Emma and the Whale

January 2, 2017
White’s (Arctic White) atmospheric, vintage-style watercolors transport readers to the seaside home of a girl named Emma, a landscape of shingled white cottages, rocky outcrops, pine trees, and sandy beaches. Newcomer Case describes Emma’s intimacy with ocean life and her love for it; she even imagines herself back in the age of whalers, shouting to ship captains, “Please don’t hurt the whales.” When Emma spots a beached baby whale, she acts instantly to save the creature, using the power of the rising tide to push the whale back into the water. As she works, she finds she can understand the whale’s thoughts: “I’m scared,” the whale thinks. “Don’t be,” Emma tells her. The introductory section lags a bit, and the whale, though more than a prop, isn’t a fully developed character, despite its telepathic connection with Emma. Yet Case’s debut fulfills the human fantasy of rescuing a wild creature in trouble while presenting a can-do story of a girl performing a remarkable physical feat: “She took a deep breath and tried again. I can do this.” Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management.

December 1, 2016
Emma lives near the sea, where she enjoys beachcombing and playing with her dog, Nemo.Sometimes the fair-skinned redhead thinks about "olden times," imagining herself in a boat alongside a whaling vessel, persuading its harpooner not to harm cetaceans. At other moments, her thoughts have an environmental twist: "She liked to picture an ocean teeming with life, with no balloons or bottles spit to shore." White's serene watercolor-and-mixed-media compositions feature a muted palette made up primarily of greens, grays, blues, and black. Scenes of the past are rendered in mustard and brown. Stylized trees dot the seascape. The central action concerns a beached baby whale that Emma discovers during a walk. She caresses the creature, discerning its thoughts and intuiting its fears and gender. Implausibly, she doesn't think about going for help but rather waits for the tide to come in. She then single-handedly pushes the whale into the current, sending it back to its mother. Unrealistic plot elements mix uncomfortably with the ecological messages, producing neither the playfulness of fantasy nor the accuracy of realism. The choppy prose--"At low tide, that's when they found the best treasures"--does not enhance the package. A well-intentioned effort from a debut author, this does not rise above the plethora of existing tales about whales--beached, biblical, or bellicose. (Picture book. 4-6)

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January 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 2-The sea coast comes alive in this lyrical tale as Emma and her dog gather shells, stones, and sea glass. "She smelled the salty air. The sea and the sky swirled together as she skipped past the misty dunes to the shoreline." The child loves her home, and her heartfelt concern for the environment and its "teeming life" is apparent as she pictures an ocean without "balloons or bottles spit to shore." One day, Emma and her dog discover a stranded baby whale. She tries to help the frightened animal, telling the baby to "think of your pod and your family. Picture yourself swimming free." Rendered in watercolor and mixed media, the illustrations awaken the senses and enhance the well-paced plot. Maritime hues, vignettes, and spreads complement the story line as Emma and her dog, Nemo, work hard to nudge the heavy creature until "a few more pushes and the whale slipped past Emma and ducked under a wave." VERDICT An elegant read-aloud about a girl and her dog that features heroism, kindness, and a love of the sea. This will work well one-on-one or in a small group storytime.-Melissa Smith, Royal Oak Public Library, MI

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2017
Preschool-G Inspired by debut author Case's summers by the Long Island seaside, this tale of tiny triumphs introduces a girl, her dog, and a whale in need. Living in a weathered house along the coast, Emma and pup Nemo revel in exploring the ocean's many wonders, from dolphins and drift logs to loggerhead turtles. Though low tide typically reveals a shore sprinkled with shells and stones and sea glass, today it's delivered something else entirely: a beached baby whale. Determined to assist the helpless calf, Emma awaits high tide, working with the swirling surf to return her new friend to sea. While the muted palettecream, sepia, seafoamof White's digitally enhanced watercolor and mixed-media illustrations sets a necessarily sobering tone, double-page spreads devoted exclusively to the whale's bulky body or the sea's slate waves emphasize the sheer splendor of the natural world. Infused with imagination, empathy, and poetic prose, Emma's winsome, gently conservationist story is ideal for introducing little ones to the importance of compassiontoward both the earth and the creatures we share it with.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
Emma loves the ocean and its creatures. One day, she and her dog discover a beached baby whale. Feeling a deep kinship with the whale, Emma waits until the tide comes in and helps it back into the ocean, where its mother is waiting. Although rescuing whales is of course more complicated, this is gentle, lyrical magical realism, accompanied by swirly, evocative illustrations.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)