The Whale Child

Gr 3-6–A young whale turns into a human boy for a day in order to teach a girl respect for the natural world. Shiny, the whale child, and Alex, the human girl, learn about water, animals, pollution, and personal responsibility as they travel the coast and witness the damage wrought by humans, including Shiny’s mother getting caught in a fisherman’s net. After Shiny returns to the sea, Alex teaches her peers to fight for the Earth. Egawa’s full-page watercolor illustrations are richly detailed and add a sense of magic to the text, even when depicting the costs of human littering. A glossary of terms, classroom resources, and background information on the Coast Salish people of the Pacific Northwest complete the text. While the environmental message is strong, dialogue is often awkward and stilted, and the characters veer more to being pedagogical tools than fully realized personalities. It’s clear that the authors have great respect and care for the subject matter at hand and for the Coast Salish people.