Whales To See The

Whales To See The is a human survival story about "special needs," autistic teenagers on a sea-going outing, like same author's better-known classic novel of teenaged rebellion, Bless the Beasts & Children, was. If you liked Bless the Beasts, about Arizona's annual buffalo hunt, you'll like this gray whale migration tale, too, aimed at slightly younger juvenile readers. Whales To See The is also one of the very first popular novels for Young Adults ever written about autistic teens. 


When Dee-Dee and John and the other special students in their small class learn they may go out on a boat to watch the semi-annual grey whale migration off the California coast, they are beside themselves with excitement. But their excitement, if they can't control it, may be the one thing that prevents them being allowed to on on this trip. For Dee-Dee and John and their classmates are neurologically disturbed children who have been brain-damaged, autistic kids, or born with some motor dysfunction. While they suffer emotionally from their disabilities, intellectually they are as capable as any other teenagers their own age. 


Despite forecasts of poor weather, Miss Fishes' class goes out on the big sightseeing boat, The Protector, from San Diego, along with another class, a class of normal children. At first, the normal kids are casually cruel to the disturbed ones, until bad weather makes them all firghtened and seasick; near disaster, followed by the sudden appearance of a big pod of grey whales, brings about a suspenseful and satisfying conclusion to this sea-borne tale.