The Song for a Whale

Title: Song for a Whale
By: Lynn Kelly
Published: 2019
Call #: J Kelly.L

Cool story about Iris, a deaf girl named after a whale. Iris has strong tech skills (she repairs antique radios for pocket money) but she’s main streamed in a school with no deaf students and feels frustration at being alone. Then she learns about a whale (Blue 55) who communicates in a different frequency from other whales (this portion of the story is based on a real whale). Compelling writing, interesting complex characters and a wonderful arc for our heroine — and her grandmother! Lynne Kelly has been an ASL interpreter for 20 years so I am hoping she’s portraying Iris and her grandmother with authenticity. The portions of the book about marine science and acoustic biology were fascinating and fun.

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Tags: Deaf community; marine mammal science; STEM girl