The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson

The Snail and the Whale
(Puffin-2006)

By: Julia Donaldson

Pictures by: Axel Scheffler

Grade:1-2
*2007 Giverny Award Winner*

The Snail and the Whale is about a snail and a whale who travel together. The snail hitches a ride on the tail of the whale and they travel the ocean together. The climax in the story is when the whale gets upset by the noises of the people playing in the ocean and swims too close to shore. The tide is slipping away and the whale is stuck because he is too big. The snail, worried about his friend, goes in to a classroom and writes "save the whale" on the chalkboard. The townspeople come to water the whale and he is saved. The whale and the snail go back swim back to the dock to share their story and all the snails want a ride on the whale's tail.  It is a wonderful story about friendship and adventure and how you should never give up. I loved this story for younger students.

Theme/Skills Taught: Adventure & Friendship/Working as a team & Sequencing

About the Author: Julia grew up with her sister Mary and the two of them were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones. Julia and her husband (prior to being married) would go to busking together, creating songs for different countries, which began a career in singing and songwriting for children's television. She has made 2 cd's of her music. One of her television songs was written into a book in 1993 and she loved having the book to hold. Since then, she had published 20 plays. Since then, she has written many books and loves to have children sing and help act out the stories. She is a true inspiration. Julia Donaldson's Bio

Pre-Reading Activities: Show them the cover of the book and have them predict what will happen in the story. Also brainstorm what they already know about snails and whales. Attempt to tie the story in to a science lesson about lifecycle or animals in the ocean. 

Post Reading Activities: Give the students a piece of paper split into 4 sections and have them pick the 4 most important events in the story (with pictures). Each student may have a slightly different response, but as long as the 4 events are sequenced correctly, they will receive credit.