Song for a Whale - an audiobook review

Song for a Whale

By Lynne Kelly 
Read by Abigail Revasch
Penguin Random House Audio, 2019

I reviewed Song for a Whale for AudioFile Magazine.  I can't reprint my review here in its entirety, but I've linked it, and do hope you'll read it. [https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/153293/]

There are not many middle grade books featuring deaf characters, and this one should be added to every library. Narrator, Abigail Revasch, and author, Lynne Kelly, convey in words and sounds what cannot be written or heard.  The song of a unique whale and the linguistic beauty of American Sign Language (ASL) are treated with wonder and reverence in this insightful glimpse into deaf culture.

Extra resources for Song for a Whale:

• Song for a Whale Educators' Guide
• Read an excerpt from Song for a Whale 
• Listen to an excerpt from Song for a Whale
• 
  

The author's notes on ASL and on the real whale that inspired this book were informative and likely to spark further interest in both topics. The author's notes are read by Lynne Kelly.

I know that I immediately went hunting for more information on the this unique whale.  Here's link to a Smithsonian article about the 52 Hz whale.

Wild Boy - a review

Losure, Mary. 2013. Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.



Found living wild and naked in the mountains of France in 1797, the Savage of Aveyron, or Victor, as he was later called, was treated in turns as  a curiosity, an object of derision, a specimen, an imbecile, a burden.

About ten years old at the time of his discovery and capture, the Savage of Aveyron lived the rest of his life under the scrutiny of other people.  "Doctors" and "scientists" of the time, were a far cry from what they are today and it is fascinating to compare and contrast the state of modern science.  In the same circumstance today, the scientists most likely studying the young boy would be cultural anthropologists, with a focus on learning how the child adapts to his environment, what he eats, how he communicates.  Modern scientists would study him in his own habitat. In France, 1797, however, there is only one main focus - acculturate the boy and teach him to speak French.  No attempt is made to study the boy where he lives; in fact, nothing about his home in the wild is even noted.

Mary Losure has done an excellent job in telling "Victor's" story using period source documents (orphanage rolls, medical journals, correspondence) and accounts written in previous centuries.  There is little or no narrative license taken in this chronological account.  Her description of towns, roads and structures are taken from accounts of the time, and where information is missing, she helpful in filling in the back story, but clear on what is factual and what is speculation.

No one alive today knows the details of what happened next - whether the woodsmen kept a rode around the wild boy's neck or tied his hands behind his back.  No one knows if that night, they took him somewhere to sleep or left him in the square, tied and helpless.  But every day, he was forced to stand, hour after our, for everyone to see. 

And maybe it was then that the wild boy began to hate the staring eyes of crowds.

The boy escapes and is recaptured many times over the years.  He is given to the care of several different scientists, and finds (outside the scientific community), a few people who genuinely care for him.  However, his life is always difficult and sad.  He was known to laugh with glee at the opportunity to enjoy even the coldest of days outdoors, and alternatively, to pine sadly at windows when the moon was full and he was trapped indoors.

Despite spending years in the care of Dr. Itard at the Paris Institute for Deaf-Mutes, and in close proximity to its deaf students, no one ever attempted to teach him to sign.

Dr. Itard had known from the first time he'd met the wild boy that communicating with hand gestures came naturally to him. 

Yet it never seemed to occur to Dr. Itard to try to teach Victor formal sign language.

Dr. Itard himself had never learned it, even though he spent more than thirty years working at a school for deaf children.  Like many people in those days, he did not believe that the formal signing used by deaf people was real language.  He wanted Victor to speak, and to Itard, that meant speaking aloud.

Victor never learned to speak aloud, therefore, the entire decades-long intrusion into the life of Victor, the Savage of Aveyron, was considered a failure by the scientific standards of the time. A strange, sad and true tale that, though featuring a boy without words, speaks volumes about communication and ethnocentrism.  It is the savage, not science, that triumphs in Wild Boy.

Haunting, monochromatic illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering add much to the story.  Endpapers contain maps of the boy's journey, and back matter includes an Author's Note, Source Notes, Bibliography, Index, and Acknowledgments.

