What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Whalesong
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. YA / Fiction / About a whale going from north to south. [s]
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Do you remember any singing involved in your story? I read two YA books featuring whale characters, both with original English publications in the mid-1980s, but the whales singing was a strong theme in both books.Prince of Whales might be closest to your description: it had a baleen whale going on a quest while plagued by whale hunters.
But Deep Wizardry also has whale hunters, real baleen whales, people transformed temporarily to baleen whales, sharks, and a theme of (minor) travel and exploration.
I do believe they communicated through songs and singing, but I don't think it's either of those. The Prince of Whales seems closest, so I'll definitely check into that.It definitely featured a baleen whale, and I think it was a blue whale.
It didn't involve humans except for the whale hunters though, I'm 100% sure there weren't transformations (or anything magical) involved.
Thanks for your help though!
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bump! still looking for this, and recalled some more info, which I've edited in above.
Were there any human friends in the story?
I'm pretty sure there weren't. It's possible he encounters a greenpeace like organisation on his travels, but I'm not sure of that either.It's definitely not one of those stories where a kid or a human befriends a whale, it's told entirely from the whale's POV.
This is really stretching it, as I'm not sure what the book is about since it is in French. I also can't track down any synopsis. There is a book from 1946 called Pique la baleine (Pique the Whale) by Gilbert Dupe. Also, there is a song by the same name.
There is a part in the song mentioning traveling North and South, I think (my French speaking begins and ends with Google Translate).
I have no idea if this is even close. Or, if the book was translated into Dutch.
I don't think this is it, although I'm not entirely sure since I haven't have my hands on a copy (yet).It did make me recall that the book I'm looking for is definitely illustrated, although sparsely, with black and white illustrations. The scene with the old whale's mate who is stuck in the inlet is definitely one of the illustrations.
almost a year later, but alas, still looking for it...
It sounds like "The White Seal" from The Jungle Book. Except it's a seal, not a whale. I can't remember if that story is in the first book or the second one, but they are available free online from various sources, so hopefully you can track it down and see if it's what you're thinking of.
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No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.
I know this is years old but I was just trying to find a similar book and the one i was thinking of is Whalesong which is part of a trilogy "Here is the story of Hruna the humpback whale, from birth marked for greatness by his size and courage. As days of carefree frolicking give way to adolescence, Hruna prepares for the Lonely Cruise, the rite of passage into adulthood, by visiting the Great Whale who lives on the ocean floor. There he learns the myth of origins and receives his true name in preparation for the swift adventures and narrow escapes that propel him into the ultimate challenge of leading his pod of whales in a desperate fight for survival."Whalesong
This is amazing because this is definitely the book. Thank you sooooo much!!
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What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Whalesong (other topics)The Jungle Book (other topics)
Deep Wizardry (other topics)
The Prince of Whales (other topics)
It was a book about a whale (the plankton eating kind), from the Northern hemisphere. They are plagued by whale-hunters (I believe his mother dies). When he gets his own family, he hears rumors about a whale in the Southern Hemisphere who has found a way to survive/evade the humans, so he traverses the world, which is really bad for his bio-clock (he can't feed since he's traveling), he finds the old whale, who isn't really helpful, but learns something and travels back home.
No idea how it ended. But I read it several times, it was so good.
Anyone an idea?
Edited:
After looking for this for a while, I've remembered some other stuff about it.
When he finds the old whale, it turns out that he's a bitter and grumpy loner whale, who has no interest in the survival of the species really. His own tricks include living under the ice in the winter, and making use of oxygen bubbles and small breaks in the ice to discreetly breathe. His personal story was also very tragic, I believe his mate died when she got stuck into a too shallow inlet. She was found by humans, not the whale hunter kind, who inexpertly killed her by throwing stones and spears (?) at her, and I believe in the end she died of the infection of her shallow wounds.
So while the young whale learned some tricks, it wasn't really enough to keep entire herds of whales safe, so it's not really feasible for families.