The Sea We Call Home

Written by Dominique Demers

Illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard 

Pajama Press

978-1-772783674

36 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2026 

 

Little Gnouf and Mirabelle are two Gnoufs—I don't know what they are but they're adorable—who are excited about going to the sea for the first time. But when they arrive, they spot a baby whale caught in a fishing net and stranded on the shore. 

Illustration by Gabrielle Grimard in The Sea We Call Home, written by Dominique Demers

Fortunately, Little Gnouf has been reading "The Big Book of the Sea," and the two friends know they need to return him to the water. And with his mother waiting off shore, they have a big job. With the help from a sand crab that cuts the ropes binding the baby whale, and some seagulls that help lift it to the sea, it is finally reunited with its mother. 

Illustration by Gabrielle Grimard in The Sea We Call Home, written by Dominique Demers

To add to their extraordinary day at sea, Little Gnouf and Mirabelle enjoy underwater sights that remind them that the sea is home to many amazing creatures.

 

While The Sea We Call Home is a picture book, Dominique Demers has used a story to share information about sperm whales, thereby installing it as a STEM resource too. Dominique Demers, whose books always include whimsical characters, first introduced her gnome-like Gnoufs in her French-language series Le petit Gnouf that includes titles Le Noël du petit Gnouf (2011) and La magie de l'hiver (2013). Now, with this English edition, new readers can learn about empathy, helping others, and kindness along with information about sperm whales from these charming characters.

Illustration by Gabrielle Grimard in The Sea We Call Home, written by Dominique Demers

Just as the French-language series is illustrated by award-winning artist Gabrielle Grimard—see my reviews of Melanie Florence's Stolen Words (2017) and Bahram Rahman's The Library Bus (2020)—so too is The Sea We Call Home. And Gabrielle Grimard brings the whimsy of Dominique Demers's Gnoufs and the colour and wonder of the sea with her artwork. Typically using watercolour, gouache, oil, and pencil, Gabrielle Grimard integrates subtlety with boldness to amalgamate the two story components: an environmental tragedy of a stranded baby sperm whale, and the marvel that is the sea. Her art, through colour and shape, makes us feel sadness and joy, concern and relief.

 

For learning about the sperm whale, you can head to the non-fiction section of a library. But for discovering more about the sea and its elements, including the sperm whale, while appreciating how kindness and empathy can help support the natural world, then The Sea We Call Home should be your choice.