Isabel of the Whales

Zusatztext “Fantasy and reality merge in this aquatic coming-of-age adventure with a compelling ecological message. . . To Velmans's credit! the improbable seems probable through the eyes and voice of her down-to-earth heroine. Watch out Little Mermaid! here comes Isabel."– Kirkus Reviews Informationen zum Autor Hester Velmans is an accomplished translator who has won awards for her translations of adult novels. This is her first original novel. She lives in Armonk, NY. Klappentext Eleven-year-old Isabel is a "plain old” girl living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, who believes that she is destined to accomplish something special. When her fifth-grade class goes on a whale-watch field trip, something amazing happens: Dozens of different species of whales surround the boat, bumping the deck and sending Isabel flying into the ocean. Isabel is shocked to hear the whales speaking to her—she is a mermaid, they tell her, a "Chosen One” who has the ability to turn from a human into a whale and back again. She is destined to live among the whales long enough to learn their ways, and teach them about the human world. Living among her pod is fun, at first, but Isabel has an important mission. She will change the whales' future forever, and learn a lot about herself in the process.One Call me Isabel. That's my name, though in my family you'd never know it. Someone please tell me why, when your parents have picked out a perfectly good name for you, they then turn around and call you something totally dumb instead, like Unchkins or the Bonz or Jellyman? In my case, it was Izzy at first, when I was a baby, but as soon as I could talk it got to be Lizzie, which later turned into (thanks to my brilliant big brothers) the Lizard--you know, all slimy and cold, with a forked tongue. So I was the Lizard for a while, but then my brothers decided that was boring, and they came up with a new name for me. Iguana. Not a cute little lizard, but a big ugly lizard. Ig for short, which rhymes with pig. By the time I was eleven, I was Iggie most of the time. Which I didn't mind as much because it wasn't so far removed from Izzy, or Isabel. We live just outside Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod. Our house is a shingled Victorian that at one time or another has been painted all these different shades of blue. It has a wide front porch, a narrow back porch, and lots of rooms all opening up into each other, which is great for hide-and-seek. My room is the smallest room in the house. It's on the third floor and what's special about it is that it has a three-sided window inside a small turret stuck onto the side of the roof--like a tower for a princess. It has a window seat, and if you lift out the screen you can climb onto the roof and have a great view of all the backyards on our street. On a clear day, you can see the sea. Even though I don't have my own bathroom up there, I wouldn't want to change rooms with any other kid in the world. That year I had a rainbow-colored sign on my door that read: 1. KNOCK 2. Do Not Enter 3. Girls Only Allowed 4. And I mean it! On a Saturday at the end of May, Kristen and Molly came over to my house. The three of us have been best friends since kindergarten. I don't remember who first came up with the idea, but somehow we decided on a game of Truth or Dare. We lay sprawled on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Since it was my house, it was my turn to ask first. "Okay, Molly!" I said. "Me?" said Molly, already in a giggly mood. "Yes, you. Ms. Molly Masterson. Tell us . . . please tell us who you like." "Who I like?" asked Molly, playing dumb. "Well, I like Kristen, I guess, and I like you . . ." "Which boy you like," said Kristen patiently. Anyone with eyes in their head could see that Molly liked my middle brother Jacob. She was always trying to get us to bake cookies or somet...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Hester Velmans
• Editore: Yearling Books
• Lingue: Inglese
• Raccomandazione d'eta': 8 a 12 anni
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 11.07.2006
• EAN: 9780440420255
• ISBN: 978-0-440-42025-5
• Pagine: 192
• Dimensioni: 133 mm x 194 mm x 11 mm
• Categorie: Libri per bambini e per ragazzi; Narrativa > Fumetti, cartoni, humour, satira