I Wonder If I'll See a Whale (Sandcastle) - Softcover

Author Frances Ward Weller holds a lifelong love for the sea. She and her family spend as much time as possible exploring the shores of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a source of inspiration for much of her writing. Like the young girl of her story, she loves whale-watching and has felt a real communion with these giant, gentle creatures of the sea.
Ms. Weller grew up in Connecticut and suburban New York and graduated from Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts. After more than twenty years in New Jersey, where they raised their four children, she and her husband, Frank, now live on Cape Cod year-round.
I Wonder If I'll See a Whale is her second book for Philomel. Her first, Riptide , appeared in 1990. copyright ? 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

Grade 2-4-- Stunning paintings and expressive prose introduce the awesome mystery of whale watching in this near-perfect collaboration between author and illustrator. The narrator is a school-aged girl whose previous whale-watching excursions had been unsatisfying. In a quiet but urgent voice, she conveys her fervent desire to see a whale close up. The excitement builds with two false sightings of dolphins and fin whales until, at last, several playful humpbacks are spotted, feeding and cavorting near enough to the boat to satisfy the child's curiosity. Educational and entertaining, the book cleverly interweaves facts about whales and accurate terminology into the telling of the day's events without breaking the rhythm of the story. Realistic watercolors allow the visual story to keep pace with the narration; views of the girl on the boat combing the bright horizon for signs of the whales alternate with glimpses of the giants of the deep swimming below the cool blue surface of the sea. Pictures and text merge dramatically in the final face-to-face meeting of the girl and the behemoth over the boat's railing. Children not yet able to handle the sophisticated language on their own will nonetheless find themselves drawn into the action through the drama of the illustrations and the cadence of Weller's words. A compelling, satisfying adventure story respectful of the power of nature and the kinship between humans and animals. --Dorothy Houlihan, White Plains Public Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.