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A review by stephee
Singing Home the Whale by Mandy Hager
4.0
Will is hiding out at his uncle's in the Marlborough Sounds. He was publicly humiliated on a televised talent show and then the YouTube clip went viral, attracting a lot of nasty comments. To top it off, Will is also recovering from a serious head injury. He is fragile, defensive, and living in self-imposed isolation. Until he meets Min, an orphaned baby orca whale. Min saw his mother killed by a whaling ship, in his grief he has lost his pod, and now he is alone in the vast ocean.
Will and Min create a bond through music, and gradually help one another to heal. There are some problems along the way - Min damages property and eats the fish at a local salmon farm, and Will is slapped with a huge fine for being in contact with the protected animal - but somehow the unlikely pair manage to rescue each other.
I don't know how Mandy Hager manages to write convincingly from an orca's perspective (the chapters are alternating points of view) - but she does. A brilliant book.
Will and Min create a bond through music, and gradually help one another to heal. There are some problems along the way - Min damages property and eats the fish at a local salmon farm, and Will is slapped with a huge fine for being in contact with the protected animal - but somehow the unlikely pair manage to rescue each other.
I don't know how Mandy Hager manages to write convincingly from an orca's perspective (the chapters are alternating points of view) - but she does. A brilliant book.