The Boy Who Met a Whale

Nirana Farook, author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant, dishes up a dazzling Sri Lanka-set adventure featuring a mysterious shipwreck, an overzealous child and a big, blue whale.

Razi, a fisherman's son, stares wide eyed in paralysed fear as a mysterious boat appears on the sparkling coast of Serendib. Dread courses through his veins, suffocating his heart in a cloak of fear when he realises there is a hand. A limp hand. Hanging over the edge of the boat...Inside is Zheng, an overzealous boy with stories of shipwrecks, adventures and missing treasure.

It is not only embellished stories that follow Zheng, two villains are in hot pursuit. Razi and his sister, Shifa, soon find themselves in the midst of a tangled nightmare, an action packed, fast-paced adventure in the shadow of the biggest sea monster unfurls...

A captivating, sea churning adventure with themes of friendship, natural wonders and hidden strength. I would recommend this book to KS2 thrill-seeking adventurers.

272 pages / Ages 8+ / Reviewed by Kelly Buxton, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+

Nirana Farook, author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant, dishes up a dazzling Sri Lanka-set adventure featuring a mysterious shipwreck, an overzealous child and a big, blue whale.

Razi, a fisherman's son, stares wide eyed in paralysed fear as a mysterious boat appears on the sparkling coast of Serendib. Dread courses through his veins, suffocating his heart in a cloak of fear when he realises there is a hand. A limp hand. Hanging over the edge of the boat...Inside is Zheng, an overzealous boy with stories of shipwrecks, adventures and missing treasure.

It is not only embellished stories that follow Zheng, two villains are in hot pursuit. Razi and his sister, Shifa, soon find themselves in the midst of a tangled nightmare, an action packed, fast-paced adventure in the shadow of the biggest sea monster unfurls...

A captivating, sea churning adventure with themes of friendship, natural wonders and hidden strength. I would recommend this book to KS2 thrill-seeking adventurers.

272 pages / Ages 8+ / Reviewed by Kelly Buxton, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+

The Boy Who Met A Whale is the exciting new book from Nizrana Farook. This is an epic, thrilling adventure set in a fictional Sri Lanka, and is crammed full of sea monsters, kidnapping, lost treasure, and peril.

Razi the 'fisherboy' lives on the beautiful island of Serendib, but little does he know that his life is about to become endangered when one day whilst watching the turtles hatch on his favourite beach, he discovers a boat floating near the shore containing a strange boy near death. Razi helps the boy, Zhenga, but discovers that he is being followed by two villains who desperately need to find the boy, who has a map they want.

It is not until the villains reappear and try to steal the map that Zhenga, Razi and his sister Shifa are plunged into this perilous adventure together. Despite a struggle, Zhenga is kidnapped and Razi and Shifa make the decision to help save him before he is killed. They must set sail and find the treasure from the map, which is also linked to the history of their people.

Whilst out at sea, Razi must confront the overwhelming grief that has consumed him for the last eight months as well as finding an unknown islet marked on the map - and nearly being eaten by a whale.

This book is full of culture, sea faring ways, nature, and survival. I love how the characters develop and how they unite to become a force to be reckoned with. They are courageous and relentless in their determination to return the Dagger of Serendib to its rightful place and inflict justice upon those who want to steal it.

I would recommend this as an excellent class story because it is jam-packed with thrilling adventures. This book would also accompany the teaching of 'Blue Abyss' with its connection to the ocean. There could be focus teaching of whales, dolphins and turtles developed from the story within this book and exploration of the ocean.

272 pages / Ages 9+ / Reviewed by Hayley Summerfield, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+