Songs in the Silence

After her younger brother is hospitalized with a badly burned leg, Hallie feels horribly guilty that she momentarily panicked while someone else put out the flames. In this conflicted state she takes a neighbor's dinghy out to sea, gets caught in a fog and falls overboard. Her rescue from the cold Maine waters is mysteriously effected by a whale, with whom Hallie discovers she can communicate provided she is in the water. She learns that her new friend, Melae, is trying to protect an injured whale too weak to swim to deeper water. Eager to help, Hallie finds herself in the difficult position of having to guard the whales against the scientific teams that include her own father. Murphy's ( Alice Dodd and the Spirit of Truth ) story, quietly told, moves along smoothly. The interspecies communication is handled credibly enough, and whether or not Hallie's conversations with the whale are imaginary becomes immaterial as Murphy focuses increasingly on Hallie's growing strength. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)