Genre: Realistic Fiction
The Stranded Whale
Written By: Jane Yolen
Illustrated By: Melanie Cataldo
Published: 2015
This book was just plain sad. I honestly don't think I would ever use this because it is so blunt and so depressing. It follows a group of young children who are walking home from their various activities on the beach. Much to their dismay and confusion, they found a whale washed up on the sand. The whale was still alive, but very distressed. The children frantically attempted to hold the whale over until the coast guard could help by sticking their sweaters in the ocean and placing them on the whale's body. Unfortunately, the whale does not make it, and the children leave upset.
The one aspect I enjoyed was the sizing scale of the drawings. It was very powerful seeing how small the children and the coast guard helpers were compared to the whale. There were dozens of people working and attempting to slide the whale back into the ocean, but it was too large for them to even budge. The color scheme is also quite dreary, which really helped set the tone for the book.
While I will not be using this book in my classroom, it could be a tool for talking with older students about life cycles of habitats. The book mentions a variety of different sea creatures, which could act as a transitional piece into discussion of a variety of life that exists underwater. I give this book 2.5 stars.
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