The Forever Whale
by Sarah Lean
Hannah's granddad has Alzheimer's. Before it got too bad, he had taken Hannah out in his rowing boat, like he regularly did, and promised to tell her a story about meeting her grandma, some deer, and a whale. But then the illness took hold and he was moved into a home, and his eyes became empty - along with his memory. Hannah is determined to find out what granddad wanted to tell her. She decides to visit a local island which he often talked about, and film anything she can see, in the hope that this will jog his memory, and she can have her old granddad back. What she finds stirs up memories - and a few surprises - for everybody.
This is a beautiful story which I finished in one sitting. If you like this, also try Michael Morpurgo's Why the Whales Came.
Sarah Lean has also written two other wonderful stories - A Dog Called Homeless, and A Horse for Angel.
A Dog Called Homeless
by Sarah Lean
I'm not really sure about the cover, but this is actually a lovely book. It's about overcoming loss, coming together as a family, patience, acceptance and friendship. Cally lives with her dad and her brother Luke. Their mother died a year ago on the dad's birthday. Cally wants to talk about her mother to make it seem she's still alive, but her dad seems to want to leave it in the past and move on. Cally struggles with her friendships at school and sees a sponsored silence as a way out of her troubles. She doesn't speak for over 30 days. Meanwhile, the father has trouble at work and they have to move to a flat where Cally makes friends with the downstairs neighbour and son, Sam, who is blind and partly deaf. Then Cally starts to see her mother's ghost but no-one believes her. The appearance of Jed, a homeless juggler, and his huge dog, who takes an instant liking to Cally and who she names Homeless, help Cally through this difficult time by answering questions - with surprising results.
A beautiful, moving story about mourning the loss of a mother. Look out for Sarah Lean's next novel out now A Horse for Angel.
