A year ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing The Last Bear via Netgalley and - WOW! - what a read it was. Now winner of the 'Best Story' in The Blue Peter Book Awards 2022, the stunning novel, with its beautiful design and powerful message has moved readers of all ages, leaving a lasting impact.

Could it be possible, then, for the author and illustrator to weave the same extraordinary magic again? Well, the answer, for me, is absolutely yes. For a year later, The Lost Whale has moved me in exactly the same way and possibly even more than The Last Bear did and is another example of hauntingly brilliant storytelling.

When Rio arrives in California to stay with a grandmother he barely knows, he feels alienated, angry and alone. His mother is in hospital in England and he doesn't know how to save her. But when Rio meets Marina and her father, his world changes. For out there on the ocean, there's an exhilaration and freedom he's never experienced before and the most beautiful creatures he's ever seen...whales!

But after Rio establishes a special connection with the grey whale, White Beak, he's distraught to discover she's gone missing. Using his unique gift of communication, can he track her down and save her in the same way he wants to save his mum?

As with The Last Bear, this is also a story about connection; connection with the planet, connection with the beautiful creatures on the planet and connection with other humans. Just like April lost her connection with her father, Rio has lost the connection with his mum, taking her out of his reach. Through Rio's anger, loneliness and grief, Hannah Gold poignantly explores issues of mental health and what it is to be a young carer and cleverly aligns his emotion with the plight of the planet and White Beak.

Hannah Gold's storytelling is wonderfully skilful and yet she makes it look effortless. The short chapters keeps the story bobbing along blissfully, building to a high-action, high-stakes ending. Complimenting Rio's raw emotions is the lovely steady and confident Marina who, along with her father, nurtures her new friend with genuine warmth. I particularly loved that there was more adult involvement in this novel and Rio's relationship with his awkward grandmother is a heartwarming thread to watch out for. Also, while there was a slight fantasy edge to The Last Bear in terms of April's relationship with Bear, this novels feels very much grounded in reality, although Rio's gift is what makes him particularly unique as a character.

The message of the novel is as sharp and impactful as in The Last Bear. There is a strong eco warning about the state of the planet's oceans, the extensive dangers posed to its creatures and the consequences we are facing. Yet, again, this message doesn't feel didactic because, through Rio's story, Hannah Gold makes us care! Witnessing a whale's battle first hand is a powerful thing and yet, within the story and in the end notes, Hannah promotes the positive ways we can help - both collectively and individually. But there are other takeaways from the novel too as Hannah Gold explores Rio's internal change, with the help of his family and friends, towards responsibility and acceptance and liberation from the chains that bind him.

Whether or not you've read The Last Bear, this isn't a novel to miss. It's equally as raw, wild and powerful but also as warm as the Californian sunshine that beats down on the story, enticing us to escape onto the ocean. The illustrations are stunning and readers are in for a real treat of an adventure.

The Lost Whale is available to pre-order and out to buy on 31st March 2022. A big thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for allowing me a review copy.

A lovely story of a boy’s relationship with his mum, his gran and a whale. I would definitely have decided to become a marine biologist had I read this as a child. I’m looking forward to the book being released so that I can buy a copy to see the artwork. I own, but haven’t yet read, Hannah’s last book so I will be making that a priority!

A heart made from nature… The best kind.

The Lost Whale is a beautifully crafted story of hope and healing. The empowering symbolism of the beach, the sea and the whale is woven throughout bringing comfort and renewal to a troubled soul.

Rio’s mother is ill. He’s done what he can to care for her but it has all become too much. She must go to a clinic where others can look after her and help to make her well again. This leaves Rio alone. Sent from London to California, he faces a totally different world with his grandmother. Despite being able to stand in his mother’s worn footprints in her old bedroom overlooking the sea, he feels so far away from her and everything he knows.

As the story unfolds, Rio discovers more and more about his mother’s past – a time when she was happy and free. This contentment seems to be linked to a huge grey whale called White Beak. Maybe this is the answer he’s looking for to help his mother remember what it is to feel happy.

