Whalesong

Whalesong: The True Story of the Musician Who Talked to Orcas

Written & Illustrated by Zachariah OHora

Tundra Books | 2024

Fortunately, the days of captive orcas are mostly behind us, and Whalesong: The True Story of The Musician Who Talked to Orcas offers students a deep look at the intelligence and social nature of the orca. Whalesong tells the true story of scientist Paul Spong, flautist Paul Horn, and their musical relationship with two orcas, Haida and Chimo. OHora’s voice in telling this true story is wry and matter of fact, describing it in his first sentence as a story of “two whales, two boys and two Pauls.” The illustrations are bright, detailed, and lightly cartoonish, true to OHora’s style. You’ll love sinking into Whalesong!

Discussion questions:

Why do you think Haida acted differently after Chimo died? Do you think whales have feelings?
What do you think about animals living in captivity after reading this story?
What is similar and different about how the two Pauls relate to the orcas in the story?

Vocabulary:

Captivity: the situation in which a person or animal is kept somewhere and is not allowed to leave
Listlessly: having no energy and enthusiasm and unwilling to do anything needing effort

Video content:

YouTube musical recording of Paul Horn and Haida the Orca: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYda_ENS7DA
Orcalab Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqbPOGv3MrY

Publisher content:

Orcalab is Dr. Paul Spong’s organization that is focused on gathering and sharing information about orcas, and helping free all orcas in captivity: https://orcalab.org/

Activities:

Listen to the recordings of Paul Horn and Haida (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYda_ENS7DA). As a class, brainstorm a list of feelings that the music creates for you. Then listen to this Allegro from Shostakovich (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZbJOE9zNjw) and see if the feelings are similar or different. Discuss how different music makes you feel, or how Haida might have felt Paul Horn had played different music to him.
Connect with your music teacher and take some time to sing together. Set up a karaoke center (pre-select some school-appropriate songs!) or learn to perform a song with recorders. Learn to sign a familiar song with sign language.
Take this story as an opportunity to learn more about whales. You could research different species of whales, learn more about whale songs, learn about orcas specifically, or learn about the people who study whales. Use your favorite online encyclopedia or database.
For passive programming or simple centers, go to a whale conservation site and download their orca and baby coloring sheet or their Orca activity book that includes a wordsearch, crossword puzzle, facts, etc. https://us.whales.org/educational-material/

Zachariah OHora

Author & Illustrator
www.fuzzy.town/about

Zachariah OHora is the Show Creator and Executive Producer of the groundbreaking new animated show on PBS KIDS "Carl the Collector." He is the illustrator of the New York Times best selling book Wolfie the Bunny. And the author and illustrator of a number of award-winning books including the parent trap for cats epic Niblet & Ralph featured on The Today Show and Whale Song a non-fiction picture book about jazz musician Paul Horn and his inter-species communication with orcas. OHora’s books have been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide including; Russian, Chinese, Korean, French, German, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish, Dutch, Arabic and Farsi. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, two sons, two cats and their dog Waffles.

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