Grayson [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Lynne Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006

Grayson is Lynne Cox’s first book since Swimming to Antarctica (“Riveting”—Sports Illustrated; “Pitch-perfect”—Outside). In it she tells the story of a miraculous ocean encounter that happened to her when she was seventeen and in training for a big swim (she had already swum the English Channel, twice, and the Catalina Channel).

It was the dark of early morning; Lynne was in 55-degree water as smooth as black ice, two hundred yards offshore, outside the wave break. She was swimming her last half-mile back to the pier before heading home for breakfast when she became aware that something was swimming with her. The ocean was charged with energy as if a squall was moving in; thousands of baby anchovy darted through the water like lit sparklers, trying to evade something larger. Whatever it was, it felt large enough to be a white shark coursing beneath her body.

It wasn’t a shark. It became clear that it was a baby gray whale—following alongside Lynne for a mile or so. Lynne had been swimming for more than an hour; she needed to get out of the water to rest, but she realized that if she did, the young calf would follow her onto shore and die from collapsed lungs.

The baby whale—eighteen feet long!—was migrating on a three-month trek to its feeding grounds in the Bering Sea, an eight-thousand-mile journey. It would have to be carried on its mother’s back for much of that distance, and was dependent on its mother’s milk for food—baby whales drink up to fifty gallons of milk a day. If Lynne didn’t find the mother whale, the baby would suffer from dehydration and starve to death.

Something so enormous—the mother whale was fifty feet long—suddenly seemed very small in the vast Pacific Ocean. How could Lynne possibly find her?

This is the story—part mystery, part magical tale—of what happened . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On a clear California morning when Cox (Swimming to Antarctica) was 17 years old, she had an unusual experience that stayed with her for 30 years, creating a spiritual foundation for her personal and professional success. In this slim and crisp memoir, Cox details a morning swim off the coast of California that took an unexpected turn: returning to shore, she discovered that she was being followed by a baby gray whale that had been separated from its mother. As Cox developed a rapport with the whale, she took on the responsibility of keeping it at sea until it was reunited with its mother. Cox expertly weaves fine details together, from the whale's mushroomlike skin to how other fish react to such a large creature. At times Cox's prose is uneven, alternating from emotional to factual, but her pure joy at connecting with Grayson (her name for the baby whale) overrides any technical inconsistencies. The combination of retelling her once-in-a-lifetime experience with her observations on life ("If I try, if I believe, if I work toward something... the impossible isn't impossible at all") will have timeless appeal for all ages. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–In a simple but suspenseful narrative, the author recounts her mystical encounter with a baby whale and his mother on a March morning 30 years ago. Then 17 years old, Cox was just completing her swim off Seal Beach, CA, and heading toward shore when the ocean became unusually rough and swarming with small fish. A large animal that she at first mistook for a shark was swimming just beneath her. In fact, it was an 18-foot-long baby gray whale. Cox was frightened and then enchanted by the playful creature that seemed to want to follow her to shore, an act that would be fatal for him. She developed an emotional bond with the whale she calls Grayson, guiding him away from the shore. Both teen and calf were hungry, fatigued, and dehydrated, but Cox, frozen to the bone in 55-degree water, was determined to find the baby's mother. With incredible optimism and courage, and the guidance and encouragement of nearby fishermen and lifeguards, Cox finally united Grayson with his huge, barnacled parent. This true adventure is as breathtaking as the exotic underwater life that the author describes in vivid detail.–Jackie Gropman, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307264548
• ISBN-13: 978-0307264541
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #815,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Something had brought us together. Something much bigger than the two of us.", February 9, 2008

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Grayson (Paperback)

(3.5 stars) When seventeen-year-old Lynne Cox is finishing her morning swim between Seal Beach pier and the San Gabriel River jetty, south of Los Angeles, she is hungry and cold. It is March, and the water temperature is in the fifties, but Lynne, a serious open-water swimmer, is in training, regularly doing three-hour workouts in the cold Pacific. When she discovers that a baby gray whale is following her to shore, she realizes that the baby must have lost its mother. Remaining in the water, alone except for the whale, she continues swimming on the chance that the baby, whom she names Grayson, will hear its mother vocalizing or that the mother will find them.