Written for a target audience of age ten and up (difficult words are often explained parenthetically), this is a biography that will be of interest to teens and adults as well.

Mary Losure is the author of The Fairy Ring.  Timothy Basil Ering has illustrated many books including Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux.

An interesting note: As a boy, Victor Hugo lived just a few doors away from the adult Victor, and most likely would have seen him loping and gamboling in the garden. 

Some say the hero of Hugo's book The Hunchback of Notre Dame may have been based on the young boy's glimpses of the strange, wild man who roamed the convent gardens and never spoke.

Today's Nonfiction Monday roundup is at Stacking Books.

ASL books for kids

American Sign Language (ASL) books for kids

As a general rule, unless I am under obligation to SLJ or LT, I don't write reviews of books that I don't like.  The work of many committed people goes into the commercial publication of a book, and it would be the height of arrogance to assume that I am the best or only arbiter of good taste and quality.  I offer my opinions here for the benefit of myself and those who may not have the time to read as extensively or expansively as I do.  That being said, without referencing a particular book, I wish to offer a caveat regarding American Sign Language books for children.

I am very fortunate in that I work with a deaf woman who has been teaching me sign language for over a year.  She and I often share books and discussion about deaf culture, ASL, and unrelatedly, our interest in star gazing. (We both loved Wonderstruck.)

Over the past few weeks, I've received numerous new ASL picture books at my branch.  These recent additions depict ASL in simplistic drawings.  This may make for a cute picture book, but the signs are nearly impossible to decipher and replicate with one's actual hands. Sign language is a fluid language.  The required movements are very difficult to duplicate in pictures.  If you must rely on printed text and illustrations (which will work fine for most of the ASL alphabet), purchase or borrow books with photographs of hands rather than artistic renderings.  A better suggestion, however, if you are seeking to teach ASL, is using one of the many kid-friendly DVDs, or YouTube tutorials.  Purchasing books which rely on simple, hand-rendered illustrations of complex signs is, in my opinion, a waste of money.  My co-worker did use our new books to teach me something - the signs for "wrong picture."  (I already knew the signs for "bad book.")

If you want to learn about deaf culture or ASL, check out the site for the National Association of the Deaf, or the National Institutes of Health site, or best of all, ask a deaf person.

Today is Nonfiction Monday.

Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy - a review

Wise, Bill. 2012. Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer Willliam Hoy. Ill. by Adam Gustavson. New York: Lee & Low.

No one today would call a deaf person "dummy," but from 1888-1902, Major League Baseball player, William Ellsworth Hoy, wore that nickname with pride. 

Deaf from the age of three, his chances of becoming a major league baseball star were slim to none.  At the turn of the century, deafness itself was a great hurdle to overcome.  Attitudes were different, and his early years were difficult until his parents sent him to the Ohio School for the Deaf, where,

Nobody stared or pointed him.  Nobody felt sorry for him.

Presumably, this is where he learned the confidence and persistence (he already had a love for baseball), that helped propel him to the top of his game as a major league outfielder. Bill Wise chronicles his early life, his rise to stardom, and the unique challenges he faced in the game of baseball.  His baseball challenges were not necessarily due to his disability, but rather, just the way the game is played. If the opposing team has a weakness, exploit it.

Because he could not hear the home plate umpire shouting balls and strikes when he was at bat, Hoy had to turn around to look at the ump after each pitch.  The umpire would repeat the call, and as Hoy read the ump's lips, opposing pitchers often quick pitched Hoy, throwing the next ball before he was ready to bat.

This didn't stop Hoy for long, though.  There's a "workaround" for nearly everything.  Some historians argue that Hoy's deafness may have been the impetus for the umpire's use of hand signals.  In any case, the fans loved him - knowing that he could not hear their cheers, fans waved their arms and hats and threw confetti to show their approval.

Gustavson's mostly double-spread illustrations depict Hoy as a determined and confident young man.

