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Why the Whales Came

Book
Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo, M.B.E.

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By Michael Morpurgo, M.B.E.

avg rating

92 reviews

Reviews

17 Jul 2025

Such an emotive read. A fascinating story and I shed a tear at the end…but it was tears of happiness!! The ideal book to read to my P4/5 class (age8/9).

27 Aug 2024

I enjoyed this very much and would recommend it.

28 Dec 2023

I thought this was good and would recommend it.

17 Oct 2023

Such a beautiful book. I read this whilst walking the Isles of Scilly and loved being part of the landscape so beautifully described by Morpurgo. This is storytelling at its best - full of captivating description, intense plot lines, identifiable characters and big heart. Recommend it to everyone!

15 Aug 2023

I would give this book 4 stars because I liked how the story went. I think Michael Morpurgo its a brilliant author. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure stories.

15 Aug 2023

I loved the way the descriptions painted the pictures in your mind of what the island was like and how people acted.
Well worth a read

12 Jan 2023

I liked Gracie and the bird man.I like this book because it was all about mystery.I would recommend it to my mum.I think this is a really good and interesting book.

11 Jan 2023

it was a really fun journey and it was very adventures and really good to read

11 Jan 2023

i loved this book because it was an adventures book and thats the kind i like a it was such an amazing journey

23 Sep 2022

A fiction based historical book. Gives a glimpse of what life was like before and during WW1 on the Scilly island's.
My favourite character was Gracie, because the story is about her adventures with her friend Daniel, during this time.
She copes with hardship and loss, but her story ends happily. I liked the way the islanders pulled together to save the stranded narwhal.
The story is disturbing in parts, so would recommend for older children.

24 Aug 2022

The best book ever. I loved when the children were lost on Samson and when they tried to save the whales.

08 Aug 2022

My favourite character was Gracie. The Birdman was like Tammylan in Enid Blyton

08 Aug 2022

I like it because there was a man that all the birds loved and he fed them. It was based in Cornwall and it was about an island that your cursed when the narwhals were killed there.

I loved the whales and narwhals and the happy ending.

23 Dec 2021

likes how it was on a beach

19 Sep 2021

I love this book, and I would recommend it to someone like me who loves stories about the ocean.

17 Sep 2021

I think this is a good book because there are lots of twists and turns. My favourite characters are Gracie and the Birdman.

03 Sep 2021

I enjoyed the story. I liked the fact that the Birdman's story was true!

27 Aug 2021

I really liked this book. It is about 2 friends and is set on the Isles of Scilly. it is all about friendship and team work to save the whales. my favourite character was Prince the dog.

24 Aug 2021

Epic

12 Aug 2021

I loved the book because it was so moving and it was a bit scary for me.

03 Aug 2021

I read this book on a long car journey. It was interesting but the whales weren't mentioned until near the end!

23 Jul 2021

I loved it!
I liked learning about Samson.
It was really exciting.

23 Jul 2021

I used to love Michael Morpurgo but now I find them less interesting to read and its not my type of book. I would recommend it to my friend Milly

22 Jan 2021

I thought this book was very good and interesting, I would recommend this book to some people.

13 Jan 2021

It was good and surprising

13 Sep 2020

I liked this book because it was quite suspenseful since you don’t know who the bird man is until you continue reading until the end. I also liked some chapters where it made it clear the difference between time periods from now and then from what school was like and so on.

13 Sep 2020

I liked the setting and how the characters survived the story.

07 Sep 2020

Not as easy to read because there are some strange words but I enjoyed the story.

03 Sep 2020

A great book, a little sad (as always).

28 Aug 2020

the old man
the old island
yes

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