Reviews

A Whale of the Wild by Rosanne Parry

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aotora's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was the first book that I've read about one of my favourite animals - orcas. It's a children's book but it's surprisingly dark for a children's book. I also adored all the added bonus chapters that these books add on - it helps you learn more about animals and their habitats - and this one seems really accurate.

We meet two orcas- brother and sister and their family. They are very close and Vega, the young female orca is a wave finder. She is supposed to find the way and lead her family one day- her brother is much younger than her and he follows her everywhere. Her mother is pregnant again and it's supposed to be a girl - and that brings good luck to the pod- but the baby is still born and after that there is a huge earthquake and the brother and sister get lost and separated from her family. We follow them as they try to find food after all the salmon is seemingly gone and navigate their way back towards their family- they meet other pods along the way but they cannot find food - it's accurate because this particular pod is endangered in the wild because there is less salmon and they don't eat anything but salmon. We also learn a little bit about orca captures that also endangered the species - and the book doesn't hold back at all- all in all a great book about orcas and their lives and the added material really adds a lot to the story as well.

literaryloquacity's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

irina_r's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

5.0

This is actually a very sad and tragic story about the Southern Resident Killer Whales or they call it SRK in short. The SRK is listed as the Critically Endangered species. I am not a marine scientist nor a conservationist,just somebody who loves orca as one of my favourite marine animals even though i have never seen them only have read or seen the videos about them!

It really saddens me to hear about their population's is declining. The causes or factors that brought to their decline has been highlighted in this story through Vega, our lead character in the story and her family who are threatened with lack of foods or difficulty of finding food which are salmons particularly the Chinook salmons which are their main diet. This lack of food or difficulty to find food has threaten the survival of the entire family to the point of causing miscarriage for her mother when she gave birth to her little sister who tragically did not survive!. This part really broke me into a million pieces. But this is the reality where the salmons population have been declining in numbers because of the construction of the river dams is blocking the ways for the salmons to breed or to spawn!. This has been highlighted in this story along with other threats to the orcas such as boat strikes, noise pollution and pollution.

I hope that we humans would be more aware of how our actions is endangering marine lives and driving them towards extinction and i hope that we would be more responsible by taking actions or steps to prevent and to stop more casualties to these sentient beings.

bookreader626's review against another edition

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4.0

Wow. The thoughts behind the orcas and the simple yet complex lives they live. The amount of names, fish, waves, landmarks, and we'll everything they have to memorize. I do wish it was more clear about which character was telling the story currently. I was able to tell, but it took me a second. Great story, though! Probably a 4.5 star. A quick, cute, simple read

lalatut's review against another edition

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4.0

Sweet story about an orca family off the PNW coast.

eaupaline's review against another edition

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4.0

Véga est une jeune orque destinée à devenir guideresse de son clan. Séparée du groupe par une succession d'événements et de décisions tragiques et devenue le seul repère pour son petit frère, elle met en pratique les savoirs ancestraux transmis par sa mère et sa grand-mère pour retrouver leur trace. C'est un roman d'apprentissage étonnant et très informatif sur le mode de vie des orques. Il est également plein de tendresse dans la description de l'amour et de la solidarité des orques entre elles. Je l'ai trouvé doux et brillant dans sa façon d'aborder les rapports des orques avec leur milieu, la fragilité des écosystèmes et les ravages de l'activité humaine. Les illustrations qui accompagnent le récit sont en plus superbe. C'est une belle découverte !