Song for a Whale

December 1, 2018
A Deaf girl won't give up her quest to connect with a lonely whale.Like many Deaf children, 12-year-old Iris has hearing parents, attends school with an interpreter, and has difficulty communicating with her classmates (especially the girl who believes her own invented gibberish is ASL). She had a close relationship with her Deaf grandparents, but her grandmother has withdrawn after her husband's death, and Iris' mom, a child of Deaf adults, has her own anxieties around her daughter's need for Deaf community. The white girl's troubles contrast with her black friend Wendell's, whose hearing family is invested in Deaf language and culture. When Iris learns about Blue 55, a whale who sings at a frequency unintelligible to other whales, she feels an immediate kinship and concocts a plan to create a song Blue 55 can hear. A quick-moving, suspenseful plot takes her from junkyards to a cruise ship as she gains the confidence to stand up for herself and take control of her life. Written by a sign-language interpreter, this story incorporates important elements of Deaf culture and the expansiveness and richness of ASL but makes concessions to hearing readers in its recording of conversations. (ASL dialogue is appropriately rendered in fluent English.) The final suspenseful scenes strain credulity, and lengthy descriptions of frequencies and radio repair drag occasionally, but this remains a satisfying, energetic read.Iris' adventures will engross readers, though Deaf and hearing audiences will likely experience them differently. (Fiction. 8-14)

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Gr 4-6-Twelve-year-old Iris has a passion for electronics and repairing antique radios. She's a strong student, too, except when she is hampered by the frustrations of being the only Deaf student in her classes. One day, Iris's science class watches a video about a whale named Blue 55, a hybrid blue/fin whale with an extremely unique voice; the sounds he makes are around 55 hertz, unlike most other whales, which communicate at much lower frequencies. Moved by Blue 55's very familiar struggle to communicate, Iris becomes determined to compose a song for Blue 55 at his frequency, and to play it for him in person. This mission involves a journey from her Houston home to Appleton, AK, that, miraculously, her widowed Grandma agrees to secretly arrange. Readers will need to suspend some disbelief in order to buy Iris's adventure as realistic fiction, but the nuances of her personality make her a compelling protagonist. Iris's depth of empathy, the joy she feels working with radios, and the skillful way she navigates two different worlds of communication create an authenticity that will resonate with Deaf and hearing readers alike. The paralyzing effects of grief are also addressed through Grandma. Gradual healing is depicted in a natural, healthy way, as Grandma turns away from isolation and begins using her talents, doing things that make her happy, and spending time with a loved one (Iris). VERDICT An uplifting tale that's a solid addition to most collections; especially recommended for libraries needing stronger representation of Deaf protagonists, which will be most.-Sara White, Seminole County Public Library, Casselberry, FL

November 15, 2018
Grades 4-6 Iris, the only Deaf student in her sixth-grade class, struggles to communicate well with kids at school, and feels a strong connection with Blue 55, a lone whale who can't communicate with others because its voice is on a different frequency. Using her knowledge of electronics and sound, she records her school orchestra playing notes in the whale's frequency and sends them to a biologist who plans to tag Blue 55. Receiving an encouraging reply, Iris decides to meet up with the research team and the whale in Alaska. When her initial plan falls through, she confides in her grandmother, a grieving widow, who takes the girl on an Alaskan cruise that proves transformative for both. While certain story elements are not entirely convincing, they will probably bother adults more than the intended audience. Kelly, who also wrote Chained (2012), works as an interpreter for the Deaf. The strength of the book is its strong portrayal of Iris as a Deaf girl in a hearing world and an intelligent 12-year-old in headlong, single-minded pursuit of her goal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)