Rio meets Marina and her father, Birch. They run a whale-watching business on their boat. One trip with them is all it takes for Rio to realise the power of the sea – and a power in himself – connecting him to the gentle giants who live beneath the waves.

Rio learns that these amazing creatures are in danger. Hunting, pollution and rising water temperatures put them at risk. As he gets to know Marina, Birch and the whales, Rio realises that this is his chance to be a part of something bigger than himself – to really make a difference and find out where he truly belongs. As he learns to listen with his heart, a life or death decision shows him that not only can he help to save the whales, but they can help to save him.

Just as meaningful as The Last Bear, this is a story that will be treasured. I love the tiny hints of bear dotted across the pages – but instead of the roar of a polar bear, it’s the roar of the ocean that holds so much power!

Thank you to Tina Mories & Harper Collins Children’s Books for this stunning book!

The Lost Whale by Hannah Gold is an absolutely gorgeous story. Heartfelt and authentic from the off, I fell in love with the characters including the magnificent whales, and felt a renewed passion for the ocean.
I can't help thinking if I had read this aged 9 or 10 it would have sparked a desire in me to work as a marine biologist or similar, and certainly to join the cause of the whales. It inspires me to do the latter now anyway!
It makes you want to go out there and see the magnificence of the ocean with your own eyes, and Hannah Gold captures this so well. The beauty, the sounds, the salt in the air and on your skin and the sensation of peace in nature.
It's a really stunning read with such a lot of complex emotion and reality going on too. After being a carer for his mother most of his life, Rio's concern and love for her is a constant as he is forced to leave her and go stay with his Grandmother thousands of miles from home. Even as he allows himself to enjoy Ocean Bay it is his mother's wellbeing that drives him. It is so touching and authentic – all his hopes and fears are beautifully captured and the narrative deals with the reality of mental illness with sensitivity.

This is a well achieved sequel to The Last Bear. Another simple tale that holds so much within it, not least a call to action to look after our planet and understand our power to do so if we work together, one small step at a time.

I highly recommend this to middle grade readers young and old, if you loved The Last Bear, you're in for a treat!

Thank you to Harper Collins Children's and netgalley for the ARC copy.

The Lost Whale By Hannah Gold
Published by Harper Collins

An absolutely beautiful story of love, loss, hope and passion told through the eyes of the young, the determined, those who know change must happen. Rio tells his story and shares his pain whilst living with his mum and her mental health issues. But a change must come. So by moving to California to live with his grandmother, Rio learns of the horrifying effects of human activity that is threatening our planet alongside his own bravery to find his own strength to strive for change. Rio takes us on a wonderful adventure to save ‘White Beak’ whilst saving himself from the guilt and heartfelt loss of being away from his mum and his home.
Thank you Hannah for representing mental health within families and it’s effects on everyone, those suffering with it and those who suffer because of it. Your writing is full of love, teaching us all to be kinder to the planet, each other and of course ourselves. I can’t wait to see those wonderful illustrations when ‘White Beak’ is finally brought to life.

Joanne Bardgett - Year 3 teacher of littlies, lover of books
#Netgallery
#harpercollins

My love and obsession with the ocean and the whales brought me to request for this book. I am very glad that i did. For, this is one of the most beautiful and heart-warming stories that i've ever read ,that left me crying buckets full of tears because it is really beautiful and i myself felt some kind of deep connection with it.

Just like Rio Turner, the main character in this story, i myself is a carer of my own beloved mother who is also suffering from mental health illness (depression),same as Rio's mother is. I felt the pain, the sadness, the loneliness, ,the missing and the longing that Rio did and had for his mother. I myself hoped and still hoping that like Rio, i could heal my mother and make her happy again.

Trying to find something strong that binds us together again just as Rio had found it through her mother's love for the ocean and a beautiful Grey Whale named White Beak. For my mother and i, our love for reading and love for the animals, bind us together. It brings me joy to see my mother's smile whenever we brought her to the zoo, the same hopefulness that Rio had for his mother when he emailed to her the photos of White Beak, the first beautiful creature that stole her heart.

