An African American girl has the enviable position as a helper on her family’s whale boat. Today they carry tourists going on whale watches but in the past hunting for whales had a completely different purpose. Alternating pages show the activities in contemporary times in color illustrations and a spritely conversational prose style, explaining what’s going on the facing page, with brown-tone illustrations showing what things were like aboard a whale boat in the past, “before now.” There is an amazing amount of information packed into this short text but it never gets overwhelming, and it’s fascinating to see the comparisons between the two time periods. (Ages 4–8)