 Much of the text is presented in text boxes which appear as aged scrapbook or autograph pages outlined in faded fountain pen.  The subdued tones of the illustrations, along with the many undefined faces, help give Silent Star the appropriate "old time" feel.

The Afterword offers additional information and photos of Hoy's baseball card and a Hoy-autographed baseball.  Biographical sources are included on the dedication page.  As for baseball sources, they're unnecessary, for that is one of the many beauties of baseball.  There are official statistics for everything! (read or watch Moneyball, anyone?)

See all of "Dummy" Hoy’s major league stats here.

Although he is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, you may read two entries about William Hoy on the Hall of Fame's website: http://baseballhall.org/search/node/william%2520hoy

This is a particularly worthwhile addition to the growing collection of nonfiction, baseball-themed picture books because of the inspiring nature of Hoy's story.

I received this review copy from the publisher, Lee & Low, who could not have chosen a more interested or appreciative reviewer. It’s no secret that I’m an avid baseball fan, but I have also become interested in deaf culture, and am slowly learning sign language thanks to a very kind and patient deaf co-worker. I may not always get the right sign, but we sure have some good laughs - mostly at my expense. Who knew that counting past ten could be so difficult!

Today's Nonfiction Monday roundup is at Books 4 Learning.

Wonderstruck: a review

Selznick, Brian. 2011. Wonderstruck.  New York: Scholastic.

 (Advance Reader Copy)

During the course of reading Wonderstruck, I misplaced the book.  When I asked my family if anyone had seen it, my daughter answered, "Which book?  The one with two different covers?"  I hadn't thought of it that way, but yes, the book with two different covers.
*minor spoiler alert*
(though I'm not giving any more away than Brian Selznick does in his Wonderstruck video - see below)

Wonderstruck's cover is a preview of its contents - two stories, two eras, two modes of storytelling. One would think that after his ground-breaking, Caldecott Winner, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick could not have any more surprises up his sleeve, but  in Wonderstruck, he again inspires us with this singular story of two mysterious and wonder-filled journeys.

Ben's story begins in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, in June, 1977; Rose's, in Hoboken, New Jersey, 1927.  Though 50 years divide their stories, the children embark on parallel journeys fraught with uncertainty and risk, and guided by purpose - a need to know.  Ben's story is told in third person prose, while Rose's is told in Selznick's incredibly detailed, unmistakable pencil drawings.  The two stories are woven together, sometimes almost touching, other times gathering distance until at last, in a single drawing, with a simple turn of the page, Selznick seamlessly binds the two stories together, where they stay, until Wonderstruck's conclusion.

It is clear that Selznick's fascination with silent film and early cinema did not end with Hugo Cabret.  Silent film is featured in Wonderstruck, not in the same capacity as in Hugo, but rather as a vehicle for introducing deaf culture. It is museums, not film or mechanics, that take center stage in Wonderstruck.  Both Rose and Ben are seeking something, and both find themselves, a half century apart, at the same location, the American Museum of Natural History, where they are fascinated by museum dioramas and early museum collections, or "cabinets of wonder."

Readers will be fascinated as well, by Wonderstruck's story, artwork, and the offered glimpse into another time and another culture.

A page from Brian Selznick's, Wonderstruck. © 2011
Rose can be seen ducking behind a "cabinet of wonders."

This drawing (not from Selznick's book) of an early "wonder room"
 or "curiosity cabinet," comes from the Smithsonian Institution's collection.
 It appeared in a 1599 book entitled, Dell'historia Naturale by Ferrante Imperato.

I've tried to be purposefully vague, because I enjoyed reading Wonderstruck with no preconceived notion or direction, trustingly following wherever it led. If you'd like more details, read another more revealing review @ Jen Robinson's Book Page.  And by all means, watch Brian Selznick's video.


I hope you enjoy Wonderstruck as much as I did.  It's due on shelves next week.  And remember, Hugo, the movie inspired by The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and directed by Martin Scorsese, is due in theaters in November. (Trailer here) Much to look forward to.

I'm also blogging at ALSC today.  If you've the time, hop over.