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Rory: An Orca's Quest for The Northern Lights

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This little orca follows his big dream of seeing the Northern Lights. Who will he meet along the way?

Rory the Orca heard that there are beautiful lights in the sky called the Northern Lights. His friends and family don't believe they exist because none of them have seen it with their own eyes. Determined to prove them wrong, Rory sets off on his own to make his wishes come true.

As he travels north, he meets some unlikely friends along the way. A beautiful beluga, a sleepy polar bear and a dancing fox. This journey brings Rory the unexpected gift of true friendship.

Will Rory's dream of witnessing the magical Northern Lights come true?
Rory the Orca is a heartwarming children's book written in rhyme. If you or your child enjoy gorgeous animals, ocean adventures and stories about chasing your dreams, then you'll love Sarah Cullen and Carmen Ellis's tale of hope.

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 29, 2021

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About the author

Sarah Cullen

98 books10 followers
Sarah Cullen is one of the authors behind Ocean Tales Children's Books.

Sarah writes this series with her sister Carmen, and together they have a huge love of nature and like to spread awareness about protecting our oceans.

Sarah and Carmen also own a travel company called Majestic Whale Encounters, where they take like minded people on tours to beautiful locations around the world.

Sarah has two young boys, Logan and Finn, who have been her inspiration and absolutely love taking a peak at all the

illustrations before anyone else gets to. Ocean Tales Children's Books was created to spread joy and hope to all the ocean loving kids and adults around the world.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
Profile Image for Jasmine from How Useful It Is.
1,736 reviews386 followers
September 3, 2021
Read for my toddler’s bedtime. Another cute rhyming story about an Orca’s dream to see the Northern Lights. He went on a quest and met other animals along the way who wanted to join him on his adventure. They had a lot of fun and experience teamwork.

Read from kindle unlimited.
Profile Image for La Coccinelle.
2,259 reviews3,568 followers
August 31, 2021
Rory: An Orca's Quest for the Northern Lights is a nice story, told in rhyme, about four rather anthropomorphized northern animals who join together to make a journey to see the northern lights.

The animals are adorable, and the aurora borealis are beautifully depicted. The rhymes and metre are surprisingly strong, so this would be a great book to read aloud to kids.

I'm not entirely sold on these four particular creatures teaming up as friends. In reality, the polar bear would probably eat the fox, and the orca might try to grab both of them and pull them into the sea... but since the animals are also wearing clothes and accessories, I guess we're supposed to suspend a bit of disbelief here.

Strangely, this story about the north is written by two sisters in Australia. I'm curious as to why this wasn't a story about a whale journeying to see the aurora australis.

In any case, I'm sure children will love this cute tale. It has great rhymes, nice (if somewhat unrealistic) characters, and appealing illustrations.
Profile Image for Montzalee Wittmann.
5,336 reviews2,369 followers
July 24, 2021
Terrific! Love the art!!!

Rory: An Orca's Quest for the Northern Lights
By Sarah Cullen
Wow, the artwork is soooooo incredibly adorable! The story is cute too! Great book to read over and over to the little ones. They will want you to, and with this book, you won't mind that at all!
Profile Image for Kate Stead.
Author 2 books13 followers
August 6, 2021
This sweet story introduces kids to four artic animals as they adventure together to find the northern lights. The rhythm makes it fun to read aloud and the illustrations are gorgeous.
Profile Image for Sandy S.
8,474 reviews209 followers
February 10, 2022
RORY: AN ORCA’S QUEST FOR THE NORTHERN LIGHT by Sarah Cullen and Carmen Ellis is a child’s rhyming book focusing on Rory, an orca who goes in search of the Northern Lights.

Told in AABB rhyming scheme, RORY; AN ORCA’S QUEST FOR THE NORTHERN LIGHTS focuses on Rory, a young orca, and the friends he meets along the way on his quest to find the Northern Lights. Rory will meet Bella Beluga, Clive the Arctic Fox, and Dozer the sleepy Polar Bear who venture forward together on Rory’s quest for the Northern Lights. The wonderful images are colorful, cute and captivating; the rhyming is entertaining ; the story line is endearing but the text may be a little more difficult for a very young child without adult supervision e.g. fjord, glaciers, hardships.

