Author: Hannah Gold
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelley
A Possibility of Whales by Karen Rivers
Rating:
.JPG)
Summary (provided by publisher): When Rio is sent to live with a grandmother he barely knows in California, he feels completely alone. Then he makes a new friend on the foggy beach—a girl named Marina, who teaches him about the massive grey whales that migrate nearby.
As Rio grows to love the whales, he discovers that his mother loved them, too. He’s suddenly sure that if he can somehow find a way to connect her with these gentle giants – and especially with a particular whale named White Beak – she will get better and come to join him in California. But White Beak is missing—and Rio must embark on a desperate journey across the dangerous ocean to find her.
My opinion: The main plot here, of Rio's drive to find White Beak, is easy enough to follow. And the subtext of his journey adjusting to his new life and coming to understand his mother and grandmother better is pretty straightforward as well. I appreciate too that Gold resists the temptation to make Rio wise beyond his years. He is serious, to be certain, since he has been serving as a caregiver to his mother. But he is still a child. He engages in magical thinking and is only beginning to see adults as real, complex people who don't have all the answers. The whale plot stretches the imagination a bit more than I would like but the characters are strong enough to give this one my approval.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
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