That is how love is, it is vast and knows no boundaries, just like the ocean's depth. For when, we love and care for someone or something so deeply, naturally we would want to save and to protect it from any harm. Just like Rio did.

One day, Rio discovered that White Beak,the Grey whale has gone missing. He instinctively felt that the whale is still alive and is in trouble. Without much ado, he went all out to search for the whale and save it with the help from his friend, Marina and her father, Birch who are operating the whale watching tour. For Rio, White Beak is the only hope of reconnecting with his own mother and the two (Rio and White Beak shared some kind of deep connection between them when the latter saved him from drowning when he fell off the boat during one of the whale watching trips he had previously). So, now it is his turn to repay the whale by saving her. "I will look after you", Rio promised. "I will keep you safe", just like his promise to his mother.

Kudos to the author, Hannah Gold for her successfully weaving a beautiful,inspiring and eye-opening story by blending extremely well two important issues, that are mental health illness and ocean conservations through this story.

Among the main messages highlighted in this story is to show our love,care and respect for nature and the ocean as we are part of nature and we depend on nature for our own survivals. "The ocean wasn't just a body of water-something that linked all the land masses together. It was far more formidable than that. It breathed just like he breathed. It got angry,just like he got angry. And sometimes it got sad just like he got sad. The ocean wasn't separate from him. It was part of him".

Sadly however, the ocean and the whales are in grave danger thanks to human misconducts. As Marina says, "the ocean is one of the most dangerous places on earth. But it is also one of the most in danger".

Besides climate change, Hannah Gold interwoven the issues of ocean's pollutions,whales huntings, whales accidents due to ships and boats collisions and other major threats perfectly well into the story and how we humans play very important roles in safeguarding the ocean and its inhabitants and how we can make a difference if we cared and work together.

I owed my thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this beautiful story that moved me in so many ways!.

I read this book with wonder in my heart and a tear in my eye, it’s such an exquisite story.

Gold has created a beautiful tale that shines a light on such sensitive topics of mental health issues & child carers in a way that never feels heavy-handed but in a thoughtful way. They are woven through the equally important issues of protection of our environment and respect for the natural world. She expertly shows that stories that have a special power to enlighten and educate while the reader shares the experiences of her noble characters in the majestic descriptions.

I can’t wait to read the finished book so I can see the missing artwork sections, as I just know they will be a joy to behold.

A beautiful story of hope, love, friendship and whales. Yet again, Hannah Gold has delivered a wonderful story suitable for children and adults alike, that will touch your heart and your conscious. This time it will make you think about the amazing wildlife that lives beneath the waves, and how we all need to act now to protect it.

I’m blown away, read in about three hours I just couldn’t put it down. A beautiful story of friendship, hope and passion with themes of ecology, mental health and young carers. I can’t express enough how much I loved it. Could literally feel the Californian sunshine radiating from the pages. I admit I had a little tear at the end too! I know it’s like comparing children and you shouldn’t do it but I think I liked this book a little bit more than Bear which is fabulous too. I can’t wait until 31st March to see the illustration which I know will be utterly awesome. Another award-winning title by Hannah Gold and Levi Pinfold.

When Rio’s mum is ill, he travels to California to stay with a grandmother he barely knows. Whilst there, he meets Marina and her dad, Birch, who run whale watching trips. As Rio is drawn into their world, his love for grey whales, and one in particular, grows ever deeper. When this particular whale has nor been spotted for some time, they go in search of her.

Throughout the story Hannah Gold shares a message of ocean conservation, but it is sensitively woven into the story, but not in a way that is preachy, and never at the expense of the storyline. She also touches on Rio’s mum’s mental illness, but rather than being a main element of the story, it provides a gentle backdrop.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rio is going from London to California for four weeks, whether he likes it or not, but will learn a lot of things while there. The reason he's there is that his mother's mother is the best host he could have, with her wooden chalet right on the edge of the Pacific, and because his mother may be something like bipolar and has been prescribed four weeks' isolation and care. Angry at being in a place and with a person he cannot recognise, Rio finds some solace in the womb-like noise of the breaking waves and in the footprints in the wooden flooring that mark the birthplace of his mother's violinist career, and he also finds intrigue when he discovers that an early love of his mother's life had been the grey whales that annually migrate to and fro just outside the bedroom windows...

