Kirkus Reviews

This Australian import offers up something of a fish story about a whale.Although he claims to have found a whale in his bathtub, it seems that Bruno's family fancies him a boy who cries wolf. Neither his parents nor his siblings believe him when he says he can't bathe because of the whale's presence, and readers are left to wonder whether the scenes showing him with the (rather demanding) whale are imagined or part of a fantastic reality. By the book's end it seems the latter is the case: when his sister goes into the bathroom after Bruno's predicament is solved with a blowhole shower, she finds both the whale and a whale-size mess. Throughout, Jellett's illustrations augment the text's humor with lots of movement and expressive characters, and such details as endpapers decorated with a krill motif in reference to the whale's favorite food provide visual interest that expands on the story. Bruno and his family are uniformly portrayed as dark-haired and sepia-skinned.Good, clean fun. (Picture book. 3-6)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In Westaway-s first picture book, originally published in Australia, a whale has invaded the bathtub of a boy named Bruno; worse, it isn-t even an especially nice whale. -You could have knocked!- says the cetacean before shooing Bruno out of the bathroom. Bruno tries to explain the situation to his family, but no one believes him. -You-re always making things up,- says sister Ally while watching TV. -A whale can-t fit in the bathtub,- says Bruno-s serious older brother. -It-s just impossible.- A -shower- courtesy of the whale-s blowhole keeps Bruno from getting in trouble for not bathing, though, as his mother notes, -You smell a bit fishy!- While there isn-t much of a story arc, Jellett (Two Tough Crocs) makes the most of the improbable situation, filling the bathroom with bubbles and white spray to emphasize the mess the whale is making and using crayonlike red scribbles on Bruno-s cheeks to highlight his growing irritation. Sometimes, Westaway suggests, you just have to give in to a situation that-s out of your control-or, better yet, leave it for your sister to deal with. Ages 4-7. (June)

School Library Journal (Sun May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

PreS-Gr 2 Bruno has a "whale" of a problem lying in his bathtub: a demanding, self-absorbed blue whale who prefers warm bath water to the ocean and would rather have krill-scented bubble bath than Bruno's bubble-gum scented one. Each time the boy attempts to take his bath, the whale hogs the tub and kicks Bruno out to contend with his skeptical parents and siblings, who cannot fathom such a ludicrous whale tale at bath time. Just as he is about to get into even worse trouble, Bruno's big new friend comes up with a king-size idea to give him the best kind of cleaningall with the splash of his tail. Jellett's quirky, retro illustrations present an untidy-looking Bruno with scribbly red cheeks and scraggly hair, suiting the delightful absurdity of the story perfectly. The whale is presented in parts, rather than whole: initially with a single eye and mouth, next with a massive flipper, and altogether just oddly distorted. This clearly demonstrates that whales are simply too big to fit entirely in any bathtub. Younger children will appreciate what it means to present implausible obstacles at bath time, while older ones might ponder the more practical matter of how much bigger a standard-size whale is compared to a typical tub.