Caroline Starr Rose

award-winning picture book and middle-grade author

Classroom Connections: Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly

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age range: 8-12 years
genre: contemporary fiction
Lynne Kelly’s website
curriculum and discussion guide

At its luminous heart, Song for a Whale is a tale about longing for connection and finding it in the most magical and unexpected of places. Fascinating, brave and tender, this is a story like no other about a song like no other. A triumph.
—Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan

Song for a Whale is beautifully written and is such an important story for kids with big struggles in their lives.  I fell into Iris’s world from the first chapter.  Lynne Kelly does an amazing job telling the story from Iris’s perspective.
—Millicent Simmonds, actress, Wonderstruck and A Quiet Place

A quick-moving, suspenseful plot takes her from junkyards to a cruise ship as she [Iris] gains the confidence to stand up for herself and take control of her life. Written by a sign-language interpreter, this story incorporates important elements of Deaf culture and the expansiveness and richness of ASL…this remains a satisfying, energetic read. Iris’ adventures will engross readers.
—Kirkus Reviews

The strength of the book is its strong portrayal of Iris as a deaf girl in a hearing world and an intelligent 12-year-old in headlong, single-minded pursuit of her goal.
—Booklist

Subtly and poignantly drawing a parallel between the girl and whale, Kelly (Chained), who has worked as a sign language interpreter, relays Iris’s venture with credibility and urgency. This finely crafted novel affectingly illuminates issues of loneliness, belonging, and the power of communication.
—Publishers Weekly

Iris’s depth of empathy, the joy she feels working with radios, and the skillful way she navigates two different worlds of communication create an authenticity that will resonate with Deaf and hearing readers alike… An uplifting tale that’s a solid addition to most collections; especially recommended for libraries needing stronger representation of Deaf protagonists. —School Library Journal

Please tell us about your book. 

Song For a Whale is about twelve-year-old Iris, who feels most at home in her electronics workshop where she repairs antique radios. She’s the only deaf student at her school, so she can’t talk to the other kids there. And she’s a frequent guest at the principal’s office. She always loved spending time with her deaf grandparents, but Grandpa is gone now and Grandma isn’t the same without him. One day in science class, Iris learns about Blue 55, the loneliest whale in the world, who sings at a frequency unintelligible to all other whales. Iris immediately feels connected to the whale and hatches a plan to reach out to him. With her Deaf grandmother by her side, Iris sets out on a trip from Texas to Alaska to find Blue 55 and let him know someone hears his song.

What inspired you to write this story?

Learning about the real 52 hertz whale, who sings at a frequency of about 52 hertz instead of 10 to 20 like most baleen whales. His song has some characteristics of blue whale and fin whale songs, so maybe he’s a hybrid of the two. He’s been around since the late 80s that we know of, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of him before. I was fascinated, wondering what life was like for a whale who sang like no other. I started reading as much as I could about him, and soon started writing about him. 

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research or share a few interesting tidbits you learned while researching? 

Yes, I learned a lot about whale songs, which I enjoyed because I’m so interested in animal communication. Some recent recordings of the 52 hertz whale song suggest that there could be more than one source of the song. Maybe there’s a small population of whales that sing it. Also the song has been growing lower over time, so it’s more like 47 hertz now. 

The humpback whales are the symphony players of the sea—they’re the ones most people think of when the think of whale songs. They have a huge range of sounds, from very low to very high, and the songs can go on for hours. What I love most is that a pod will pick up snippets of songs from one in a different region of the world. Bowhead whales are known as the “jazz musicians of the sea,” because they constantly improvise new songs. 

What are some special challenges associated with introducing a setting your audience might be unfamiliar with? 

Much of the book takes place aboard an Alaskan cruise, a place not many readers will have seen. I think the challenge is in describing the setting clearly enough for readers to envision it without going on so long that the description drags or takes them out of the story. 

I was fortunate enough to be able to take on two week-long interpreting assignments for deaf people taking Alaskan cruises, so that helped a lot with the setting details. One of those assignments was shortly after I started working on the story, and the second was a year later. That first trip informed some of the early scene work I was doing and the second one was really helpful during the revision stage. I got to see the sights that Iris and her grandmother would be sailing past, the towns they’d stop in, and the ship itself. 

One thing that helps get the unfamiliar setting description in there while still moving the story along is to have the setting do more “work” in the scene. For a scene where the ship is trying to make it through a fjord, I put that at a part of the story where Iris isn’t sure she’s going to succeed in her journey. I tried to show the walls of the mountainside seemingly closing in on the ship as they navigate through the icy waters. The ship captain finally has to give up and turn back, and Iris worries that she’ll have to do the same thing.  

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

Teachers can use the text to connect to lessons on sound waves, whale songs, sign language and deafness, poetry, ocean life, and geology.And here’s a downloadable curriculum and discussion guide! 

25 Books I’ve Never Read

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This title makes it sound like there are only two dozen books left in the world for me to conquer. Not exactly! But if you’re a book lover like I am, you probably own a few books you haven’t yet read. In scanning my shelves last December, I discovered I had more unread books in my bookcases than I’d realized. So I came up with a plan.

I’ve challenged myself to read twenty-five books this year from my collection of hand-me-downs, gift certificate purchases, and used bookstore finds. My goal is to tackle two a month. I’ve read my first two already — The Seven Storey Mountain (which somehow is missing from the picture above), and 101 Dalmatians.

The Seven Storey Mountain is an autobiography of a dissatisfied man who found God and eventually his true calling in a Trappist monastery. I’ve had my copy for at least fifteen years. I have no idea when or where I picked up a copy of 101 Dalmatians, though I suspect I decided to read it because it was written by Dodie Smith, the author of I Capture the Castle, a book I adore.