The adult sees an issue with this book early on. In amongst the thoroughly affecting writing, we see Rio immediately hopeful that the whales will somehow 'cure' his mother. Surely the book won't have the same, naive intentions, when it goes all-out to suggest this is what will happen? The target audience sees, as you might easily guess, just the thoroughly affecting writing. (And the artwork – and the last time anything about Levi Pinfold was at all shabby was when he walked home from school still in his sports kit. Yes, I guess, but.)

The theme of saving and being saved is definitely evident here, whatever your age. The adult will go on from thinking it's a book about saving the mother to saving Rio, but there is also the aspect of saving the whales and the entire ocean, and it has to be said – again, probably only for people older than to whom this book is destined and to the very cynical – this is done a little clunkily. Oh, the waves and the ocean will mimic his mindset? Oh dear – clunky.

Happily, however, this was a quite exceptional read in the finish. For all that clunkiness and cheese, little of it will register with younger audiences, and there is still power (much as is said of cheap music) in the trite. This takes a story that does the obvious, pulling on the expected heartstrings and dutifully hitting nerves in a paint-by-numbers fashion, and yet just utterly, utterly succeeds. Rio is a fine character, the titular whale is a fine character, and when the two do meet there is a sterling, wrenching emotional quality to everything. This is a book containing the obvious, sometimes the cloying and perhaps the overwrought – and yet one that is still fluttering with the outstanding. Tears with the same saltiness as its Pacific setting should not be unexpected, with this powerful and seriously evocative writing. Two from two with this author, then.

The Last Bear was probably the most important and the best middle grade book I've ever read. The Lost Whale is a fantastic continuation of stories which are raising awareness about the human impact on the environment and making children fall in love the animals and their protection. I truly hope that both books will become mandatory at schools around the globe, because our planet could really benefit from raising caring human beings.

Rio is just a kid who lives in London with his mother. She's suffering from the mental health issues and decides to seek help. Rio is sent to his grandmother on the West Coast of the USA. He feels upset and lost, until his grandma gives him the drawings of whales made by his mum, from the first time he goes whale watching, he's fascinated by those wonderful creatures.

Rio meets Marina and together they keep tracking and reporting whales, mostly the grey whales. We're learning a lot about them, their lifestyle, migration, and dangers that they face from humans. Even though they're not actively hunted as much as they used to, our nets and plastic, and all the rubbish in the ocean causes death to many of them.

Rio's favourite whale is White Beak, who was also the favourite whale of his mum. One day they lost track of her, she's not seen across the coast as she supposed to be... Rio and Marina decides to go and find her and rescue her, if needed.

What a heartwarming story. Gives me so my hope that younger generations will be better than we are, if they're raised reading the books about the environmental impact, and they'll make better decisions that adults make currently.

The early copy didn't have illustrations, so I can't wait to get my limited edition and see what Levi Pinfold created for this book.

Ocean promise you'll love this book!
'And that's the best promise of all because the ocean is the most powerful thing on earth. Even more powerful than humans. Although most humans don't like to admit that.'

Rio's mum is not well. She needs to go to hospital for some time and so Rio is sent to California. The boy hates the idea of staying with his grandma, whom he barely knows, and being so far away from his mum. He's desperate to try to find a way to make her better.

When Rio comes across his mother's treasure box, a plan is formed. With the help of his new friend, Marina, Rio embarks on a journey to make his mum happy again. What he doesn't realise yet is how much he needs the journey ahead for himself...

Hannah Gold has done it again! Rio and White Beak stole my heart! I was completely invested in their story and cried when it was over. The bond between the two was simply magical and the story seemed even more plausible than the events in The Last Bear.

