Seal Song

By Andrea Spalding and Pascal Milelli

Finn loves to swim with the seals in a secret cove. He arrives at the cove one day and rescues a young seal tangled in netting. Finn wishes the seal could live on land. That night the seals sing. "No good comes from seal songs," says Finn's father. When Sheila, a mysterious girl no one has ever seen before, appears on the cannery docks, the fisher folk are uneasy. They believe the newcomer is a magical selkie, a shape changer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Oct 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781554692439

Andrea Spalding

Andrea Spalding lives on Pender Island, British Columbia. She is the author of numerous award-winning children’s books.

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Reviews for Seal Song

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Boy befriends a shape-shifting selkie who saves his life.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Inspired by the traditional selkie lore of Scotland and Ireland, children's author Andrea Spalding spins this magical tale of a young boy, living in a small fishing village on Canada's west coast, who befriends and is befriended by one of the seal people. Drawn to the secret cove near his village, Finn swims with his phocine friends, and longs to hear their singing. When he discovers one of the seals caught in an old net, he frees her, and nurses her back to health, wishing all the while that she could live with him on land. Then one day, a mysterious young girl named Sheila appears in the village, and becomes his constant companion. Distrusted by the superstitious villagers, who suspect her selkie identity, Sheila remains loyal to Finn, abandoning her land life when he is endangered by a terrible storm...Alternating between prose and a kind of sing-song poetry - "Seals joined her singing, / strange sounds ringing, / green waves cresting. / Sheila diving, / her shape changing, / a young seal swimming" - Spalding's lovely narrative has an enchanting quality to it that, when joined with Pascal Milelli's gorgeous artwork, creates a truly marvelous reading experience. It was Milelli's work, actually, that drew me to Seal Song, as I went looking for books he had illustrated, after enjoying his paintings in Gloria Whelan's Waiting for the Owl's Call. With a striking color palette - deep blues, greens and browns - and a rather cubist sensibility, these paintings draw the reader into their magical world, and are the perfect complement to the text. Highly recommended, to anyone who enjoys selkie stories, and to fans of Milelli's work!

[hayleekai · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finn lives in a town by the sea. He and his father are fishermen. Finn likes to be in the water and swim with the seals because he thinks that if he hears a seal song that he will be lucky. One day he saves a seal from being caught in a net. He nurses it back to health. Finn wishes that the seal could walk on land and be his friend. The next day a strange child by the name os Sheila appears. Finn and her become best friends, but she cannot touch the water. The child's appearance seems to make everyone's fishing season go really well. Util one day, Finn is heading out to the ocean, and Sheila warns him that a storm is coming. Finn does not listen. A storm comes and Finn is caught in it. In order to save him Sheila gets into the water and transforms back into a seal and saves Finn. No one sees Sheila again but Finn and his father always give the seal that follows their boat some fish.