For children who live in London, or are familiar with London, the idea of a whale lost in the Thames is pretty exciting! As the book follows Little Whale as he dreams of going on a great journey, he soon goes exploring and finds himself in the heart of London. Full of exciting sights and smells, Little Whale enjoys himself until his tummy starts to rumble and he realizes it's time to head home. But, in all the excitement of his journey, he now finds himself lost. To Little Whale's surprise, help isn't far away as his parents traveled all the way to London to find him. As the story concludes, Little Whale realizes that while it's fun to go exploring, home is really the best place for a whale.
One thing I wish the book had done is provide the names for sights, like the London Eye or Big Ben. Throughout the book you see some popular sights, but for those who aren't familiar with London, especially children, the names of these sights would have been helpful. The book also doesn't mention on the cover that it's a lift-the-flap book. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with the flaps. They're hard to find and and it's unclear whether you're supposed to pull them down from the top of the page or open them from right to left or left to right. If a flap is difficult for an adult to find and open you can count on it being difficult for little hands!
All in all I really enjoyed the creative concept of Little Whale Lost in London but I came away feeling as though the book could have provided more information about London and had a stronger plot. I also think the book would be much more successful as a series.
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