I had my girls review two different books, Song for a Whale and They Loved to Laugh. My 9 year old reviewed Song for a Whale (as you may be able to tell from her writing!). She seemed to really enjoy the book, even though she wasn’t very verbose in her review! Persevering despite circumstances is a good quality to have when channelled in the right direction (and a theme from the book!).
The second book review is They Loved to Laugh, reviewed by my 13 year old. She was not initially excited to read this book, but thankfully once she started reading it, she really enjoyed it! It seems like a sweet book to give your middle schooler to read this summer!
SONG FOR A WHALE
The main character is Iris. Iris was the only one deaf from her family. She has one brother (Tristan) and her two parents. One day in her science class she learned about a whale called Blue 55. That whale sang higher than all the other whales so nobody could understand what he was saying. Blue 55 was very lonely. Iris wanted to help this whale. She had many adventures with her grandma. Her grandpa was not there because he died. She had to always think of a new plan when one did not work. She just kept on trying in till she got to meet Blue 55.
The end of the book was my favorite part. She got to meet Blue 55 and Andi a scientist who was studying blue 55 and was trying to tag Blue 55 to see what he was doing most of the time he had no one to play with. I think the meaning of this book is to never give up and to always persevere. I hope you enjoy Song For A Whale!
They Loved to Laugh
The book, “They Loved to Laugh” was about a girl’s experience with a Quaker family. The book starts off talking about how a little girl named Martitia lost both her parents from a fever, and then goes to live with David Gardener, the doctor who was trying to help her parents. Martitia has lost her laugh and won’t even smile because she feels so alone without her parents. But the family she goes to is a very happy family who is always playing pranks on each other and on her. Martitia tries to fit in, but was used to having servants do everything for her, so she has to try really hard and has to learn many new things. She is able to become the new weaver for the family and learns many things about farm life and also becomes a very good cook. Along the way, Martitia falls in love with Jonathan, one of the Gardener sons. But he has to leave to study law, so Martitia moves on. A little while after Jonathan leaves, Clarkson, another Gardener son, falls in love with Martitia and everyone thinks they are going to get married. But then Jonathan comes home and everything changes. Jonathan doesn’t want to hurt his brothers’ feelings, but he also truly loves Martitia and doesn’t know what to do next.
I really enjoyed this book and I loved reading it. At first, I didn’t think I was going to like it and that it was going to be a slow story, but as I started reading, I realized that I actually enjoyed it very much and loved reading about Martitia and how she learned to laugh. The story was very well written and had me captivated the entire time. The stories were relatable, as were the characters. All of the hardships Martitia went through trying to fit in was easily relatable, as was her frustration in not getting something right the first time. The ending was very good and again, I very much enjoyed it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone looking for a fun story to read!
