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Book Cover

Siobhán Parkinson


Children's fiction
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Book Details:
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Price: €6.95
Binding: PB
Pages: 144
Size: 196x130 mm
ISBN-10 0-86278-691-6
ISBN-13 978-0-86278-691-5

Rights held: World, all languages.

Rights sold: Danish

Call of the Whales


by Siobhán Parkinson

Blue Flag: For readers aged 10+
Blue Flag: For readers aged 10+

Over three summers, Tyke journeys with his anthropologist father to the remote and icy wilderness of the Arctic. Each summer bring short intense friendships with the Eskimos, and adventures 'which Mum doesn't need to know about'.

Tyke is saved from drowning and hypothermia, joins a bowhead whale hunt, rescues his new-found Eskimo friend, Henry, from being swept away on an ice floe, and witnesses the death of innocence with the killing of the narwhal or sea unicorn.

An adventure story set in the endless days of a freezing Arctic landscape, with a haunting presence in the form of the magnificent bowhead whales. A book which will echo in the mind long after the Northern Lights have faded from the final chapters.

Call of The Whales is a powerful, captivating novel of coming of age. The story is told by Tyke now an adult, in a series of evocative flashbacks, as he relives the adventures and encounters that have influenced the rest of his life.

Call of the Whales was shortlisted for the Reading Association of Ireland award 2001.


The Author Speaks
About Sisters: Writing Sisters ... no way!
Researching Call of the Whales

Links
Siobhán's personal website
Wikipedia page for Siobhán

Teaching Resources: free to view and download
Teaching guide from O'Brien Teaching Guides Collection 3
Teaching ideas for sixth class from the O'Brien Reading Programme Supplement

List of all available resources

Problems viewing resources? You will need a PDF file reader, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free from Adobe.

Cover Gallery: other covers for this book
Danish edition cover Original O'Brien Press cover


Praise for Call of the Whales

'I loved this book ... Family relationships are warmly drawn, and Siobhan Parkinson cleverly extends the book's range to deal with environmental issues such as whaling and international intervention in indigenous ways of life. She can put both sides of the argument with heartfelt simplicity ... This is a good read for anyone over 10, but it would also be a good class reader as it sets out a clear ideal for world citizenship.' School Librarian

'A captivating coming-of-age tale with a distinctive narrative voice' The Irish Independent

'An adventure with attitude' The Irish Times

'[Parkinson's] reputation as one of Ireland's most talented story-tellers for the young can only be enhanced by this powerful yet wistful work, a work which will illuminate the imaginative lives of its readers, no matter what age.' Books Ireland

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