There’s a lot of non-fiction in the collection, including a number of memoirs: Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, The Journal of a Novel by John Steinbeck, Kathleen Norris’s The Cloister Walk and Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, to name a few.

There’s a good dose of kidlit because that’s what I do: Louise Erdrich’s Birchbark House series, Pam Munoz Ryan’s Paint the Wind (oh, how I love her Riding Freedom), Bridget Zinn’s Poison, and Sheila O’Connor’s latest (a gift our editor, Stacey, sent me), Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth.

There’s grown up fiction, old and new — from Zora Neale Hurston, Wilkie Collins, and Carson McCullers to Tracy Chevalier and Winston Groom.

Of course I’ll round out the rest of my year with library books, advance reader copies, and other new finds, but it feels especially satisfying to finally be reading the books I’ve always meant to pick up and for some reason haven’t before. I’ve got enough unread books around I hope to keep the practice going in the future. We’ll see where it leads!

What books are you planning to tackle in 2019? Here’s to lots of good reading ahead!

When Sadness is at Your Door

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Some emotions are hard to describe and even harder to experience. Eva Eland’s new picture book, When Sadness is at Your Door, is a “gentle and reassuring” look at one of life’s most complicated emotions.

The story opens with Sadness appearing as an uninvited guest. Simple illustrations give the emotion a color and shape.

The imagery and language show how Sadness can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. There is no talk of Sadness as a “bad” emotion or one we must try to avoid.

I was struck by how seeing Sadness on the page made the emotion somehow feel less scary. I also appreciated how Sadness was portrayed as something apart from the child — an important distinction, I think.

Just as unexpectedly as Sadness arrives, the child discovers it has gone.

When Sadness is at Your Door is an honest and hopeful portrayal of a complex emotion and is a wonderful tool to equip young readers the next time sadness pays to visit.

Thank you, Penguin Random House, for an advance copy for review.

Straight from the Source: Mike Winchell on Writing Historical Non-Fiction

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Mike Winchell is a veteran English teacher with a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. The creator & editor of the BEEN THERE, DONE THAT anthology series, he lives in upstate New York with his wife and two children. You can find out more at www.mikewinchellbooks.com.

THE ELECTRIC WAR: EDISON, TESLA, WESTINGHOUSE, AND THE RACE TO LIGHT THE WORLD —In the mid-to-late-nineteenth century, a burgeoning science called electricity promised to shine new light on a rousing nation. Inventive and ambitious minds were hard at work. Soon that spark was fanned and given life, and a fiery war was under way to be the first to light—and run—the world with electricity. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of direct current (DC), engaged in a brutal battle with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, the inventors of alternating current (AC). There would be no ties in this bout—only a winner and a loser. The prize: a nationwide monopoly in electric current. Brimming with action, suspense, and rich historical and biographical information about these inventors, here is the rousing account of one of the world’s defining scientific competitions.

How do you conduct your research? Do you have a specific system for collecting data?

I have a few stages when it comes to research. Initially, I read source material that’s readily available (that the average person can find), and I take notes on index cards (at this stage, I’m looking to see what the big picture ideas are related to my topics). I’ll jot details on one side of the index card with a citation included so I can find it again later on. As I do those first reads, I’ll look for things that keep coming up, like maybe one of the historical figures continually exhibits a character trait. In this way, development is coming through by way of my research. But I’m looking for a reason to write, or as Candace Fleming recently described it, I’m looking for the “vital idea” to my book.

After I have read a decent amount and know there’s something there (once I know there’s a compelling narrative to tell), I’ll begin to categorize the notes by writing the main ideas (categories) on the other side of the cards (this is where a character trait might be listed for those life experiences I’ve jotted down on the other side of the cards). I then turn to my giant bulletin boards that I hang on my office walls, and I start outlining in a big-picture manner so I can see the structure all around me. These bulletin boards will remain up until I am done with the book, so they’ll be up for a while. I’ll put big question marks on cards and tack them up (this tells me what I need to find out as I continue researching). Then I start looking for the information I lack—those question marks—in order to fill in the missing pieces and bring everything together. Cards will be moved, categories will be changed, and more question marks will be hung. When that bulletin board is complete, I start to look at the structure: Should I tell this in complete chronological order (which is rare)? Or should I play with the time structure, and if so, how am I doing this? The bulletin board will be shuffled around to put everything in order. This all makes the actual writing so much easier. The work I put in with the notes and the outlining really allows the writing itself to be a smooth process.

How did you come up with your system for researching and writing?

I have to give a lot of credit to Steve Sheinkin. You see, before I even started researching for my first book, I had read an interview where Steve mentioned that he used a big bulletin board and index cards. He didn’t detail the process, so I can’t tell you how close to his process mine is, but Sheinkin is definitely the inspiration for the process I came up with and have used effectively. So thanks, Steve!

How long do you typically research before beginning to draft?

I’ll usually spend a few months to a half year researching and plotting everything out before I start drafting.

What is your favorite thing about research?

I have a thirst for knowledge, so I soak up every drop of information like a sponge. With each detail I uncover, that thirst is satisfied more and more.

What’s your least favorite thing about research?

Since I write both fiction and nonfiction, when I’m at the research stage there are times when I just want to WRITE. I’ll catch myself envying the fiction author in me, and I’ll ask myself why I’m not writing a novel instead.

What’s one of the most interesting things you’ve learned while researching?

Nikola Tesla ripped up his AC royalty contracts so that George Westinghouse could maintain control of the company and continue the vision they had of sharing AC with the world. As a result, Tesla died penniless, and essentially gave up millions of dollars.

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