ARC Review: Noah the Narwhal – Judith Klausner and Sarah Gould

Noah the Narwhal has good days, when he is productive and social, and pain days, when he needs to rest. His friends and family can find it difficult to handle the unpredictability. Can they come to see that having him in their lives is absolutely worth it?

I received an ARC of Noah the Narwhal from the author. I’d previously read Ceillie’s review, and had wanted to buy it but it is not available as an e-book sadly.

It’s #ownvoices for chronic pain representation.

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The target audience for this book is young children. Thus I loved that there was one page that explained what kind of animals narwhals are. The trumpet-playing narwhal on that page is an added bonus – so cute!

I think it’s safe to say that I loved the illustrations. They were adorable, and every single narwhal had their own fashion style. I will say that I would have liked to have seen one narwhal character without a tusk, just because I never knew that some narwhals didn’t have tusks. However, it’s just a minor detail and not something I had an issue with.

Noah gets migraines every so often, and people don’t take his disability seriously. This book discusses chronic pain and invisible disability, while not defining Noah solely by his disability. While the book does focus on how to interact with someone who has chronic pain, it also shows what Noah likes to do. I loved how there is an illustration of Noah teaching his nephews to dance, mentions of movies that the narwhals watch, and examples of food: e.g. squid cupcakes. I’d also just like to mention the cool tooth-brushing illustration, that shows Noah brushing his tusk!

The writing is simple and easy to read along. I loved the repetition of the phrase: “Today is not yesterday”.

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Know any young children who’d love to read a cute story? Get this book for them. I even recommend getting it if you’re not a child. It’s seriously adorable, and it’s a lovely way to relax between reading longer books.

The best news? There’s going to be a sequel!!!

5 stars

Have you read Noah the Narwhal? If yes, what your favourite illustration?