Harpo, the Baby Harp Seal
Gr. 2^-4. Using captioned photographs and a design common to nonfiction picture books, Arrigoni tells a fictionalized story of Harpo, a baby harp seal. Harpo's mother, who has seen several of her babies clubbed to death, flees into the water when a helicopter brings visitors to the ice floe. When Harpo tries to find his mother, he falls into the water and is rescued by a young girl on the trip. After the visitors leave, Harpo's mother returns. The story is sweet and simple, with some factual information and a little antihunting propaganda inserted into the dialogue. Illustrations are the book's strong suit. A map showing the location of the harp seals opens the book, followed by a copious assortment of crisp, color photographs, including one bloodless picture showing a hunter raising a club. A page of harp seal facts concludes.Susan Dove Lempke