Whale, That Was Unexpected is a seriously fun picture book collaboration between author Casey Lyall (Vampire Jam Sandwich) and illustrator Kathryn Durst (Polite Predators series) that features an eccentric, white-haired mariner who, with her loyal canine sidekick, faces down a whale of a situation with fourth-wall-breaking, unflappably dry wit.
Every day, for "MANY" years, crusty fisherwoman Maude and her scruffy dog, Claude (both clad in bright yellow waterproof garments), head out to sea. Maude is pretty sure she's seen everything, until... her "trusty little boat" is swallowed by a whale! Maude does the only sensible thing and throws a good-bye party. Maude insists that the book's narrator "do the honors" and offer some final words: "Farewell, Maude, a grand old dame. Farewell, Claude, sixth of his name." Then there's a wet "WHOOOSH" of a wave, and now also saying good-bye are a crab, an octopus, a "musty little goat," a sea lion, and a puffin. When Maude's emergency flare candle for her good-bye sandwich is lit, smoke fills the whale. "AAAAAAAACHOOOOOO!" The partygoers are all unceremoniously dumped back into the sea: "That's one way to end a party."
Lyall's spirited text features conversational, delightfully droll exchanges between Maude and the narrator. The rhyme is cumulative and reminiscent of "The Green Grass Grew All Around" and the entertaining phrasing of Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. Maude's and Claude's outsize personalities are magnified by Durst's descriptive charcoal, gouache, and digital art. All the participants' activity, the intermittently sarcastic interplay between Maude and the narrator, and the intricate art give this a plethora of potential to become a story-time favorite. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author