Peg and the Whale (2000)

Reason for Reading: I am reading all of the author's books.

I am glad that I read the second book first as I enjoyed that one much better than this, though I've given them both 4 stars. Rating picture books is difficult as I have to remember they are for kids and not adult me. This book is just as appealing to kids. Oppel has written a fun, original, tall tale about an independent little girl who wants to catch herself a whale. An enormously over-the-top adventure as she takes off on her own, joins a whaling ship, catches a whale with a fishing rod, gets taken for a ride, makes a home for herself inside his stomach and voyages up to the arctic. After fashioning a rudder to steer the whale Peg manages to make it back to her parents' fishing boat and the book ends with her ready to do something even bigger and better. The picture shows her in the mountains with Mt. Everest in the horizon and this is where she'll meet the Yeti in book 2. What I didn't like in this one is that Peg doesn't connect with the whale like she does with the Yeti, the whale is not tamed and doesn't become her "friend". I was also spoiled by Barbara Reid's illustrations in Yeti and was underwhelmed to see the different illustrator here. The illustrations are bright and bold, pleasant but no Barbara Reid. ( )