“She drifts slowly. The late afternoon sunlight slants through the rippled water overhead and streams down the skin on her back.” “She” is a blue whale, earth’s largest animal. “Her years are told in her ears,” where layers of wax mark her age like the rings of a tree trunk. This whale is old, and when she dies, her body begins to transform, first bloating, and then, as the gases escape, drifting down to land on the seabed. There, her body begins to break down, providing nourishment and shelter across decades. After 150 years, there are still parts of her skeleton harboring organisms and other sea life. This fascinating book conveys the science and beauty of this cycle through lyrical text and dramatic watercolor and gouache illustrations capturing the grace of the blue whale in life, and the details of its transformation in death over time. Print and online resources are provided at book’s end.