A review by andriaerin
Willa and the Whale by Chad Morris, Shelly Brown

4.0

This book was a sweet, poignant story dealing with coping, sadness, and loss. I think that it delicately handled how a person who lost a parent might have been feeling without making those feeling seem wrong or like they just needed to get over it to be happy. At no point in the story did anyone tell Willa that she shouldn't feel sad anymore; instead, they helped her overcome the sadness so that it didn't feel so unbearable. The interactions between Willa and her family and friends felt genuine and enjoyable to read. Willa herself never felt whiny or overbearing, but felt like someone I could easily connect to. This is a great story to normalize and humanize sadness and feeling overwhelmed by negative things, but also allowed for the reader to experience humor, joy, and the sense of overcoming something difficult. It was a truly enjoyable read