A Whale Tale

Since discovering the Canadian Flyer, a magical time-traveling sled, in Emily's attic, Matt and Emily have outrun dinosaurs in the Alberta badlands, seen the Silver Dart fly high in Nova Scotia's skies, and evaded slave catchers on the Underground Railroad. In A Whale Tale, the sled lands on Canada’s West Coast in 1778. Emily and Matt meet a Nootka chief, and his young nephew, Tuta. It’s a busy time in the Nootka village, where a whale hunt and potlatch ceremony are about to take place. What’s more, explorer Captain James Cook and his fleet of ships have arrived just offshore. Tuta wants to join the whale hunt, but the chief thinks he is too young and sends him to help his mother prepare for the potlatch. Determined to prove his bravery, Tuta sneaks off in a canoe with Emily and Matt. Out on the open water, the kids find themselves face to face with a protective mother whale and her baby. Can Emily and Matt keep their heads above water and help Tuta realize his goal? In this, the eighth book in the popular Canadian Flyer Adventures series, author Frieda Wishinsky weaves well-researched and accurate historical facts into her compelling, kid-friendly storytelling, while Dean Griffiths’s evocative illustrations situate readers perfectly in place and time. At the end of their adventure, Emily and Matt share additional facts about the Nootka, whales, and explorer Captain Cook, and Wishinsky gives additional facts here too, in an informative Q&A format.

Instill in your young bookworms an early love for history by introducing the Canadian Flyer Adventures series by Frieda Wishinsky. A Whale Tale is the eighth book in this series of easy-reader historical fiction…The combination of simple text, exciting plots and Canadian history is hard to beat.