posted on 28 Mar 2019

Alfred and the Blue Whale by Mina Lystad, illustrated by Åshild Irgens

Originally published in 2015 in the author’s native Norway, Mina Lystad’s charming book about the chronically shy schoolboy, Alfred and the way a project on the Blue Whale changes his life, has been translated by Sian Mackie and published by the ever adventurous publishing house, Wacky Bee.

Alfred is going through a terrible period of self-consciousness. Everything makes him nervous or anxious and just the thought of having to speak in public fills him with terror – it’s the kind of fear you can only battle by hiding behind your fringe and refusing to come out.

Just getting through each day is a nightmare for Alfred and school isn’t helping him. When he gets given a project to do by his teacher- to discover all he can about a specific animal - he’s dismayed to discover he’s going to have to present his findings to the whole class. Disaster!

The children in the class are all given the name of an animal at random to do their research on and Alfred’s slip of paper says ‘Blue Whale’. At first his instinct is to hide from the task but soon he realises he’s got to do something or the presentation will be an even bigger problem to navigate. So he starts by asking his family what they know about the Blue Whale and after picking up one or two bits of information his dad shows him how to search for more on the internet.

Soon Alfred is digging into the mountain of interesting facts he can discover – a Blue Whale tongue weighs more than an elephant; they are possibly the biggest creature ever to live on the planet; they sing!

And just as he’s feeling more positive about his task, he realises the day for the presentation has finally rolled around and the nerves are back with him big time. So how will he cope? Will all the information and has learned help him through?

That’s something I’m going to leave for you to find out for yourselves by reading the book.

Lystad has written a story packed full of emotions and details that so many young people will recognise. Chronic shyness and self-doubt can blight the lives of youngsters but the message here is that there is confidence to be found in understanding what makes the world such a wonderful place. Knowledge is power but wonder and imagination can take you to an even better place.

The illustrations by Åshild Irgens are an integral part of the book’s appeal. The colour drawings are scattered throughout and there are several full page illustrations which bring Alfred’s world to life. It may just be my imagination but I can’t help but feel there’s more than a bit of inspiration here from the style of Lauren Child?

The almost A5 format of the book gives it a different feel in your hands when you’re reading it which I liked a lot and the last couple of pages given over to facts about the Blue Whale was an unexpected bonus.

 

Terry Potter

March 2019