Hannah Gold's distinctive voice can be heard loud and clear here - sweeping you like the waves with the captivating story it spins, nudging and empowering you to be the change you want to see in the world. Just like with The Last Bear, there's a very important message at the heart of this book. It encourages the reader to act and to remember that none of us are too small to make a difference. I love how much one can learn from the book - I have learnt so many fascinating things about grey whales. But it's not just a book about protecting the oceans. It's a poignant story with themes of depression and mental health and its ripple effects on those around us.

Last year, readers fell in love with Bear. This year, they'll be swept away by White Beak's tale.

Hannah Gold ensnared Middle Grade hearts last year with her best-selling debut The Last Bear – a huge roar for our earth in the war against climate change and an unforgettable story of a remarkable connection between animal and human.

I completely fell in love with Hannah’s Bear and she returns with an equally incredible story as powerful and spellbinding as the ocean itself. A story of the breath-taking bond between a boy and one of the most big-hearted creatures on our plane; the grey whale.

Alone and adrift, 11 year old Rio has been sent halfway across the world to live with a grandmother he barely knows in California while his mum is in hospital back home. For so long he has been completely submerged by his mum’s mental illness and the strain of caring for her is drowning him.

Months of sadness keep Rio a prisoner in his own thoughts and instead of exploring Ocean Bay, he stays holed up in his room. But when his grandmother brings him a treasured collection of his mum’s old things, he finds a sketchbook – the pages brimming with beautiful drawings of a grey whale with distinctive white markings: White Beak. It’s as if the ocean has spoken directly to his heart and he instantly feels closer to his mum. A glimmer of hope washes over him and Rio feels the waves calling him, pulling him towards them.

Trudging the beach alone, Rio meets Marina. A similar age and a budding Marine Biologist she invites him aboard The Spyhopper on one of her dad’s whale watching trips. It’s here he has his first incredible encounter with White Beak, a gentle giant of the sea and everything changes. Not only is it a one-in-a-million chance that he’s seen the very same whale his mum loved so much all those years ago but he discovers a gift hidden deep within him: he can hear the whale song.

Marina and her dad Birch invite Rio to be a regular crew member – afterall his unique talent is crucial in helping them track and count the whales as they migrate along the Pacific coastline. For the first time in years, Rio feels like he’s come up for air and he no longer feels so suffocated. He also knows that when mum finds out he’s found White Beak it will make her happy again – he’s going to make her get better.

Until White Beak goes missing…

For days, Rio and Marina frantically search the whale watching websites for sightings along the grey whale migration route but there’s nothing. It seems she never made it to Mexico and the sanctuary of the lagoons. The trail has gone cold. Marina has educated Rio on all the dangers whales face in our oceans – choking on plastic, becoming tangled in fishing nets, fatal collisions with cruise ships and boat propellers- and he fears the worst. He sets out on a desperate quest to find his lost whale, he knows she’s in trouble and if he can’t save her, how will he save his mum?

Hannah Gold has done it again! She has the most spectacular talent for connecting children to our world’s most endangered creatures and through the power of her storytelling, empowering them to believe they can make a difference.

‘Awareness is the change of heart…None of us can save the world single-handedly, but together we might just stand a chance.’

I know we’re about to see a tidal wave of love and support for The Lost Whale, I think I loved it even more than The Last Bear (if that’s possible!) I’m all at sea after finishing it and can’t even think about reading another book yet – my head’s still somewhere in the middle of the Pacific! White Beak has completely stolen my heart -and whale watching has well and truly been added to my bucket list!

I was worried Hannah's second book wouldn't touch my heart as much as The Last Bear did, but I should never have doubted her! I absolutely loved this book, our main character was such a sweet kid, and the friendship was beautiful! Love love love!! I'll be selling this all year long to as many people as I possibly can!

This is a breathtakingly beautiful book. From beginning to end, it made my heart sing. Hannah Gold has painted a story so believable that it feels like you can taste the salty air and hear the whale song. I was captivated from the first page to the last and read the book in one sitting.

The Lost Whale deals with some challenging issues: climate change, mental illness, abandonment and yet the book does not feel weighted down by these things. Indeed it feels empowering - a call to arms to save our oceans. A reminder of the difference one small person can make.

I absolutely adored this book and cannot wait to add it to my Year 5 bookshelf. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.