Publishers Weekly
A strong sense of place, sinewy prose, and an unusual blend of workaday life and fairy tale dreaminess distinguish Spalding’s (Secret of the Dance) Pacific Northwest fantasy. Finn, the son of a salmon fisherman, befriends and rescues a seal, then wishes out loud for her to take human form. Sure enough, a solemn girl in a long dress named Sheila appears, and Finn’s family’s salmon fishing takes a turn for the better. When Finn dismisses Sheila’s warnings and ventures into a terrible storm (“You’re just scared of the sea,” he scoffs), she gives up her human form to save him. “Finn lay asleep on the shingle. Protecting him, like a velvet blanket, was the seal. A fall frost sparkled across her back.” The oil paintings by Milelli (The Art Room) are composed, mosaiclike, of planes of saturated color that mimic the play of light across the water and the faces of the fishermen. The sober reality of the tweed caps of the men on the docks and the cannery’s wooden buildings anchor the story’s magical elements in a particularly piquant way. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)
Canadian Literature
"The formal text retains the grave and romantic tone of folklore and incorporates free-verse poetry in lyrical songs that echo folkloric rhyme...The design and typography of the poems enhance the emotional cadence and parallel the movement in the underwater scenes."
www.storytimestandouts.com
"Richly illustrated with beautiful, evocative oil paintings, Seal Song is a thought provoking look at what it means to be a friend."
Resource Links
"This story will help children understand how kindness and sacrifice can strengthen relationships."
Eastern New Jersey Regional Library Cooperative
"The prose weaves gentle magic, but the illustrations command attention here. Softly hued, earthy, watery, the reader is bound to get lost in each one."
Perogies & Gyoza blog
"A delicate balance of prose and poetry that really grabs the reader...Milelli's illustrations reflect the sea and refracted light of the sun on every page. Coupled with Spalding's masterful storytelling, this art proves that picture books can be as deep and moving as any other book."
CM Magazine
"Milelli's illustrations are extraordinary. His unique artistic style, with his colour blocks and vivid palette, harkens back to the works of Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso. Milelli's approach allows the reader to bear witness to the natural world with a newfound wonder...Seal Song weaves fishing customs and traditional folklore effortlessly into one tale. Spalding adds depth...by taking a visceral approach to her storytelling. Thus, the reader gains a more intimate perspective into the characters and their experiences. Seal Song beautifully showcases that a friend can take any shape."
BC Bookworld
"Evocative illustrations in oil by award-winning Vancouver artist Pascal Milelli provide a moody, watery backdrop throughout the book."
The Horn Book Guide
"Dramatic oil paintings, particularly effective in their portrayal of the ocean and the selkie, illustrate the bittersweet, evocative story."
Southwest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries
"[This] magical story is one of friendship and devotion...The oil illustrations reel you in, as does the free-verse interspersed throughout."
Canadian Children's Book News
"Spalding has intertwined traditional Celtic folklore with the west coast fishing way of life to create an enchanting story about a loyal and, ultimately, life-altering friendship. She writes beautifully, with such powerful imagery and a strong sense of place that the text could easily stand on its own...Milelli's vibrant oil paintings transport readers to the natural surroundings of a fishing community. He achieves a dramatic effect by employing blocks of colour, with emphasis on blues and greens, so supporting Spalding by creating the perfect atmosphere for her beautifully crafted text. An inspired pairing! Seal Song will captivate and entrance young imaginations."
Quill & Quire
"The storm scenes are skilfully rendered, and Milelli's pictures are particularly vivid."
storytimestandouts.com
"Richly illustrated with beautiful, evocative oil paintings, Seal Song is a thought provoking look at what it means to be a friend."
School Library Journal
Gr 2–4—Spalding has located her selkie story in the salmon fishing grounds of Canada. She tells of a boy who loves to swim with seals and rescues one from an old net. Soon after, Sheila, a stranger child, appears and befriends Finn, though she is oddly loathe to let saltwater touch her skin. After a time, Finn ventures out onto the water though Sheila warns him of a storm brewing. When he capsizes, she sacrifices her human form to save him. Milelli's oil paint illustrations do little to convey the magic Spalding tries to evoke. Angular, hard-edged swaths of color make both land- and seascapes sit heavily on the pages. The human figures pose stiffly and awkwardly, and when Finn is sitting in his skiff, supposedly buffeted by powerful winds, his hair is barely ruffled.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Kirkus Reviews
Finn, a fisherman's son, befriends a seal who becomes his selkie friend until she gives up her human life to rescue him in a storm.
Drawing on the long tradition of selkie tales, Spalding (Solomon's Tree, 2002, etc.) weaves a new story set in a Canadian community where salmon fishermen use nets. Finn works with his father, but he finds time to swim and play, and he longs to hear a seal sing. After he frees one from a net and nurses it back to health, she not only sings, she turns into a girl, Sheila, who can live on land and be his best friend—just as he had wished. All goes well until he ignores her advice and rows into a storm. Sheila sings once more and slips back into the ocean to save him, but when selkies enter saltwater, they turned back into seals. The magical elements of this friendship story seem believable in context, and the bittersweet ending is appropriate. Within the third-person narration are lyrical passages summing up important story elements. The text is set on or opposite Milelli's dark, expressive oil paintings, which focus mainly on the characters, giving only a rough idea of their surroundings.
Read aloud or alone, the storytelling and illustrations work well together, creating a memorable, satisfying whole. (Picture book. 5-9)
