Song for a Whale Review (World Whale Day)

Today is World Whale Day.  I read this book so I could post a review for this day.  It was the first time I had heard of 52 Blue.  A whale that sings at a different frequency than most whales.  This book is based on that whale.

 

Song For a Whale by Lynne Kelly

(from the back of the book) Twelve-year-old Iris has never let her deafness slow her down.  A whiz at fixing electronics, she's always felt at home in the world of wires and vacuum tubes.

School, on the other hand, isn't quite as simple.  She's the only Deaf student in her classes, and between her frustrating English teacher Ms. Conn and her overly helpful classmate Nina.  Iris can't seem to catch a break.

But during science class, Iris learns about Blue 55, the loneliest whale in the world.  Saddened by the animal's inability to speak to other whales, Iris uses her tech skills to come up with a plan to communicate with Blue 55.

One small problem: the whale is swimming off the coast of Alaska, nearly three thousand miles from her Texas home.  But nothing will stop Iris, and with her Deaf grandmother by her side, she sets out on a road trip to meet Blue 55 and make sure he's finally heard.

This is about a whale, but it is more about the girl who is chasing the whale.  Iris, being the only deaf girl in her school, feels like no one understands her.  When she learns about a whale who seems to have the same problem, she immediately feels a kinship with him.  The book follows her quest to let this whale know someone is listening to him.  The quest was made harder because she speaks a different language than everyone else.  The way she relates to the hearing world and how they relate to her was interesting to see.  Expressions are different in sign language, her teacher was upset because a poem she wrote didn't rhyme but to her it did.  So even though she had a translator communication was not always easy.  I never thought of sign language that way before.  I liked how Kelly used the whale's story to tell Iris's.  You could feel Iris's frustration with not belonging and not being understood, even when those who loved her tried their best.  It is a wonderful look at a girl learning how to make her own space in a world that doesn't seem to have a space for her.  And the people that love her learning how to let her.