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The Longest Whale Song (2010)

by Jacqueline Wilson(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0385618158 (ISBN13: 9780385618151)

languge

English

genre

Middle Grade & Children's

publisher

Doubleday Childrens

review 1: If I could do halves, I would give this book 4 and a half stars. The book is about a girl who's mum is having a baby and the labour doesn't work out that well so she has to go to hospital and ends up staying there for ages. The girl keeps sending her letters and once, she sends a letter all about whales and she wrote 'Did you know mum that the longest song ever sung (by a whale) went up to twenty-three hours!(Review by Maya, age 8, Rebecca's daughter)
review 2: Ella adores her mother, a teacher, and isn't thrilled about her stepfather Jack being in the picture. She is even more concerned that the expected baby will take even more time away from her. When her mother suffers from eclampsia and ends up in a coma after delivering her brother Samson, Ella and her st... moreepfather are at a loss as to what to do. Samson stays in the hospital for a while, but eventually has to come home. The two manage to find a babysitter while Jack and Ella are off at school, but there is still a lot of care at home, which is further complicated by having to spend time at the hospital visiting her mother. Ella hopes that her father, whom she sees rarely, might come and take her back with him, but a visit with him is disappointing. Ella still needs to keep up with her schoolwork, and studying whales takes her mind off her mother's plight, and in the end, helps with her mother's condition.Strengths: This was a nice change from the mothers in Wilson's stories who are just plain bad mothers: it certainly is not Ella's mother's fault that she's not able to take care of her family. There is support for Ella on various fronts, but things are still portrayed realistically as difficult. I can't think of another book where the mother suffers injury in childbirth.Weaknesses: I didn't find the information about whales very interesting, but judging from the number of students I know who want to study oceanography when they grow up, including it was a good call. (Really? Students who live in Ohio want to study the ocean? Or do they just want to get out of Ohio?) less

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