The Whale Child Elizabeth Pulford Jane Smith 

The Whale Child  Elizabeth Pulford         
 Illustrator: Jane Smith 
Bateman (2026) 
Picture book, 32 pages, Paperback 
ISBN 978 1 77689 166 5 

 “Great-grandma let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. 

‘Are you asleep?’ whispered Honey.” 

This beautiful picture book is in the tradition of Falter Tom and the Water Boy. Elizabeth Pulford has created a world of myth, where a great-grandmother is telling her great-granddaughter, Honey, a bedtime story of stormy seas and a shipwreck. Great-grandma’s tale describes the loss of a ship with almost all on board. 

 ‘Eventually the ship came to rest snug in the palm of the ocean floor, far below the violent storm … Its weary wooden bones became one with the gentle rocking water …’ 

 The only survivor is a tiny golden-haired baby, a newborn who swims to the surface, There she is found by a pod of whales and is saved by the youngest whale. ‘And so, scooping her up with his fin, he carried her tucked into his side until the whales reached a place of safety.’ Great-grandma tells Honey how the girl stays with the whales for four years. 

 ‘As she grew, the two of them would spout water, plunge deep through the skin of the sea, swim towards the high horizon and hunt for fish to eat.’ 

The happy times end when a whaling ship arrives. Tragedy follows, both for the whales and for the child. Great-grandma tells how the young girl was taken ashore by the whalers and ‘as time gradually passed, her old life was washed from her memory as if it had been a dream.’ 

Nelson artist Jane Smith’s atmospheric paintings are a crucial part of this story. Each illustration – usually double-page – is dramatic and richly coloured. The picture of the baby swimming upwards from the wreck sets her tiny pink body against the dark emerald of the sea with shafts of light illuminating her red hair. The other illustrations are equally powerful and dramatic. 

 A special feature is the way that subtle hints are included in the depiction of Great-grandma’s home. Everything from objects in the kitchen to clothes worn by the pair carries suggestions of the sea. (Hint: look carefully for Great-grandma’s shawl.) 

The pictures also create the book’s clever surprise ending, where the young reader will find that attention to detail brings its own rewards. The book’s design is by Megan van Staden. 

 Trevor Agnew 

 4 Feb 2026 [Review 3819]