The Snail and the Whale

Maybe it was just PMS, but I teared up reading about how the the townspeople saved the whale. Oh, sorry, was that a spoiler? Come on, it's a kid's book. Anyway, very attractively illustrated; lots of recognizable animals & plants & ships & what-not for my not-quite-2-year-old to recognize. A heart-warming story of adventure and friendship and a community (ethnically diverse! yaay!) pulling together to save a whale. Plus, told in rhyme. What's not to like?

Maybe it was just PMS, but I teared up reading about how the the townspeople saved the whale. Oh, sorry, was that a spoiler? Come on, it's a kid's book. Anyway, very attractively illustrated; lots of recognizable animals & plants & ships & what-not for my not-quite-2-year-old to recognize. A heart-warming story of adventure and friendship and a community (ethnically diverse! yaay!) pulling together to save a whale. Plus, told in rhyme. What's not to like?

I don't usually rate children's books here on Goodreads, but this one is insanely good. The poetry is playful, but also has a certain driving quality that makes it rare among children's books. "These are the waves that arched and crashed, / That foamed and frolicked and sprayed and splashed / The tiny snail / On the tail of the whale." Wow! I just love the sheer sophistication of the language here, how it's for children but it isn't dumbed down: "These are the caves / Beneath the waves / Where colorful fish with feathery fins / And sharks with hideous toothy grins / Swam past the whale / And the snail on his tail."

I read this one in connection with Earth Day of all things and the kids really loved it. The whale takes the snail on a worldwide adventure and in the moment of crisis snail alerts the local school house that whale has beached himself. It was a fun rhyming text, worth the read.

I did enjoy this. The singsong rhyme kinda bothers me now, but I believe that my sons and I wouldn't have minded it when they were young. We definitely would have liked the adventures, and the 'itchy foot' joke, and the literate snail, and the happy ending. Maybe it would even have earned four stars!

I'm really growing to enjoy Julia Donaldson's books. The rhymes engage the kiddos and the message of working together to keep the environment safe (without being preachy) is excellent.

The Snail and the Whale is a predictable but cute story. A snail with a bit of wanderlust feels stuck in his own small place in the world. She doesn't know how to break out of her shell (so to speak) until a whale comes by and offers to take her on a tour of the world. The snail gets to see icebergs and penguins, beaches and mountains, waves and the depths of the sea. She is amazed because all of these things are so marvelous and she starts feeling quite small and insignificant. But then one day a bunch of people in speedboats confuse the whale and he ends up beaching. Now is the snail's chance to prove her worth by finding a solution to this urgent problem.

Though the humpback whale would probably not have survived the beaching in real show more life, this is thankfully a children's story that is not preaching the evils of personal watercraft but instead teaching about finding your own strengths and putting them to good use.

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