For the next couple of hours, she and the whale swim the one-and-a-half miles from the pier to an offshore oil rig in deep, often rough, water. The whale is confused, often diving deep and disappearing for ten minutes or more at a time, and Lynne begins to despair. When he finally disappears for a very long time and shows no signs of resurfacing, Lynne, close to hypothermia and discouraged, decides to head back to shore, alone.

By now this story is so well known that it gives nothing away to say eventually there is a happy resolution. For Lynne Cox, however, there is a much bigger story than "just" the reunion of the baby and its mother. For her, this experience has been a test of her strength, her will, and her faith, resulting, finally, in her personal triumph.

A morality tale about the interconnections of man and nature, Grayson is full of the "truths" drawn by a sensitive seventeen-year-old who sees the baby whale in human terms. She thinks only positive thoughts, sending mental messages to the baby whale and to his mother, telling them that she will help them find each other. She explains that "there are two ways of thinking--one of possibility and hope, the other of doubt and impossibility," adding that sometimes "the things that make the least sense to other people make the most sense to me."

Thirty years have passed since this experience, the author tells us, and she believes she learned much about life from it, never doubting her romantic conclusions or the words-to-live-by that she presents throughout her narrative. Though the author originally wrote this book for adults, its popularity among junior high students speaks to its appeal. The world she describes is not the nature of "tooth and claw" or the survival of the fittest. It is a world in which humans can interact with nature through positive thoughts and energy, and those, in turn, can reunite a baby whale and its presumably loving mother. n Mary Whipple

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read!, August 1, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grayson (Hardcover)

Champion swimmer Lynne Cox's new memoir Grayson is the powerful and remarkable story of one day in the life of Cox and a baby gray whale she named Grayson. It was an ordinary day that became a race to save the life of the months old baby whale that had been separated from his mother.

While training for a major swimming event, Cox, then age seventeen, was swimming off Seal Beach in southern California. It was early morning (5:00 a.m.) and Cox wanted to start practice early so she could spend the day with friends. As she neared the finish of her practice she felt an unusual and unfamiliar presence in the water with her. It soon became apparent that a baby whale was following her. Although Cox was tired, she couldn't leave the water because the whale would follow her onto shore and die.

Cox, with help from her old friend Steve, made plans to find Grayson's mother. Time was of the essence as baby whales drink over 50 gallons of milk a day and are completely dependant on their mothers. If Grayson's mother were not found soon, he would die. But mother whales are very protective and Cox's life is jeopardized by helping Grayson. With little thought for her personal safety, Cox and Grayson start a race for life.

Grayson is a beautiful story told with deep love and emotion for Grayson and the experience. Cox's writing is lyrical, motivational and expressive. Her words are so 'right on' that you feel you are in the water searching, playing and living, along with the swimmer and whale.

Armchair Interviews says: Grayson is a must read. Your heart will sing and you'll want to share the experience with others.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly Written . . . A Beautiful Story All Readers Will Love!, August 6, 2006

By 

Peter Thomas Senese - Author. ""A book is... (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grayson (Hardcover)

Lynn Cox has written a timeless masterpiece in this brilliantly written story of the unexpected ocean journey she found herself on one early dark morning in Southern California. Accompanied with 'Grayson', an orphaned baby gray whale lost from its migrating mother off the coast of California's Seal Beach, Lynn Cox takes the reader onto a most exhilarating oceanic adventure in search of the orphaned whale's nursing mother.

As the reader journey's through the pages and the dark crisp water of the Pacific, you find yourself on your own odyssey - listening, feeling, and understanding what it is to trust yourself no matter what the circumstances life hands you are. With each powerful and purposeful stroke of Lynn's arm cutting into the water, you are reminded of the strength of your own will and capability. And as the sun cuts thru the early morning darkness and the journey to find Grayson's mother continues, we are all reminded that sense of will and purpose is boundless.

I found the metaphor and imagery used in this joyfully wonderful true-life adventure to be so vivid and sharp and pulsating that I can't recommend this wonderful story enough to readers of all ages . . . and if you know someone who is not a person who dives into a good story - Grayson is as good a book as any I have ever read - and a great place for any potential reader to begin in reacquainting themselves with the wonderment of reading and the imagination, and perhaps a re-visit with themselves.



`Grayson' is a timeless masterpiece I have read and re-read. From one author to another, I would like to thank Lynn for, after all these years, sharing with all of us the adventures of that magical day you were blessed with on Seal Beach.