The Snail and the Whale, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Have you wanted to get out of town lately? Maybe a bit more than you have in past years? This book will fill you with that wanderlust all over again, and hopefully, you’ll share that spirit of adventure with your kiddo when you read this book.
This is a beautiful story about a snail who wants to see the world, but everyone around her tells her to stay put. She’s small, and the world is a big place, so it’s best if she just stay stuck to her rock. However, she keeps pursuing her dream, and eventually a whale comes along and she hops on! They travel the world together and see how big and beautiful it is. The illustrations as they travel the world are beautiful and may cause you to bust out some photo albums and remember some of your trips and adventures you’ve taken in the past. (Bonus if you share those memories with your kids!)
The unlikely pair continue on their journey seeing fantastic places above and below the surface. However, when the whale gets in trouble, it’s the small snail who saves the day. This book is a fantastic reminder to keep dreaming your dreams and to make them goals, make those goals a reality, and don’t forget to pause every now and then and see how much you’ve grown. The snail sees the world, and even though she feels tiny, she realizes how much she is capable of!
The book is also great from a phonics perspective. It’s got a lot of clever lines that use “tale” vs “tail” etc. It’s a good opportunity for older readers to see those spelling differences and understand how that changes the meaning.
So many great concepts bundled into this wonderful and beautiful book.
If you could travel anywhere with no restrictions, where would you go next?
