#MMGM: Song For a Whale, by Lynne Kelly

I'm posting this morning with the Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop. The hop is sponsored by  Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle. Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.  

After winning a copy of Kelly's The Blue Hearts in a giveaway, I have gone down the rabbit hole, reading my way through her opus. This one comes before the events in The Secret Language of Birds, and there is some character overlap.

 

Title: Song for a Whale
Author: Lynne Kelly
Publication Info: Delacourt, 2019. 320 pages.
Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb: 

From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she’s the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she’s not very smart. If you’ve ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be.

When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an she should invent a way to “sing” to him! But he’s three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him?

Full of heart and poignancy, this affecting story by sign language interpreter Lynne Kelly shows how a little determination can make big waves.

My Review: 
First, can I just say that Lynne Kelly has the most amazing cover art on her books? Also, that design in yellow on the cover is repeated with the chapter headings, and I was well into the book before I realized it's a histogram of the sounds of the whale, not a band of trees on the shore (reflected in the water). Or maybe it's both...

On to the story. Like the other Lynne Kelly books I've reviewed, it's not 100% believable, but who cares? The story is engaging, interesting, and gives the reader a lot of food for thought about whales, deafness, and how we listen to other people, of whatever species, and once you're into it the less realistic elements don't seem to matter. The reader will learn about whales along with Iris, but also about Deaf culture, and the kind of isolation that comes of having almost no one around her who shares her native language.

I also related to Iris's grandmother, who is probably not far off from my age and dealing with the death of her husband. At first I thought she was also dealing with dementia, but that doesn't seem to be the case. She's dealing with the depths of grief, from which space the rest of the world is dim and unreal. Where walking the trails of my favorite spaces helped me find my way out, it is the ocean that is Grandmother's place of healing. I am glad that the family finally understood this and allowed her to do what she had to.

Ultimately the book might be about trying to organize other peoples' lives for them, and preaches a strong sermon against that folly. I have to support that, even as I understand the how and why Iris's mother wants to keep her--and her own mother--close. 

My Recommendation:
Another excellent read for kids 9 and up, with some good lessons for us adults, too. Kind of makes me want to add sign language to the small collection of languages I'm trying to get a grip on. I suspect that some of what the grandmother is going through will be over the heads of younger readers, but again, that doesn't really matter.

TC Disclosure: I checked Song for a Whale out of the library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

 

☕Buy me coffee--or get my ebooks

 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.


Don't miss a post--Follow me!