Finn’s First Song by Gerry Daly (creator of ‘Where are you, Puffling?’) is a beautifully illustrated picture book suitable for younger readers. It tells the heart-warming story of the journey of Finn, a humpback whale calf, who is on a big adventure to the Irish coast to find his dad, whose soothing song lulls him to sleep each night on the way. It represents the real-life hardship of whales in Irish waters.
Finn realises they aren’t the biggest thing in the sea when they have to spend much of their time navigating away from large, loud ships. In the process of this, Finn gets scared and separated from his mum and finds himself all alone in the Atlantic Ocean. He meets many other friendly sea creatures along the way, a clever octopus, an electric ray, some colour changing squids, as well as clicking seahorses, whistling dolphins and puffy pufferfish who all help him discover his hidden talent of the power of whale song, which ultimately leads to him being reunited with his mum! Finally, they arrive to find his dad and together they fill their bellies with tons of tiny fish.
It is so lovely to have a book written about our sea creatures closer to home. There are fantastic facts about humpbacks at the back of the book. The quality of the paper is excellent and would withstand handling by rougher hands a lot better than most books, and the paper is also sustainably sourced. A great book to read at home or in the classroom for a literacy lesson, or even for SESE. A boy in my class named Finn (who is obsessed with all things sea creatures) particularly enjoyed this book! 9/10 Would recommend.
Laura Keane, Teacher, Co. Limerick.
“Finn’s First Song” written and illustrated by Gerry Daly, published by O’ Brien Press, is on sale now for €9.99 (P/B).
Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher, O’ Brien Press, free of charge to Seomra Ranga for the purposes of this review.