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485 reviews5 followers
June 17, 2024
Rory: An Orca's Quest For The Northern Lights is a picture book by Sarah Cullen and Carmen Ellis, and illustrated by Zuzana Svobodova. The story begins with an introduction to Rory, an orca who tells us about the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, and their journey to find it. The story is told through rhymes. There’s a little fact sheet at the end, to give a bit more information about what’s in the book; little bits about what the real life animals are like, and about the Northern Lights.

I think it’s a pretty decent story. Along the way, Rory finds some friends, and they are all able to look at the beauty of the Aurora Borealis. As a basic story, I think it accomplishes what the goal is. Though I feel like some aspects could have been expanded, to give the story a little bit more substance. There’s been a good attempt at rhyming the story.

I love so many of the illustrations. There’s a polar bear named Dozer, who has beautiful fur, and is absolutely adorable. There’s a bunch of great scenes of all of the characters, and getting to see the fun they get up to. I also love the look of the Aurora Borealis; the artist has done well with their illustrations of it.

Overall, I think it’s a pretty decent book. I’m sure a lot of kids will love to read it, and getting to see all the beautiful illustrations.
Profile Image for Sarina Siebenaler.
Author 4 books20 followers
July 12, 2021
Beautiful Adventure of Friendship and one Dream!

My son is sea life obsessed and we have the same dream as a family to one day share Rory’s dream of seeing the Northern Lights. No disappointment here. The story is a discovery of friendship of different animals on this habitat. They each have the cutest of personalities and share an adventure to find the spectacular lights! I won’t give away the end, but you will find the most incredible art with such a beautiful story with rhyming words to help encourage literacy. The educational bonus at the end is such a great way to give your kids those fun facts they will share with their friends and grandparents too. Highly recommend!
Profile Image for Sirah.
3,191 reviews27 followers
January 28, 2022
a playful quest

Rory the orca was told that lights in the sky don’t exist, but he’s determined to see for himself. The journey is better with two, three, or four friends, and they all help each other out before discovering the aurora borealis.

There was entirely too much glee in this book, but otherwise the rhymes were playful and clever. The story is simple and doesn’t have a strong climax, but it’s cozy and friendly. I’ll definitely be sharing this with my animal-loving kindergarteners and anyone who likes Lisa Frank.
Profile Image for Kara.
314 reviews14 followers
August 20, 2025
Rory and the aurora

Rory, an orca whale, hears about beautiful lights that shine in the sky, but none of his friends or family believe that they exist. So he goes it alone. The story has great rhyming sequences, and it flows well with the storyline. The illustrations work well with the story, and the colors don't overwhelm the pages. Another good thing is that at the end of the story, the authors give you informative facts about the real-world creatures and areas that you read about in the story.
4 reviews
July 8, 2021
A heartwarming about making friends and realizing your dreams

This book was incredible! It had some very beautiful illustrations and an inspirational stories! Rory met some interesting characters that became his friends on his incredible journey to see the Northern Lights! There are also some great twists that are very exciting! I highly recommend this book! My daughter absolutely loved it!
Profile Image for Kieshia Chun.
Author 3 books50 followers
July 18, 2021
As beautiful as I was expecting it to be!

They’ve done it again! We absolutely adored Spike, and now Rory can be added to the collection!

This rhyming children’s tale of a little orca’s journey to find the Northern lights, takes him on an adventure which brings him friendship and happiness too. Highlighting the importance of kindness and having good friends around you, this book is an absolute pleasure!

Highly recommend.
Profile Image for Suzy Davies.
Author 15 books645 followers
February 8, 2022
This is an enjoyable read, and overall the author has kept the level of language simple enough for young readers. The story of the quest is written in rhyme, which is sometimes a little clunky, but overall it is good; the kind of singsong rhyme that appeals to small children. The illustrations are beautiful. I feel that this book is a good fantasy introduction to marine animals for very young children.
Profile Image for Angelica Kennedy.
401 reviews2 followers
August 28, 2023
Super Cute

This entire book series is absolutely adorable! The illustrations are bright and colorful. They definitely kept my toddlers attention. In this story Rory follows his beliefs in order to see what he has always wanted to see. He also makes friends along the way and I can’t wait to be able to read Dover’s story. Then the last page put the cherry on top for me because I love a good bit of knowledge with any children’s book.
14 reviews1 follower
July 8, 2021
A quest you should not miss!

