Twelve-year-old Iris Bailey lives in Houston with her older brother Tristan and her parents. Iris lived by the ocean until after second grade when her family moved to Houston for her father's job. That meant living closer to Iris's grandparents who like she and her mother, are deaf.
Researchers from a marine sanctuary unsuccessfully attempted to place a tracker on Blue 55. His location is known only by underwater microphones that pick-up his song.
Iris is deeply moved by the video about Blue 55 because she understands what it is like to be unable to communicate with others. Her school, Timber Oaks has no Deaf students and no matter how good she is at reading lips, she often misses most of what her friends talk about.
This leads frustration leads to an incident at school with classmate Nina who attempts to communicate with Iris by signing. Nina's signing makes no sense and begins to embarrass Iris. Frustrated, she pushes Nina away, causing her to fall and ending with Iris in the principal's office and being grounded at home.
Iris repairs old radios as a hobby. Her bedroom has three walls of shelves filled with her radio collection. A workbench contains tools, wires and electronic parts. Her most precious possession is a Philco 38-690 cabinet radio which took her five months to repair. Iris found it at Mr. Gunnar's antique shop and was able to bring it home. At four feet tall it stands on the floor in Iris's bedroom, beside her bed. Because of the altercation at school, Iris has to remove all her radios and tools out of her bedroom as punishment. Unknown to her parents and with the help of Tristan, Iris retrieves the TV/radio/record player she bought from the junkyard.
On the weekend, Iris does some research on Blue 55, learning about the sanctuary working to tag the whale. She discovers the person trying to tag Blue 55 is scientist Andi Rivera. The sanctuary website also explains how the piano can be used to mimic different whale songs. This inspires Iris to try to think of "...a way to sing back to him and hold his attention with something that sounded a bit like himself." Iris wonders if Blue 55 is deaf and messages Andi to ask. Andi responds that they do not believe this is the case.
At her friend Wendell Jackson's house, Iris tries out various notes on the piano that the sanctuary website indicated were at the frequency of the various whale songs. She tells Wendell that she wants to find a way to talk to Blue 55. "He keeps singing this song, and everything in the ocean swims by him, as if he's not there. He thinks no one understands him. I want to let him know he's wrong about that."
Iris finds sheet music for whale songs online. There is music for humpback whales and even for Blue 55. Iris learns that only some instruments such as the tuba and bass trombone can play notes at 55 hertz. With this in mind, she approaches her school's music teacher, Mr. Russel about recording a song for Blue 55. He agrees to put something together with the music students and the next day with Iris playing the piano notes, they record Blue's song. Mr. Russell also shows Iris an app on her phone that allows her to create Blue's song using the same musical instruments.
Iris sends the recording of Blue's song to Andi Rivera so she can play it while she is on the boat. Iris believes if Blue can her his song it might entice him to stay by the boat so they can tag him. Andi Rivera responds, indicating that they have decided to use her recording the next time they attempt to tag Blue. However, they haven't heard Blue recently nor do they know his current location. Andi tells Iris she'll be able to watch the live webcast when they do attempt to tag him. Iris is not happy about this as she wants to be there when her song is played and Blue is tagged. So she writes Andi offering to help on the expedition. At the same time Iris lies to her parents, telling them Andi has invited her to join the expedition when it happens. But when another email from Andi confirms Iris's worst fears, that it is impossible for her to be a part of the expedition, Iris is furious. Her anger is channeled into finding a way to get to the sanctuary no matter what.
To that end Iris decides to sell some of her radios including her prized Philco which she sells to Mr. Gunnar, in order to buy a plane ticket to Alaska. However this doesn't work when she discovers she can't withdraw money from her bank account without her parents' permission. Needing to talk to someone, Iris visits Grandma at Oak Manor. But after listening to Iris, Grandma comes up with her own plan to get Iris to Alaska. That plan involves taking a cruise, some lies and deception. Iris is so desperate and determined to meet up with Blue 55 that she agrees.
It seems like her grandma's plan is working until Blue 55 changes course and doesn't show in Appleton, Alaska but instead is headed for the coast of Oregon, at Lighthouse Bay. Even worse, the sanctuary in Oregon has no interest in playing Iris's song. With some planning, sheer determination, and a lot of luck, Iris not only gets to play Blue's song but has an unforgettable encounter with Blue 55.
Discussion
Song For A Whale is a well-written novel for middle grade readers that has a unique and intriguing story line. Iris Bailey, a young, deaf girl, struggling with her own issues of communication and belonging learns about a blue whale believed to be unable to communicate with other whales. Touched by the whale's desperate circumstances, Iris records a song at the same frequency as the whale song, to let him know he's not alone. Hoping to see the whale and play her song, she undertakes a journey that ends in much more than she could ever dream.
The story line was inspired by the true story of a whale the 52Hertz whale or 52 Blue, once dubbed "the world's loneliest whale". In 1989, US Navy hydrophones (microphones placed underwater) picked up a strange signal at 52 Hertz. Bill Watkins from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute recognized this signal as an unusual whale call. In 2004, after years of studying the recordings, Watkins published a paper on the unique calls. Public interest was tweaked when the press framed the whale as lonely and calling for companionship.
