Wild Lessons: The North Atlantic Right Whale with Terran McGinness

Program Type:

Homeschool, Community Resources, Nature, Outdoors, Speaker, STEM, St. Johns Reads

Age Group:

Ages 6-11, Ages 12-17, Adults
  • Registration is required for this event.
  • Registration will close on January 15, 2026 @ 10:00am.

Event Details

Did you know that the world’s most endangered whale visits Northeast Florida every year to give birth and nurse their young? Come learn about this rare whale, conservation efforts, and how you can get involved! 

Note:  If you are not able to attend this event, our Bartram Trail Branch will also be hosting Terran on Thursday, January 29th, 2026 at 5:30 pm!

Terran McGinnis, the Founder and Lead Educator at Wild Lessons, has been connecting people with nature for over 30 years. First as a park ranger, and later as a zoo and aquarium educator. 

Terran has served on the Board of the Florida Marine Science Educators Association (FMSEA), she Chaired the Education Committee for the Alliance of Marine Mammals Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) and she was the Executive Director of the League of Environmental Educators in Florida (LEEF).

Terran's areas of expertise include marine biology (with an emphasis on marine mammals), animal behavior, anatomy and adaptations, and conservation. As an educator, Terran's passion is sparking curiosity, stimulating critical thinking, and inspiring conservation.

For more information on Terran and Wild Lessons, please visit Wild Lessons.

We are pleased to announce that our book selection for St. Johns Reads 2026 is "An Immense World" by Ed Yong! 

In An Immense World, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Ed Yong takes us beyond the limits of human perception to explore how animals experience the world through senses both familiar and strange, from echolocation and ultraviolet vision to magnetic and electric fields. With vivid storytelling and infectious curiosity, Yong reveals that our reality is just a narrow slice of a much larger, richer sensory world teeming all around us.

An Immense World is available in both Adult and Young Adult editions in print, as well as in e-book and e-audiobook formats on Libby.

In its 22nd year, St. Johns Reads is the St. Johns County Public Library System's annual "One Book, One Community" event focused on creating a shared conversation on a selected novel. St. Johns Reads is proudly supported by the Friends of the Library groups. We can't wait for January 2026, when we'll all come together for this special community event!


 

Register for this event