Love this book. The illustrations were lovely and I kept entertained with the rhyming and Rory’s quest. It is definitely a book that my students would enjoy. It had some great vocabulary and a great message of friendship and helping one another. It also teaches not to give up on your dreams. Go Rory!
Profile Image for Cindy Ninni Ninni.
Author 6 books32 followers
July 9, 2021
This stunningly, beautiful book takes you on a magical adventure!
It’s a wonderful, lyrical story about an orca whale, Rory, whose dream is to see the Northern Lights.
Kids will love following along as Rory meets new friends that go on the journey too.
It teaches children about teamwork and to follow your dreams.
The fun facts are an added bonus.
Profile Image for Jennifer Hartman.
Author 3 books26 followers
August 31, 2021
Fabulous Story! My 2½ year old was intrigued.

The illustrations are gorgeous, and the rhymes helped keep it fun. My son may not understand how much education he'll get from this story yet, but I'm excited to add it to his collection so he will grow more familiar with the Arctic and it's creatures 😃🐳🐧🦊
Profile Image for Ashley DeCapua.
Author 2 books2 followers
July 8, 2021
Cutest rhyming book!

I’m a huge animal lover and sky/space/star lover. This was the cutest rhyming book about friends who go to find the northern lights together. It was an easy read and engaging with beautiful illustrations. Highly recommend!
Profile Image for Taylor Krigsman.
Author 5 books
July 9, 2021
Beautiful Book

This was such a sweet story about following your dreams! The illustrations were gorgeous and the rhyming nature of the book brought the story to life. Any child would love Rory’s story!
Profile Image for Cal Grant-Smith.
Author 7 books53 followers
July 9, 2021
Gosh I loved this book! My grandson is only 18 months old and the pictures captivated him while the lyrical rhyming kept him engaged. A beautiful story of determination, dreams and friendship! Loved it! Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Alyssa Schermel.
Author 1 book1 follower
July 9, 2021
Sweet story with beautiful illustrations!

This is a well written rhyming story of 4 unlikely friends who journey to see the Northern Lights. The illustrations are magical! I could see kids reading this one again and again!
Profile Image for Faye Lehane.
4 reviews2 followers
July 21, 2021
Love this adventure!

My kids and I LOVE this book and the adventure it brings. Beautiful illustrations that entertain the kids and a story that is just fun to read together. They also loved the fun facts page too
Profile Image for Book hoarder.
182 reviews2 followers
July 22, 2021
Such a delightful read. The pictures put a smile on my face. A story about a quest, friendship and chasing a dream. I liked the 'did you know...' part. I even learned something new about polar bears.
Profile Image for Gina Gallois.
Author 11 books12 followers
August 23, 2021
Sweet adorable story of friends working together

We enjoyed the singsong quality of the Rimes and the truly lovely illustrations. This was a very enjoyable story! We will be reading again.
Profile Image for Pen&Quill  Read.
215 reviews72 followers
Read
August 31, 2021
This cute rhyming picture book about a a young whale that sets out on a quest to make his dreams come true and along the way makes life long friendships is a pure delight. With gorgeous art work, and fun facts about the animals in the book it's great for kids 5-up
120 reviews3 followers
August 31, 2021
An adorable story

Littles will be fascinated by Rory, who sets off on a journey to find what no one else believes in. This story reminds us that friendship and teamwork make following our dreams much more fun!
Profile Image for Nisaryn.
146 reviews3 followers
October 21, 2021
Friendship

A cute book about finding friends and working together. My son loves orca whales so we had to read this, the story was sweet and gave a good message about team work and sticking together.
Profile Image for Aurelia Lovelace.
116 reviews5 followers
January 16, 2024
This is a very cute rhyming picture book about an orca who chases his dream and finds friends along the way who help him reach his goal. It teaches the readers about the importance of teamwork and about how you can achieve anything if you never give up.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews