Ben en die walvisse

Thirdly, what might seem to be a picture book, though it is a lot more than that. Ben and the Whales is by Ingrid Mennen, one of our most thoughtful writers. She provides a subtitle: “The extraordinary journey”. Because it's about all of us making journeys. Ben goes along a cliff path looking at whales. His grand-father goes on a different journey, because he dies. So Ben's father explains about the wondrous journey made by the whales. We go, we explore, we return. Ingrid's daughter, Irene Berg, has created a fascinating mixture of illustrations. Some are like exploding watery fireworks, some detailed and delicate, some nearer to strip cartoons - and the end papers provide details (the factual category) about whales. A truly lovely composite creation in and around a moving piece of storytelling.