Song For A Whale by Lynne Kelly

[Ages 8-12]

To be honest, I am probably not qualified to be any sort of critic. I always find myself loving something in everything I read or watch. However, Iā€™m going to attempt my first book review.

Iris was born deaf, and has been having trouble communicating with her hearing classmates. Blue 55 is a whale with a song no other whales understand. When Iris hears of Blue 55, the loneliest whale in the world, she knows how he must feel and is overcome by an idea to let him know heā€™s not alone. Song For A Whale is a great book showing determination and compassion while also providing insight into the deaf community.

I found this book to be inspiring, relatable for students and funny at times.Ā This was a book that I did not want to put down, which is a bit a pro and a con for a classroom read. One thing I did notice was that the chapters tend to be fairly short. This would be great for younger grades, and helpful if doing choral reading.Ā An added bonus is that Song For A Whale can easily be connected to science curriculum regarding ocean life, and sound. Throughout reading, multiple activity ideas came to mind, such as checking the frequency of our voices, instruments and other sounds or audio files. My favourite part of Song For A Whale is that it includes an instructional page on how to sign ā€œSong For A Whaleā€ in ASL.

All in all, I really donā€™t have anything bad to say about this book, from a readers or a teacherā€™s perspective. Song For A Whale captures your heart and beautifully demonstrated the power of communication when it comes to belonging.