The Whirlpool

ABOUT THE BOOK

THE WHIRLPOOL tells the story of two girls who go swimming in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Haifa, Israel, one summer day. Both girls are excellent swimmers, but that day one of them gets caught up in a whirlpool. About to drown, she desperately calls for her friend to rescue her. The loyalty and courage shown by that friend is sure to warm a reader's heart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Israel (then called "Palestine"), Judith Weinshall Liberman came to the United States in 1947 to pursue higher education. She earned four American university degrees including two in law, a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and an LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School. After settling in the Boston area in 1956, she studied art and creative writing. Beginning in the early 1960s, and for four decades thereafter, Ms. Liberman created numerous series of artworks. Her art has been widely exhibited, and is represented in the collection of museums and other public institutions. During her long career in visual art, Ms. Liberman wrote several books, among them some picture books. Her book THE BIRD'S LAST SONG (Addison- Wesley, 1976), which she also illustrated, won a citation as one of the "fabulous books of the year." Since 2012, she has published several additional picture books, including ICE CREAM SNOW, THE LITTLE FAIRY, COLOR IN OUR WORLD, THE VERY OLD PAINTER AND HER HUSBAND, HAIFA, ANGEL'S PUPPIES, THE GIANT HOUSE, THE BEE AND THE BUTTERFLY, THE MOUNTAIN, THE TUNNEL, THE OLD DOLL, THE LITTLE SONGBIRD, FIFTEEN FABLES, TWELVE MORE FABLES, THE BIRD WHO WENT TO HEAVEN, A PARAKEET FOR ERIC, TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, IN THE MILITARY CEMETERY, THE GIRL AND THE PIGEONS, MORE TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, MICHAEL AND THE FLAG, WHAT WILL I BE?, IF I HAD THE POWER, IF I WERE RICH and LUCY AND THE SNOWMAN. Judith Weinshall Liberman's archives can be found in the Arts Department of the Boston Public Library and at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

THE WHIRLPOOL is the seventeenth book on which Judith Weinshall Liberman, the author, has collaborated with Gail Davis, the illustrator. Since Ms. Liberman did not feel that, in light of her deteriorated eyesight, she could do justice to illustrating THE WHIRLPOOL herself, she selected a fine artist, Ms. Gail Davis, to create the illustrations under the author's guidance. The two had previously collaborated on THE LITTLE FAIRY, on THE VERY OLD PAINTER AND HER HUSBAND, on ANGEL'S PUPPIES, on THE GIANT HOUSE, on THE MOUNTAIN, on THE TUNNEL, on THE OLD DOLL, on FIFTEEN FABLES, on TWELVE MORE FABLES, on A PARAKEET FOR ERIC, on TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, on IN THE MILITARY CEMETERY, on MORE TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, on MICHAEL AND THE FLAG, on IF I HAD THE POWER, and on IF I WERE RICH. In the present book, Ms. Davis beautifully captures the spirit of the story and of its characters.