Dario and the Whale

By Cheryl Lawton Malone and Bistra Masseva

CCBC Choices 2017
Little Free Library Action Book Club, Young Readers

A lonely boy spending his first summer at Cape Cod and a right whale calf who has migrated to the area with his mother become unlikely friends.

When Dario and his mother move to Cape Cod from Brazil, Dario has a hard time making friends since he doesn't speak English well. But one day Dario meets someone else who has just arrived in New England and he doesn't speak any English at all…because he's a right whale! Day after day Dario and the whale meet at the beach. But what will happen when it's time for the whale to migrate?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Release date: Feb 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780807514641

Cheryl Lawton Malone

Cheryl Lawton Malone is a freelance writer, poet, and MFA grad who teaches at Lesley University and GrubStreet in Boston. She and her husband live in Massachusetts.

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Reviews for Dario and the Whale

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is less a story than a vignette or fleeting image of beings drawn wistfully to one another across lines no one can ever cross, but it's nice for that.

[bookwren · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dario comes to Cape Cod every spring with his mother. A right whale comes to Cape Cod every spring to raise her calf. The two meet and become friends. Knowing the whale helps Brazilian Dario to make more friends. When he learns that the whales migrate at the end of summer, Dario is crestfallen. But his bond with the whale remains is strong enough to withstand separation. "Just waves apart, the boy and the whale stay very still, listening and being." A beautiful example of the friendship possible between species, enhanced by warm, expressive illustrations. An afterword features information "About Right Whales".

[melodyreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

author adds interesting information about right whales