Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly

 Iris has been deaf from birth.  Her maternal grandparents were both deaf but her parents, brother, and everyone else at her school is hearing. Although Iris tries to communicate with others at school, it is difficult to building meaningful relationships when all conversations are through her translator or written on paper.  She is closest to her grandmother with which she can sign fluently, but since her grandfather's death, her grandmother has been in a terrible depression. Iris, ironically, loves restoring old radios, and has a small business working for the owner of the local junk yard repairing radios for him to sell. One day at school she learns about a whale that sings his song at a higher pitch than any other whale.  The other whales don't understand him so he lives a solitary life, swimming around the ocean alone. Iris instantly feels empathy with the whale they call, Blue 55, and tries to think of a way to communicate with him. Her connection with the whale leads her and her grandmother on a while trip of discovery and connection, not only with the whale, but within their own lives. 

I picked this book because of my own experience with hearing loss.  My hearing loss is minor, but if I don't have my hearing aids on, I have a hard time hearing what others are saying and feel very isolated. This story shows how isolating deafness can be. Iris can only communicate fluently with those in the deaf community, so her school life is a trial.  The part of the story I wasn't expecting was the author's perspective that American Sign Language and other elements of deaf culture are so rich that many deaf people don't regret their deafness, but instead feel grateful to be in the deaf community. Iris is a good "strong girl" character, and her grandmother is a good example of taking positive steps to combat the effects of grief.  The story of the whale is based on an actual whale scientists discovered and studied, but the rest of the story is fictional.  My only complaint about the book is that the pacing was a little slow. The author is a professional interpreter for the deaf, and I think she was so invested in her message about the deaf culture that she kept some scenes or parts of scenes that probably should have been edited out. Still, this is a good choice for kids who like to read about other kids dealing with physical challenges like Wonder or Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. (2019, 320 p)