Probably a Narwhal

by Shelley Moore Thomas, Jenn Harney (Illustrator)

Friendship is the winner in this hilarious contest between a girl who blames a narwhal for her mess and the narwhal who materializes to defend himself.

This girl's room is an amazing mess between the pies, the paints, and the giant rainbow splashed across the wall. She swears that she didn't make the mess--in fact, it was probably a narwhal. They make pies all the time, don't they? But when a real narwhal magically appears, the girl finds herself in a battle of wits with a creature who's every bit as feisty and funny as she is. Can she convince this creature that a narwhal made the mess? Can the narwhal convince her that she knows nothing about narwhals? In the hilarity that ensues, girl and narwhal discover they were destined to be best friends.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Animals, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

Published September 8, 2020

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little girl blames the mess she has made on...a narwhal. A narwhal, right? That's who probably made the mess, she tells us. Who does she share her thoughts with? It's an actual narwhal, and we readers, and of course the narwhal itself, aren't terribly sure that the blame is justified.

Lovely little story filled with gentle humor.

[Mrs. Mazzola · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl explains to the creature in her room (and the reader) that she did not make it messy and instead explains that it was probably a narwhal because narwhals do crazy things like eat pies, make messes, and have purple polka-dotted bodies. Little does she know that the creature in the room actually IS a narwhal. After learning the error of her ways, she decides to clean up. It's a cute story and I could see it being fun to share aloud, but it just wasn't special. The illustrations seem cluttered and muddy, which would be fine as the background of a messy room normally, but the story wants to point out specific things in the mess and those are very hard to distinguish. I will add if I have excess funds.

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and the publisher for providing a digital copy. All opinions are my own.

[Neha Thakkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just plain fun! Girl blames her messes (pies, rainbows, etc.), probably a narwhal. Quickly we figure out that she does not actually know what a narwhal is, but a narwhal shows up to set her straight! This book could also be used as a "take responsibility" mentor text. Loved this one!

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

When a girl blames her messes on a narwhal, an actual one shows up to defend itself and teach her about narwhals. She says they make pies, and paint rainbows on walls, and messed up her room. Then, when the narwhal questions her, she learns that they aren't what she thinks. They aren't purple polka-dotted, and they don't have wings. In fact, narwhals have a horn that's really a tooth, they swim and if the girl will google them, she will see that Narwhals didn't make the big mess either.

I was underwhelmed. The illustrations felt messy - her cluttery room was really unclear as the narwhal pointed out what needed to be tidied. The dialogue was odd, the girl was rude and the ending was silly.

Crossposted to https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narwhals are having a moment in picture books.
As this imaginary-friend narwhal suggests, perhaps it is due to their resemblance to unicorns (but not really, since a narwhal's "horn" is actually a tooth).
This ia a fun twist on the numerous books in which "not me" seeks a target to blame to avoid accountability and responsibility for correcting the many transgressions of the actual child. There is humor galore and plenty of young-child concepts/language (colors, body parts, etc.) that will become firmly established in the many "read it again" requests.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was cute and I can see kids really liking it, but there were times I didn't care for the writing.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blame it on the narwhal.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny book about a girl who argues with a narwhal about who made the mess in the house. Very silly and very cute. Recommend for lower elementary children who love animals.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious!

[Margaret Boling · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/12/2022 ~ Lovely example of imaginative play. I also appreciated the way the protagonist changed her opinion when she read the info about narwhals.

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adding this to my read aloud list

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, though if your kid is a literal thinker and/or doesn't have much of a sense of irony, there are some jokes they may interpret as fact.

[Mallory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a story time favorite this summer reading program. Almost every single summer reading group I had picked this as one of the three I read to them!