Blue Whale Blues

Written and Illustrated by Peter Carnavas
Kane Miller       9/27/2015
978-1-61067-458-4
32 pages      Ages 4—8

“When Penguin hears Whale singing the blues, he tries to help. But how exactly do you stop a blue whale from feeling blue? A delightful story about a whale with bike trouble and his happy-go-lucky penguin friend who manages—somehow—to cheer him up.” [publisher]

Review
Whale has the blues badly enough to cause him to sing the blues.

“I’ve got the Blue Whale Blues,
I’ve got the Blue Whale,
BLUE WHALE BLUES.”

Penguin hears the Whale’s Blue Whale Blues and asks what is troubling Whale. Whale has a bike but has no idea which way is up. Penguin tells him not to be blue; the bike is simply upside down. Penguin flips Whale’s bike over and Whale feels so much better . . . until,

“I’ve got the Blue Whale Blues,
I’ve got the Blue Whale,
BLUE WHALE BLUES.”

Whale is blue again because his bike is wet. Penguin offers Whale the use of his towel to dry off the bike. Whale feels so much better . . . until, Penguin notices Whale even looks blue. It’s his bike helmet. Whale has no idea how he should wear it. Penguin helps Whale put on his helmet and Whale again feels much better . . . until, and that is how the story goes until finally Whale is laughing and no longer feeling the Blue Whale Blues.

Whale, laughing at his situation instead of singing the blues, just might help kids laugh instead of feeling blue. Whale does not have a serious case of depression. Whale has the not-satisfied-with-what-I-have kind of depression. With the help of his happy-go-lucky friend Penguin, Whale learns to appreciate the things he has.

The illustrations are delightful. Carnavas uses a blue palette with sparkling bits of color from other animals in the ocean and, when at the ocean’s surface, a white dab of seagull. Every story needs an antagonist and Turtle fits that bill, though only mildly. He is around at the beginning of the story and then disappears for a while. I was sad to see him go until I realized why he went. Turtle inspects Whale’s bike, even gets in it, and is then gone.

When Whale is ready to ride his bike, and it does not move, here comes Turtle riding his own bike. This gets Whale into a horrible funk that sends him to the ocean floor. Turtle has deflated Whale who now understands what is wrong with his bike—it was never a bike. Whale thinks upon his situation realizing he needs more than a real bike; he needs legs. This sends Whale into a real fit . . . of whale laughter.

Young children will adore Blue Whale Blues for its creativity, whimsy, and pure silliness. The repetitive song will get children singing along in no time, enjoying Whale’s problems, as silly as they may be. What is so silly about an upside down, wet bicycle and a helmet? Well, for starters, Whale’s bike is a shopping cart and his helmet is a cooking pot. Then there is the matter of a wet bike in the ocean and yet Whale wipes it dry. Kids will love the sequence of events and the sheer delightfulness of the wacky situations making Whale sing the Blue Whale Blues.

BLUE WHALE BLUES. Text and illustrations copyright © 2015 by Peter Carnavas. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Kane Miller, San Diego, CA.

*First published in Australia by New Frontier Publishing, 2015

Purchase Blue Whale Blues at Amazon—Book Depository—IndieBound Books—Kane Miller.

Learn more about Blue Whale Blues HERE.
Take a Look into the Book HERE.

Meet the author/illustrator, Peter Carnavas, at his website:  http://petercarnavas.com/
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.          . Kane Miller is a division of EDC Publishing.

Also by Peter Carnavas
Jessica’s Box
The Children Who Loved Books
The Boy on the Page
The Important Things
.        .  —and many more awesome titles

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Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Full Disclosure: Blue Whale Blues by Peter Carnavas, and received from Kane Miller (a division of EDC Publishing), is in exchange NOT for a positive review, but for an HONEST review. The opinions expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

BLUE WHALE BLUES. Text and illustrations © 2015 by author/illustrator. Used by permission of Kane Miller.