Thursday, August 30, 2012

Review: The Flip Flop Club: Whale Song by Ellen Richardson

The Flip Flop Club: Whale Song by Ellen Richardson (July 2012, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0192756621)

Review: Whale Song is the second in the Flip Flop Club series set on Sunday Island (which I think is probably off Cornwall) following on from Charmed Summer.

The local newspaper is offering a prize to whoever first photographs the Northern Bottlenose whale. So best friends Tash, Elly and Sierra want to win and get up super early to go out in Tash's dinghy, Mojo, taking Mojo the dog along too.

As they are nearing the Western Isles one of Sunday Island's notorious freak storms comes from nowhere and leaves the girls stranded on a small island with only the food and water they were carrying. Will they get rescued before the end of the day or will they have to camp (much to home-comforts-loving Sierra's disgust)?

Whilst the girls are waiting for rescue they're not idle and end up having some memorable experiences with some of the sea's residents and solving an old mystery regarding the disappearance of Sunday Island's most famous person.

Whale Song is action-packed and quite scary at the beginning as the girls wrestle with the huge waves. The girls (and Mojo) do wear life-jackets (see this post by Helen Moss!). They are very resourceful: constructing flags, a makeshift raft and fire (using the glass in a pair of binoculars).

As before, as well as the story (154 pages), there is the first chapter of the next book (Midnight Messages), quizzes and other activities, plus some facts about whales.

The next two books in the series come out in 2013: Midnight Messages (January) and Star Struck (May).

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