The Storm Whale by Benji Davies (review)

“Every day, Noi’s dad left early for a long day’s work on his fishing boat,” leaving Noi all alone by himself in the solitary cottage at the sea’s edge. One day Noi finds a very small whale stranded on the beach, and to save the youngster, Noi tows him home and pops him in the filled bathtub, reveling in the company of his new pet. When Noi’s father returns home and discovers the unexpected guest, he realizes that his son has been lonely; together they return the young whale to the ocean, and then spend some serious father-son time together. With its central image precipitating an emotional shift, the text is reminiscent of a spare short story; there’s also a touch of the fabulous in the isolated little child and the visiting whale who’s shiftable by a kid a quarter of his size. Literal-minded listeners may struggle with the plot turns, but those more attuned to mood and subtext will be intrigued, and they may wish to grapple with the possibility that the whale was only ever there in Noi’s imagination. The digital art uses grainy, colored pencil-style hatching strokes to texture landscapes and figures, with scenes in a slightly muted, Nordic palette of slatey blues and slightly grayed earthtones. The double-page spread of the whale’s release is a dramatic and emotive overhead view of the yellow-slickered father and son together in a tiny boat on the midnight-blue waves, and subsequent spreads repeat the family togetherness and echo them in sightings of the whale alongside a bigger whale and amid his pod. A gentle, atmospheric father and son tale, this will draw kids who appreciate the touch of mysticism and the parent-kid adventure.