The Snail and the Whale
Author: Julia Donaldson
Illustrator: Axel Scheffler
Publisher: MacMillan
This is the story of a tiny snail and a great big humpback whale. The snail wants to travel the world, so she hitches a lift on the tail of the humpback whale. Around the world, they travel together, seeing wonderful sights. The snail feels very small compared to the large and impressive humpback whale. One day, the whale gets beached and the snail realises that she will have to save her friend. She finds her way to a classroom where she scrawls her silvery trail to leave a message on the blackboard, saying "Save the Whale". Alerted by the snail, the people work together to keep the whale alive until the tide comes to the rescue. The snail and the whale return to where they began, and all the other snails join their friend on the tail of the whale, and head off to explore the world.
This is one of those children's books that I can never read without getting all choked up, and tears coming into my voice as I say the last few pages. It seems topical to revisit it today, after the sad news of another beached whale on the Norfolk coast. The story is so simple, and yet so powerful. Although the snail is tiny and insignificant, compared to the whale, she ends up saving the day for her friend. There is a really important message hidden in this book for children to learn. That it doesn't matter how small or useless you feel - if you are brave and you stand up for your friends, you can move mountains. The story is written as a poem (I can imagine Julia Donaldson rubbing her hands with glee, as she realised that snail, tail and whale worked so perfectly together). I love the way that the language has a perfect internal rhythm that makes it flow so easily from the tongue. The illustrations by Axel Scheffler are lovely. His pictures always seem to have a great affinity with Julia Donaldson's writing, and you can see why they have worked so successfully together on a number of titles. This is a fabulous book, one of my all time favourites. It you haven't read it yet then I envy you, because you have the joy of reading it for the very first time still ahead of you!
"This is the tale of a tiny snail
And a great big, grey-blue humpback whale."
Author: Julia Donaldson
Illustrator: Axel Scheffler
Publisher: MacMillan
This is the story of a tiny snail and a great big humpback whale. The snail wants to travel the world, so she hitches a lift on the tail of the humpback whale. Around the world, they travel together, seeing wonderful sights. The snail feels very small compared to the large and impressive humpback whale. One day, the whale gets beached and the snail realises that she will have to save her friend. She finds her way to a classroom where she scrawls her silvery trail to leave a message on the blackboard, saying "Save the Whale". Alerted by the snail, the people work together to keep the whale alive until the tide comes to the rescue. The snail and the whale return to where they began, and all the other snails join their friend on the tail of the whale, and head off to explore the world.
This is one of those children's books that I can never read without getting all choked up, and tears coming into my voice as I say the last few pages. It seems topical to revisit it today, after the sad news of another beached whale on the Norfolk coast. The story is so simple, and yet so powerful. Although the snail is tiny and insignificant, compared to the whale, she ends up saving the day for her friend. There is a really important message hidden in this book for children to learn. That it doesn't matter how small or useless you feel - if you are brave and you stand up for your friends, you can move mountains. The story is written as a poem (I can imagine Julia Donaldson rubbing her hands with glee, as she realised that snail, tail and whale worked so perfectly together). I love the way that the language has a perfect internal rhythm that makes it flow so easily from the tongue. The illustrations by Axel Scheffler are lovely. His pictures always seem to have a great affinity with Julia Donaldson's writing, and you can see why they have worked so successfully together on a number of titles. This is a fabulous book, one of my all time favourites. It you haven't read it yet then I envy you, because you have the joy of reading it for the very first time still ahead of you!
"This is the tale of a tiny snail
And a great big, grey-blue humpback whale."