Whale Is Stuck - Hardcover

Hayles, Karen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671865870 ISBN 13: 9780671865870

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1993

Synopsis

When Whale jumps up and lands right in the middle of an ice floe and becomes stuck, the other creatures of the ocean must try to figure out how to get him unstuck.

About this title

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 3-As the midsummer sun melts the winter ice in the Arctic, Whale cavorts happily through the open sea. While his friend Fish watches from below, the majestic mammal leaps high into the air, landing "slap" in the middle of an ice floe. Other animals gradually arrive on the scene, and Walrus takes charge of the rescue effort. Sea birds, seals, polar bears, and dolphins push and shove, sweat and strain, but all to no avail. As the day grows brighter, the exhausted compatriots rest in the hot sun. Finally, with a huge "crunch," the ice melts, plunging all of them into the sea. Presided over by the bossy, egotistical Walrus, the rescue attempts take on the frenzied mood of a Keystone Cops scene, building to the splashy crescendo. Bright paintings in sky and sea blue tones provide accurate depictions of the creatures while reflecting the humor in the text. Use this title to spark interest in Arctic wildlife, and reach for Dorothy H. Patent's All about Whales (1987) and Gail Gibbon's Whales (1991, both Holiday) to answer questions about breaching and other behavior.
Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Turning a playful somersault, Whale lands on an ice floe, and the efforts of the other animals (led by pompous Walrus) to shove, tip, or lift him off are to no avail; there he stays until, fortuitously, the sun melts the ice enough so that he falls through to rejoin his relieved friend Fish. Though smoothly told, the story is slight and overcontrived, but it does serve to showcase Fuge's appealing arctic animals--birds, seals, bears, dolphins, narwhal, etc., all sharply delineated and true to species while also exhibiting human concern and activity as they cooperate in trying to free their huge friend. (Picture book. 4- 8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671865870
• ISBN 13: 9780671865870
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Fuge Charles
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32