which a lost cetacean attracts the attention and help of human beings, as well as the artwork, which captures the beauty and emotion of the story quite well. All in all, a picture book I would highly recommend to young whale lovers. It would pair nicely with something like Robert Burleigh & Wendell Minor's Trapped!: A Whale's Rescue, which also tells a true story, in that case of a humpback whale rescued from some fishing nets off the coast of California in 2005; or Mordicai Gerstein's lovely The Boy and the Whale, which tells a fictional story with similar themes. show less

Cute book I remember from my childhood, about a whale that swam into San Francisco Bay and then so far up the Sacramento River that he needed human intervention to get back out. Charming.

A humpback whale gets lost and wanders underneath the Golden Gate Bridge at the San Francisco Bay. Everyone would watch him since whales were not supposed to be in those shallaw waters. He went even further on up the Sacramento River. Scientists knew he would die if he didn't get back to the ocean. People worked together and to get him back to the ocean, but they had several setbacks along the way.

I've had this book since I was a child. Ever since Free Willy, I have been very interested in show more whales. This story was so great to me since it is true! At the end of the story there are pictures of the real whale Humphrey and more to the story of his survival.

Classroom Extension: Read during Marine life unit. Study why whales cannot survive in freshwater and must live in salt water/ show less

The story of the humpback whale which entered San Francisco Bay and swam up river.