However, Christopher Willes Clark of Cornell University believed the 52 Hertz call was simply one of many types of whale calls and that if this is a whale call, he can be heard by other whales. Clark felt that blue, fin and humpback whales would all be able to hear the 52 Hertz whale call. Therefore to describe the whale as "lonely" or "sad" is likely not accurate. Researchers have no idea what exactly whales experience. So the media using such descriptions is simply a case of anthropomorphism - attributing human emotions to an animal.
The story is further complicated by the fact that no new calls at 52 Hertz have been recorded recently. And the last recorded calls were much deeper. This is part of a pattern discovered by scientists that whale calls have been changing over the past decades; blue whale calls are deepening, while Atlantic right whales are singing at a higher frequency. There have been theories that the 52 Hertz whale is actually a hybrid of a blue and fin whale.
Much of the above information can be found in greater detail in the Author's Note at the back of the book. Author Lynne Kelly fashioned her story based on some aspects of 52 Blue to create a similar but fictional whale called Blue 55. Kelly's work as a sign language interpreter led her to craft the character of Iris, a young Deaf girl "who'd be compelled to track down the lonely whale, since she's one of the many kids who go through every day feeling like she isn't heard."
In Song For A Whale, Kelly uses the fictional story of Blue 55 a whale unable to communicate with other whales to mirror the issues Deaf persons like Iris Bailey must face on a daily basis. Blue 55 has a song that is very different from other whales. Because he is not associated with any known pod, scientists have assumed that he is unable to communicate with his own kind. This mirrors the struggles Iris encounters daily in attending Timber Oaks, a school that has no program for Deaf students. Although Iris has Mr. Charles, a sign interpreter, she has few friends. This leaves her feeling like an outsider in her own school. This is especially emphasized when she sits with her friends in the cafeteria and struggles to read their lips as they talk.
At home one night, Iris tries to explain about Blue 55, the expedition to tag him and how she wants to be a part of it. Her father, who is not deaf struggles to keep up with Iris and her mother as they sign. When he makes a joke that doesn't include Iris, she signs, "What if you couldn't talk to anyone around you? What if you tried, but no one understood?" When her father tells Iris to slow down because he can't understand, she signs, "It doesn't matter what I do. You don't understand anyway! What if your whole life was like this? What if you were that whale, in an ocean with no one to talk to?" Iris understands the loneliness and isolation she is certain Blue 55 must be experiencing.
Iris tries to impress upon her family that she needs to go to see Blue 55 because he needs to know that someone hears him. However, her parents, quite reasonably tell Iris that such a trip, to Alaska, is not possible. Nevertheless, Iris feels that she isn't being heard and in her frustration she continues signing so fast that her family can't keep up. But Iris doesn't care: "I was like Blue 55, shouting into the void of the ocean, at a frequency too high for anyone to reach."
That isolation is even more evident when she visits her Deaf friend Wendell Jackson's school, Bridgewood Junior High. In this situation Iris cannot keep up with Wendell and his friends as they sign using American Sign Language (ASL).
As with the reporting on the 52 Hertz whale, Kelly also employs anthropomorphism in her novel. Separate, short chapters written in Blue 55's voice relate his struggles to fit in and find companionship. These chapters chronicle his failed attempt to join a new pod of humpback whales only to be rejected because they cannot understand him and his playing with dolphins. The whale asks "Was there anything out in the ocean like himself? He kept calling just in case his someone was out there." Blue 55 even questions his existence! "What was a whale without a pod? What was a whale without a whale song?" However, all this changes when Blue 55 reaches Lighthouse Bay and hears Iris's song. He believes he has returned home and that "....after all the years of calling and searching, after so much time and loneliness, so many calls left unheard and unanswered....maybe, finally someone was listening." These chapters might mislead young readers to believe that whales experience their lives the way humans do. We do not. However, Kelly's use of anthropomorphism in this novel helps to mirror the loneliness Iris is experiencing in her life.
Iris Bailey is a fascinating character. She's strong, resilient and a bit quirky with her love of electronics and fixing radios. Through advocating for Blue 55, Iris learns to become an advocate for herself. After she returns home from her adventure, she argues for her desire to attend Bridgewood Junior, a school with a large deaf education program. Although her grandma brings the issue up to Iris's mother, this time Iris doesn't back down, telling her mother that she's willing to accept the challenges that go with moving to a new school and making new friends.
Song For A Whale offers the opportunity for younger readers to learn more about the different types of whales and their calls and about whale research. Even more important, the novel offers some perspective into the lives of Deaf persons, the issues they encounter in their daily lives with communication and developing a sense of belonging. Although the anthropomorphism attached to Blue 55 and Iris's swim with the whale are a bit over the top, this is a sensitive and thoughtful novel that middle grade students will truly enjoy.
One last thought: The beautiful front cover art and inside illustrations were done by illustrator Leo Nickolls. More illustrations by this accomplished artist would have added greatly to the story. It's a shame so few middle grade novels are not illustrated these days.
Book Details:Song For A Whale by Lynne Kelly
New York: Delacourt Press 2019
303 pp.
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