Iris, the only Deaf student in her sixth-grade class, struggles to communicate well with kids at school, and feels a strong connection with Blue 55, a lone whale who can't communicate with others because its voice is on a different frequency. Using her knowledge of electronics and sound, she records her school orchestra playing notes in the whale's frequency and sends them to a biologist who plans to tag Blue 55. Receiving an encouraging reply, Iris decides to meet up with the research team and the whale in Alaska. When her initial plan falls through, she confides in her grandmother, a grieving widow, who takes the girl on an Alaskan cruise that proves transformative for both. While certain story elements are not entirely convincing, they will probably bother adults more than the intended audience. Kelly, who also wrote Chained (2012), works as an interpreter for the Deaf. The strength of the book is its strong portrayal of Iris as a Deaf girl in a hearing world and an intelligent 12-year-old in headlong, single-minded pursuit of her goal.

Twelve-year-old Iris was named for the whale that her grandparents had witnessed being beached on the same day the girl was born, presumably because the mammal wasn-t able to navigate her way due to a hearing loss-though, as Grandpa explains in ASL translated into text, -She wasn-t born Deaf like we were.- Iris zealously collects and repairs vintage radios, feeling vibrations on the speakers to discern -if a radio was playing music or crackling with static or sitting there like a box of rocks.- Iris discovers a new passion after watching a documentary about Blue 55, a baleen whale who swims alone rather than in pods and sings at a frequency that renders his song unintelligible to other whales. She vows to use her electronics acumen to communicate with Blue 55 by creating a song that will -let him know he alone.- Subtly and poignantly drawing a parallel between the girl and whale, Kelly (Chained), who has worked as a sign language interpreter, relays Iris-s venture with credibility and urgency. The emotional current deepens as Iris mourns the sudden death of her grandfather-her kindred spirit-and witnesses the increasing aloofness of her once vibrant grandmother, who-s also deaf. Kelly effectively interjects Blue 55-s perspective into the narrative and adds an engrossing final note about the real-life whale who inspired the story. This finely crafted novel affectingly illuminates issues of loneliness, belonging, and the power of communication. Ages 8-12. Agent: Molly O-Neill, Waxman Leavell Literary. (Feb.)

A Deaf girl won't give up her quest to connect with a lonely whale.Like many Deaf children, 12-year-old Iris has hearing parents, attends school with an interpreter, and has difficulty communicating with her classmates (especially the girl who believes her own invented gibberish is ASL). She had a close relationship with her Deaf grandparents, but her grandmother has withdrawn after her husband's death, and Iris' mom, a child of Deaf adults, has her own anxieties around her daughter's need for Deaf community. The white girl's troubles contrast with her black friend Wendell's, whose hearing family is invested in Deaf language and culture. When Iris learns about Blue 55, a whale who sings at a frequency unintelligible to other whales, she feels an immediate kinship and concocts a plan to create a song Blue 55 can hear. A quick-moving, suspenseful plot takes her from junkyards to a cruise ship as she gains the confidence to stand up for herself and take control of her life. Written by a sign-language interpreter, this story incorporates important elements of Deaf culture and the expansiveness and richness of ASL but makes concessions to hearing readers in its recording of conversations. (ASL dialogue is appropriately rendered in fluent English.) The final suspenseful scenes strain credulity, and lengthy descriptions of frequencies and radio repair drag occasionally, but this remains a satisfying, energetic read.Iris' adventures will engross readers, though Deaf and hearing audiences will likely experience them differently. (Fiction. 8-14)