Big Blue Forever: The Story of Canada's Largest Blue Whale Skeleton by Anita Miettunen Ages 6-13 64 pages Red Deer Press January 2017 Hardcover     After a 26-metre long dead blue whale washed up on a Prince Edward Island beach, the remains were buried for 20 years. Smells were released when she was unburied. Rebuilding her required skill. Mystery surrounded her missing, sawed-off flipper, and specialized equipment was brought in to move the remains to British Columbia. The smell returned when oils were removed from the bones, and teamwork was needed to repair her broken bones. But this blue whale’s death (after colliding with a ship) helps others learn about--and be in awe of--the big blue whale from Canada. This is part picture book for preschoolers and part nonfiction book for older children. The first part pairs a simplified story of the whale with full-page photographs that include children viewing the skeleton. The last half of the book goes into more detail of the procedures needed to preserve the skeleton and more science about the blue whale’s life and death. The photographs are smaller in this section, but labelled, and back material includes a bibliography, biographies (and quotes) from key team members, and sad facts about how many blue whales are left in the world and why they are disappearing. Several boxes throughout this section highlight unusual happenings surrounding the whale. They showcase people who dust the whale, and the differences between a natural and unnatural death of a blue whale. It’s too bad this whale couldn’t have stayed in PEI where she was found, but now that she’s in the public again, she is real to us.   web reviews   Tanya Boudreau/2017 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)