-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Michael’s grandfather has a secret—a secret that's almost too strange to share...
When Michael moves to Israel, he leaves loneliness behind and steps into the light of his grandfather's magic. Like a sorcerer's apprentice, Michael learns how to blur the lines between dreams and reality when his grandfather hands down the most precious of gifts—a gift that allows Michael passage into his grandfather’s dreams.
Written with a quiet simplicity that wins the reader over at once Uri Orlev writes in a style so sure and yet so unassuming that it is certain to linger in reader's minds long after turning the last page.
"Starred Review. It's a gentle fable of community connection; a penetrating look at the darker sides latent in people and the mutability of different kinds of love; and a heart-tugging tale about passing the generational torch from grandfather to grandson. With a clean sense that less is more, Orlev has crafted a sweetly mysterious and quietly moving read." - Booklist
"A strange tale, but a diverting escape, perhaps, to those also at odds with the really real world. Ages 10–up." - Publishers Weekly
"This book is truly a work of art. The subtlety with which Orlev writes is absolutely mesmerizing." - School Library Journal
This information about The Song of the Whales was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Uri Orlev was born in Warsaw in 1931. In 1996, Uri Orlev received the the highest international recognition given to an author of children’s books. He now lives in Jerusalem. An author, journalist, and internationally reknowned, awarding-winning translator, Hillel Halkin has translated several of Uri Orlev's novels from the Hebrew into English.
If you liked The Song of the Whales, try these:
by Allison Epstein
Published 2026
A thrilling reimagining of the world of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of the infamous Jacob Fagin, London's most gifted pickpocket, liar, and rogue.
by Nathan Harris
Published 2025
A gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to finally reunite, all while escaping a former master still intent on their bondage.
by Elizabeth Gonzalez. James
Published 2025
A dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making.
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
