Song for a Whale

Read Shannon’s interview with the author of this book here.

Lynne Kelly’’s beautiful Song for a Whale asks us to question what we would do to help someone. How far would we go? For twelve-year-old Iris, the journey is spectacular.

No one fits in at twelve years old. The world is an inaccessible, increasingly weird place for all of us as we hit that age between childhood and adolescence. For Iris, who is deaf, the struggle to fit in is even larger because she can’’t communicate with her peers as she would like to, and her best friend, her grandfather, —who was also deaf, —has recently passed away, making her feel even more alone.

Iris’’s journey takes her down research rabbit holes and into chatrooms and, finally, to Alaska, all in the name of helping a whale who has the same struggle she does. When Iris learns about Blue 55, a whale whose song is lower than all the other whales around him, she knows how lonely he must be. She makes it her mission to record a song for him that will let him know he is not alone. In the process, she learns how to open her heart and mind to those around her.

This isn’’t just a book for young adults; it’’s a book for anyone who has ever felt they were on the outside looking in. Song for a Whale is a blueprint for how to discover and engender connection, even when it seems impossible.