The Dawn Seal

by Holly Webb, Emily Wheaton (Reader)

When Lissa spends the summer with her dad on his boathouse, she can’t help but feel a little lonely. She misses her mum and sister back home, and her dad’s job means that he can’t spend as much time with her as she’d hoped. Then one morning during a paddle boarding lesson she spots a lost seal pup in the river trying to find its way home. Lissa wants to help her, but can she protect the young seal without scaring her away? A heartwarming story about family from best-selling author Holly Webb.

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Holly Webb is one of Britain's best-loved children's writers. She has written over a hundred books for children, and her work has been translated into over thirty languages. Holly lives in Tilehurst, just outside of Reading, Berkshire, with her husband, three children and several cats.

Reviews

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sweet story about a girl who spends the summer with her dad, living in a boathouse in the River Thames.
Lissa is a bit nervous about all this situation, and she's also disappointed when it turns out her dad is too busy with work to really do many activities with her. But, thanks to the paddle boarding lessons she attends, Lissa makes a friend, and she also discovers there is a seal in the river. Lissa becomes worried about this seal, because of the way it acts, and starts her journey to learn more about seals, and to try to figure out if the seal needs her help, and how to act.

I picked this one up because I wanted a short and relaxing audiobook. The book has some stressing moments, but overall the tone is positive, as the protagonist overcomes the problems she finds. The narrator, Emily Wheaton, is very good.

I actually listened to a different edition of this audiobook, but in the current situation goodreads is not allowing people to add new editions, unless one is a librarian. I asked for this other edition to be added, but no luck. If you ask me, I think the decision made is quite silly, and I miss being able to add the missing editions of the books I read.

[0reo Latte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet and wonderful story about a young girl spending her summer with her father, living in a boathouse. Lissa is met with disappointment since her dad is really busy with work and she was looking forward to spending time with him. Fortunately, she befriends someone in her paddle boarding lessons. She also meets a common seal in the river and names her pup.
Lissa grows anxious about pup's well-being and constantly seeks her whereabouts to make sure she's okay. I'll admit, I only picked up this book because I love seals. 😭 Just the mention of seals is enough to make me go gaga. However, I adored The Dawn Seal's short and simple story. Lissa and her father's situation was awfully relatable and everything felt lighthearted and nice. Also, I loved the black and white illustrations. They were the cherry on top! 💗


Here's a precious seal banana posing!

[Stace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dawn Seal is a beautiful, poignant book about a young girl who is spending the summer with her father on his house boat after her parents separation and how by helping Seal and learning all about them she starts to feel less lonely after her father has to work and she feels alone.

The book is quite short in length but contains a really heart-warming story. It also looks and feels quite old-fashioned, yet is completely up to date with paddle-boarding being part of the story.

This would be a real treat for any middle-grade reader who loves animals. It contains adorable black and white illustrations throughout, no tough words, and is engaging the whole way through and make you feel all the emptions that Lissa goes through. It certainly is a page-turner.

[LittlePiscesReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really sweet, quiet children’s book. The seal was adorable every time it showed up. I did like the little tidbits about the locking systems on the rivers. My heart hurt for Lissa but it was balanced nicely with budding friendship and her coming to love the houseboat. Which I also came to love. It made me long to be on the water.
It was a lot tighter than I'd expected. I mean that as a compliment. It did end quite quickly but without feeling rushed and tied its ends neatly.

[Iris ⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good, but simple book. I'm 10 and even though I do enjoy more complicated books, this was really entertaining. It's about a girl who lives occasionally on a boat, meets a seal and befriends it . I've read it multiple times and never really gotten bored of it. It's very sweet and there's no violence at all. Would recommend for 6-11 year olds, depending on what they like to read.

[Lee Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dawn Seal - Holly Webb

This was just as beautiful as The Lost Bear Cub and I have one more Holly Webb audio to listen to. These short audiobooks are great to listen to while doing chores and are easy to get lost in the story. I don’t have any small children to listen to these with but I really enjoy them myself.

Now to listen to The Summer Dolphin 🐬

[Martyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book about a girl who experienced different emotions throughout her story of being let down and finding adventure for herself. The ending that Lisa deserved came around and she hoped that it would soon come for her little seal friend to!

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sweet book, and really nice to see the home setting as a narrow boat. Easy reading and lovely illustrations. A great story for beginner readers!

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good and a similar theme and storyline to The Summer Dolphin by the same author. Light, summer themed reading for kids. Enjoyable.

[Elsie Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because she stayed in a really cosy canal boat and she stayed in a pretty village

[Ibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered the book at the Frankfurt book fair and (although I almost missed it) picked it up solely for beautiful cover exclaiming: I see a seal, I'm sold!

It's a very sweet children's book with cute illustrations that deals with a lot of themes (nature preservation, the parents divorce, etc.) in a pretty short time.

Absolutely would have adored this book as a child.