A Galaxy of Whales by Heather Fawcett

Rating: Needs Minor Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Late Elementary

I’m not especially into 11-year-old girl drama, but at least this one eventually goes deeper.

Possible Concerns/Sensitive topics.

• Death of a parent
• Older sister with Multiple Sclerosis
• Financial struggles. A family struggling to keep their small business alive
• Family feuds. Another family struggling to keep their competitor small business alive, and the feuding it entails
• Friendship drama. Friends wanting more than one friend, and changing interests and passions, and hurting feelings in the process.
• Environmental stewardship. Endangered whale species and the history of whaling boats mistreating them.
• Quirky occasional mention of an opossum ghost following after the main character at times.
• Emotional Dependency. The main character clearly has emotional dependency on her friend Ivy. Worth talking to your kid about what it looks like to have healthy friendships (ok to hang out with others, not be jealous or controlling, ok to do stuff *not* together…)

Things I like:

• Empathy for Enemies. Getting to know your mortal enemy, who is actually not so bad.
• Family working together.