This book by the award-winning Gruffalo partnership is about a tiny snail who longs to see the world, and the enormous grey-blue humpback whale who gives him a lift on his tail. Together they set off on a fantastic journey, passing frozen icebergs and fiery volcanoes and meeting all sorts of sea animals on the way, until the tiny snail finds himself oppressed by the vastness of the world. But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it is the tiny snail who saves the day. Written in a catchy rhyming style with wonderfully detailed illustrations on every page, this is a simple and touching story about making a difference.// Read by Rachael Stirling.
Listen to an audio clip
Hello, my name is Rachael. This book is a wonderful tale of worldwide travel to far off lands. Our star of the show is a sea snail, and her travelling companion is a great big, grey-blue humpback whale. (chilly sounding) Brrr! In this double page picture we're in Antarctica. How do we know this? Well, the water is full of large and small floating icebergs and lots of jolly penguins. (SFX wind end) (SFX penguin calls) These black and white creatures are joyfully sliding about the ice on their tummies or jumping into the cold ocean. Two orange parrots sit in the palm trees while two orange crabs are claw to claw in combat on the sandy beach. A golden eagle soars in the sky with wings outstretched. (SFX Golden eagle sound sauing high above) Another eagle is standing proudly on a rock. In the page on the left five boats are zigging and zooming about in the bright blue sea. (SFX speedboats zooming about in bay) The little speed boats have names, Rocket, Buzz, Hornet, Zipper and Thunderbolt. Rocket is a red one seater boat driven by a lady in a red swimsuit. It's zooming so fast that it's lifted up in the air above the waves. Her dog is enjoying the ride with ears flapping in the wind. In the page on the right our blue whale is not submerged in the ocean. No. He's in the shallow lapping waves of a sandy beach. Almost all of his body is out of the water.
What's inside
A picture book with braille pages and raised tactile images.
Audio descriptions with music and sound effects in your chosen format of either CD or USB.
An ‘Articles for the Blind’ returns label for the free and convenient return of the box.
Touch to see image list
Rock, Snail and Whale Octopus, Bear and Turtle Whale rescue
Great story Who doesn’t love a Julia Donaldson story they’re lovely ! I think I would be lovely if that tactile pictures came out, the tactile pictures are so detailed that children need time to explore them, but if they came out you could be reading the story while they’re feeling the pictures which I think they would connect and engage with the story more maybe… “the whale, feel this is the whale” i know there’s the audio ( daughter isn’t a fan) but I love the books this is just my opinion I know they work well for many family and we will getting more books, thanks ☺️ X
Hi Danielle - Thank you for your recent review of The Snail and the Whale and we are so thrilled to hear that you and your daughter loved the book – we certainly agree it’s a great story!
Feedback from our Living Paintings account holders is always welcome and we appreciate your suggestion of having thermoforms that are separate from the picture books. We will be reviewing the way our books are produced and we will keep your comments in mind. Best wishes the Living Paintings Team Danielle
