{"id":27993,"date":"2018-12-14T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=27993"},"modified":"2018-12-14T08:00:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T13:00:15","slug":"cookies-karaoke-and-the-quest-to-find-a-whale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=27993","title":{"rendered":"Cookies, Deaf Karaoke, and the Quest to Find a Whale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the Christmas whirlwind is upon us, a group paused for a minute this week to welcome the author of an\u00a02019\u00a0novel. We were lucky enough to sit down with Houston author and sign language interpreter, Lynne Kelly, to talk about her\u00a0upcoming release,\u00a0Song for a Whale<\/em>. A radiant story about a Deaf girl who sets out to show\u00a0an isolated whale that he\u2019s not alone,\u00a0her novel was inspired by the plight of a real-life whale who sings at a much higher pitch than other whales.
\nTo 12-year-old Iris, who has always felt separated from her hearing friends and family, that sort of\u00a0loneliness feels all too familiar. So when she hears about the whale (named Blue 55) whose voice goes unrecognized by others of his kind, she feels a compulsion to help.\u00a0What follows is a wildly hopeful quest to prove to Blue 55 he\u2019s not alone\u00a0by sharing music composed to match his singular frequency. The thing is that Blue\u2019s heading for Alaska and Houston isn\u2019t exactly en route. But she finds an unexpected ally (and travel partner) in her\u00a0Deaf grandmother who\u2019s looking to leap back into life after a tragedy. Before anyone can stop them, the two conspirators have headed north to make new friends, touch glaciers, rock some cruise ship karaoke, and\u00a0find one very special whale.<\/span>
\n

\"\"<\/a>

Can you spot the adorable whale purse?<\/p><\/div>
\nThroughout it all, Iris\u2019s\u00a0attempt\u00a0to\u00a0claim her place in the world as a Deaf person and forge\u00a0a path not defined by her hearing parents or their fears feels incredibly poignant. While each of her relationships at home and at school reflects a different shade of the obstacles she faces in\u00a0sharing her unfiltered self, Iris\u2019s relationship with her Deafness is her own and never defined by others. The culmination of her quest to find Blue may\u00a0push past what’s 100% realistic, but\u00a0Song for a Whale<\/em> offers no pat answers to Iris\u2019s questions about her\u00a0identity or, really, to its scientific musings about Blue. In a book that celebrates both bold action and open-ended inquiry, that feels altogether appropriate. From Iris\u2019s experiments with music theory and acoustic biology to her best friend Wendell\u2019s astronomical explorations, Kelly offers an expansive vision of science as a fascinating and not entirely knowable pursuit\u2014but one that\u2019s worth the effort nonetheless.
\nWe have a very active and robust Deaf community in Austin, \"\"<\/a>partly because of the highly respected Texas School for the Deaf, and I am thrilled to see another book with a strong Deaf main character. You know, we have done several author events there over the last few years with hired interpreters. But last year we took Karen Kane, a professional sign language interpreter and author of the mystery Charlie & Frog<\/em>. She obviously could speak directly to them, and it was an entirely different event. It was\u00a0so special for those kids to be able connect directly with an author about a book that starred a Deaf character and incorporated ASL into the plot. We have also started running the Texas School for the Deaf bookfairs, and they have expressed a desire to see as many books with Deaf characters and perspectives as possible. We are thrilled to be able add\u00a0this book to their next list, along with all our other fairs. Lynne told us that many Deaf people never get beyond a 4th grade reading level, something that’s\u00a0entirely understandable when you think about the challenge of learning\u00a0a language\u00a0all by\u00a0sight\u2014which is all the more reason we need books that speak to the Deaf experience. I sincerely hope we see more in years to come.
\nWhile chatting about the book, the awesome phenomenon of\u00a0Deaf karaoke (which was new to me), and the challenges of effective music interpretation, we pigged out on the beautiful cookies Lynne Kelly brought. But since there were way \"\"<\/a>more than we could eat, we put our bookselling skills to work and\u00a0added some book blurbs directly to the box to share with our hungry colleagues in the break room. Since our hasty scribbles are hard to read in the picture,\u00a0here\u2019s what we had to say:
\n\u201cThis book was an absolutely beautiful experience. As someone who has had most of my amazing adventures with my grandma, this book got me right in the ultimate feels.\u201d \u2013 Shannon <\/em>
\n\u201cI loved how this book showed the importance of compassion for our world and how one person can be important in the long run.\u201d \u2013 Rachel R.<\/em>
\n\u201cI\u2019m excited for strong female characters rising above.\u201d \u2013 Rachel M. <\/em>
\n\u201cLove how much the book\u2019s themes echo themselves. The way grief is discussed is unique and beautiful.\u201d \u2013 Savannah <\/em>\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u201cA luminous story about seeking connection, claiming your place, and fighting to be seen. Pulses with love for the natural world and curiosity about the cosmos.\u201d \u2013Meghan<\/em>
\nHave you read Song for a Whale<\/em>? What did you think?
\n 
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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking a break from the holiday crush with Texan author Lynne Kelly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}