In their nonfiction picture book In the World of Whales (Porter/Holiday, 4–8 years), Michelle Cusolito’s spare, reverent text and Jessica Lanan’s immersive illustrations convey the experience of free diver Fred Buyle, who — amazingly — witnessed the birth of a sperm whale. For more recommended nonfiction picture books about marine life, see our list “In and around the sea” in this issue of Notes.

1. What’s the most memorable thing you learned in your research?

Photo of Michelle Cusolito: Allison Noyce.

Michelle Cusolito: I find this question difficult to answer because the entire event is so memorable: a man gets to freedive at the birth of a sperm whale and be welcomed in by the clan! How wondrous! The moment when the mother nudges the baby toward the man still gives me chills.

Jessica Lanan: Sperm whales are astonishing creatures. I loved learning about their complex click language and obvious intelligence as well as the special anatomy that allows them to make some of the loudest sounds in the animal kingdom and to “see” prey in total darkness. I also had no idea that when they dive their lungs can compress to one percent of their normal size. Illustrating this book was a great refresher course in physics and biology and what happens to bodies — both human and whale — when deprived of oxygen and under increasing water pressure.

2. What were the challenges in depicting this singular event?

MC: Depicting this event was easier than others I’ve written about because it’s well documented. My biggest challenge was locating that documentation.

I first heard Fred’s friend tell Fred’s story on a podcast. But that was secondhand information, not something I could rely on. On Fred’s website, I found photographs and a short description of the event, but it didn’t provide enough details for me to write the story.

In the end, a YouTube interview delivered what I needed. For weeks, I had an absurd number of tabs open on my computer. (Fellow research nerds know what I’m talking about!) Little by little, I worked my way through the tabs, but I couldn’t find details about this experience. I was down to the last tab — a show featuring two interviewers with Fred on Zoom. It didn’t seem promising, but I had run out of places to search. I was nearly ready to close the interview when they asked about this exact event and Fred described everything. I couldn’t believe it!

At that point, the interview wasn’t done, but I had the facts I needed, and I was debating whether I should watch the rest. (This is the perpetual problem as a nonfiction author…when to stop researching.) Thankfully, I didn’t stop, because toward the end, Fred mentioned that Kurt Amsler dove with him, and Kurt shot video. Until that moment, I didn’t know who Fred’s dive partner was. After a quick search, I found Kurt’s video, which showcases the whole experience.

Photo of Jessica Lanan: Tim Gillies.

JL: There’s existing footage of this encounter, but I wanted to communicate more than just how things looked and try to get at how they might have felt. So I was less interested in faithfully recreating the video footage and more interested in exploring emotions such as awe, wonder, and danger. I live in Colorado and haven’t spent much time in the ocean, so I decided to get my open-water certification and do some scuba diving to get a taste of that danger and the power of the ocean. While I didn’t see any whales, it still definitely influenced me and helped shape the emotional tone of the art.

The other huge challenge was the whale anatomy diagram. I sifted through dozens of scientific papers looking for reliable information about the whale’s physiology. While there were papers showing specific organs and structures in detail, I was unable to track down an accurate diagram showing the whale’s entire body, and a whale skeleton is so minimal that it doesn’t give many clues about where organs should be located. I pieced together all the information I could find and looked at other cetaceans such as dolphins and smaller whale species for comparison. Fortunately, I had a fantastic marine mammologist contact who was willing to look over my work and catch some of my mistakes. I take all the blame for any remaining errors, though.

3. Michelle, how did you decide on the verse-like format for the text?

MC: I always knew I wanted to write this lyrically because the whole experience felt beautiful and poetic to me. I knew my language choices could enhance those feelings for readers.

I first learned about Fred’s experience toward the end of my research for my book Diving Deep: Using Machines to Explore the Ocean. I immediately knew I wanted to tell the story, but I was unable to start right away due to other commitments.

Fred — and those whales — were always in my mind, and my subconscious was working on it.

I awoke one Sunday morning, and I knew how to tell it. I grabbed my notebook before I even got out of bed and wrote a really rough draft. Then I told my brain to get back to work on my other project, which I did.

Monday morning, I wrote an entirely new draft before getting out of bed and worked on the other project for the rest of the day.

Tuesday morning, I woke up thinking, Wait! I know what to do! I typed up the official first draft and printed it out in a large font. I did the same with the second draft.

Then I cut the drafts into sections and moved the pieces around, Magnetic Poetry style. I threw away the parts that didn’t work and kept the good bits, then taped the slips of paper in order on a large piece of paper. When that felt right, I typed up version three.

Once I had done all of this, my mind was able to let it rest so I could go back and meet my other deadline. Even though I still had lots of work to do, I established the voice and structure in those early drafts, which is often the hardest aspect of writing for me.

4. Jessica, how did you approach conveying such strong emotion “without a hint of anthropomorphism” (per our review of the book)?

JL: Illustration is fascinating because you have so many tools to convey emotion through design choices, including composition, color, perspective, and pacing. I think with enough skill, an artist can invite their audience to emotionally connect with pretty much anything. I relied heavily on composition in this book to achieve the emotional tone, because I’ve always rejected the idea that an animal needs to look and act just like a human to be relatable. Anyone with a pet knows that animals have their own ways of showing us how they feel.

5. Would you ever want to try freediving?

MC: While I am in awe of free divers, the sport isn’t for me. I’m a little afraid of it. Freediving also requires specific physical and mental training to learn to dive without an air tank.

I did, however, learn to scuba dive while researching for Diving Deep. Even though scuba comes with inherent risks (such as “the bends”), careful dive planning and attention to safety mitigates those risks. During my certification dive I was thrilled to see an octopus in its den! My friends and readers know how much I love octopuses.

JL: Michelle is a little afraid of freediving, and I’m terrified of it, ha! I may have watched a few too many documentaries on what can go wrong, so I think I’ll be staying near a reliable air source for the foreseeable future. Still, I am in awe of the athleticism, mental control, and passion of freedivers. Scuba is clunky, noisy, and awkward but the way freedivers move is elegant and sublime, and it was a real treat to illustrate it.

From the August 2025 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.