Whale Adventure - Willard Price

Published by Red Fox/Random House Children's Books: Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, 1993.
First published 1960.
Book 5 in the 'Adventure' Series. Preceded by 'Volcano Adventure.' Followed by 'African Adventure.'

A lot of the books in this series have elements that have 'dated' a bit, whether in terms of how people of different ethnicities are treated or portrayed, or the way in which our heroes are mostly tasked with collecting rare animals for zoos, circuses and private animal collections, something that is far more controversial today! However, Whale Adventure takes this 'dated' element to a whole new level, with our protagonists Hal and Roger Hunt signing on to a whaling ship. An old-fashioned (even by the standards of the book) whaling ship. With flogging, and keelhauling, and actually killing whales. 

I liked the book Moby Dick, and will probably read it again someday. It had whaling throughout it, and it felt normal to the world of the book. But having a book set in the twentieth century where whaling is not only accepted, but growing as a commercial enterprise, feels really weird!! Considering how murderous the main antagonist (Captain Grindle) gets, the book as a whole goes into a weirder place than the rest of the series so far. Really, it feels like author Price had a story set in the peak of the whaling era that he wanted to write, and simply moved it into 'modern' times so he could fit it into his popular series, rather than make it a standalone.

We still get the adventurous element and the usual 'this is how the world works' informative element, but with it mostly based around the whale trade, it is harder to look at this book and go, "Wow. So cool. I want to experience that!"

My least favourite from the series so far.

Completed 18 April 2025.



(Adventure Series)

Previous Book ~ Next Book

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Pōrangi Boy - Shilo Kino

Image
Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021 (2020). Niko Te Kainga-mataa lives in the small town of Pohe Bay, a predominantly Māori community where the New Zealand government is planning to build a prison. Niko's grandfather, Tangaroa, is opposed to the prison, saying that it is going to be built on Māori land that is being watched over by the taniwha Taukere. Unfortunately, Tangaroa is known as the "pōrangi man" (crazy man), and throughout the book we see that he has lost some of his mental faculties - even to the point of urinating on people. As his grandson, and as someone who also wants to stand up against the prison being built, Niko too is labelled as pōrangi. Through the book, Niko has to wrestle with his own beliefs regarding Taukere, as well as learning to take a stronger leadership role in the community, particularly in the area of protesting the prison. Being written by a Māori author, Shilo Kino,  The Pōrangi Boy has a very authentic M...
Read more

The Last Battle - CS Lewis

Image
Published in an omnibus edition with the full Chronicles of Narnia series: " The Magician's Nephew "; " The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe "; " The Horse and His Boy "; " Prince Caspian ";  "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" ;  "The Silver Chair" ; "The Last Battle" , by Harper Collins Publishers: Hammersmith, London, 2010. Originally published 1956. The final book in the Narnia series, The Last Battle appropriates covers the events leading up to and surrounding the end of Narnia itself. The last king of Narnia, Tirian, and his close friend, the unicorn Jewel, enlist the help of Eustace and Jill to do battle against a "false Aslan" and an army of Calormenes. The book is different from the remainder of the Narnia series (aside from The Horse and His Boy ) in that it begins in Narnia, following Narnians, with no one from 'our' world arriving until quite a way in to the book. Even when they do ...
Read more

The Good Women of China - Xinran

Image
Published by Chatto & Windus: London, England, 2002. Translated by Esther Tyldesley. When I started the Alphabet Soup challenge, I knew that some letters would have a few less options to choose from, and felt that X would probably be the hardest. As I approached this letter I did occasionally glance ahead, and would see one or two books at most on display at any one time. In the end, when I went to get a book out for X there was only one fiction book currently in the library by an X author. Skimming through it I was unimpressed, so I browsed through non-fiction for only the third time in this challenge.  The Good Women of China is a collection of biographical stories told by Xinran, who for eight years ran a radio programme in China called Words on the Night Breeze dedicated to telling the stories of Chinese women. Fifteen such stories, including Xinran's own upbringing, are presented here, including some so traumatic that she was never able to share them on air.  The f...
Read more