Swimming with the Whales - Softcover

Vivid, National Geographic-like descriptions of South American wildlife add an extra dimension to this first novel about an eighth-grade boy facing tough decisions. Paolo, who dreams of swimming with the whales, has no desire to leave his Argentine coastal village, but he is being pressured by his father to go to school in San Francisco, where Paolo's mother now lives. Hurt that his father seems so eager for him to go away, Paolo seeks consolation from best friend Luis and from Sarah, an American girl spending a year in the village with her family. However, the two confidants are preoccupied with problems of their own. Sarah resents having been dragged away from her California friends and a chance to try out for the Junior Olympics, and Luis fears he will have to quit school to care for his ailing mother. Relating Paolo's reverence for the natural world around him, Ellis deftly parallels animal instincts with human behavior; Paolo's awe is as clearly defined as his reluctance to migrate north like the whales. Although Sarah comes across as somewhat plastic, tensions between all of the characters are convincingly conveyed. A glossary of Spanish terms accompanies this intimate, eloquent novel. Ages 11-13.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 6^-9. Divorce, whales, and Patagonia. Who could ask for anything more? Actually, Paolo's parents aren't divorced, but his mother left soon after his birth because she could not live on the Patagonian peninsula, where whales, sea lions, and guanacos outnumber the people. Paolo's father wants him to go to San Francisco next year to live with his mother. What prevents the story from becoming cliche{‚}d is the combination of clearly described Patagonian wildlife and an accurate take on what it feels like to be an eighth-grade boy falling in love with the same girl your best friend loves. Add to that some hilarious descriptions of the perils of keeping a llamalike guanaco for a pet. Not even Martha Stewart could domesticate an animal that takes comfort in a dung pile. Mary Harris Veeder