What is Songs of the Humpback Whale about?
Songs of the Humpback Whale is a powerful and sensitive novel of family life that questions how songs are passed down from male speaker to male speaker, but also examines the female tradition of listening that women unconsciously pass on to their daughters.
What is the mystery about humpback whale songs in the Pacific Ocean?
After decades of analyzing the singing of South Pacific whales — one of 14 known humpback populations globally — scientists from the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium noticed that these changes weren’t random: Whales were remixing their songs to incorporate bits of music associated with other breeding grounds.
Is a spark of light a true story?
In “A Spark of Light,” the queen of ethical-dilemma fiction sticks to her dependable recipe, this time tackling the hot-button issue of abortion. In Picoult’s novel (as in real life), there is only one women’s health clinic that provides abortions in Mississippi.
What is spark of light about?
A Spark of Light tells the stories of the lives of a group of people when a man enters an abortion center in Mississippi and begins shooting. The shooting develops into a hostage situation, and the hostage negotiator soon learns that his teen daughter, Wren McElroy, is one of the hostages inside.
Who is Hadley in songs of the humpback whale?
Hadley: Sam’s friend and an employee at his apple orchard, in a relationship with Rebecca, age 25.
What is a humpback whale sound?
Humpback whales produce moans, grunts, blasts and shrieks. Each part of their song is made up of sound waves. Some of these sound waves are high frequency. If you could see these sounds, they would look like tall, pointed mountains.
Why do humpback whales sing?
Humpback whales may sing not to court mates but to help explore the seas around them. When a male humpback moves someplace new, he changes his song to match those coming from other nearby whales.
Why was Wren at the clinic in a spark of light?
Wren is a teenage girl who is at the Center seeking birth control because she’s seeing a boy, Ryan, she thinks she loves. She was afraid to ask her dad, so she asked her Aunt Bex to bring her instead.
How old is Wren in spark of light?
15-year-old
The protagonist is 15-year-old Wren McElroy. Her father, Hugh, is a hostage negotiator for the local police force. When the novel begins, Wren is at the Center, a women’s reproductive health services clinic.
Who are the main characters in a spark of light?
The story is narrated from the points of view of ten different characters: Wren, Hugh, Bex, George, Beth, Olive, Joy, Janine, Louie, and Izzy.
Who is Sam in songs of the humpback whale?
Sam: Owner of the apple orchard in Massachusetts, Jane’s lover, age 25. Hadley: Sam’s friend and an employee at his apple orchard, in a relationship with Rebecca, age 25.