Nicola Davies needs no introduction to lovers of children’s books. Nicola trained as a zoologist before becoming a TV presenter and writer. With over eighty books for children of all ages to her credit she has won awards, collaborated with excellent illustrators and is a regular and highly regarded speaker at conferences. This week sees the the publication of the paperback edition of her Carnegie nominated story The Song That Sings Us with its stunning cover illustration by Jane Matthews and internal artwork by Jackie Morris.

As I read this compelling story over the last few days I travelled with the three captivating children created by Nicola Davies down mountain slopes, through dense woodland, and dazzling forests. The exciting adventure shines with the author’s love of our natural world and sees good battle against the powers of evil. This dystopian world feels frighteningly real and the voices of the animal characters convey much that is important to us all. This a story told on a grand scale but with individual hope at its heart, highlighting the thread that connects us all. It will, I think, leave its readers with a wish to share in ‘the song’. The storyline features dramatic events which take place on a wide ocean and it is a delight to welcome Nicola Davies to the blog today to talk about her own relationship with the sea and the creatures who inhabit this world.

SEA FEVER by Nicola Davies

Tearing round the end of a platform in Cambridge station in the Winter of 1978, I had a life changing encounter. I ran headlong into the young man who was to become the foremost whale scientist of his generation. He is an Emeritus Professor now, with hundreds of scientific papers and a shelf of books to his name, but back then Hal Whitehead was a scruffy post doc, with ripped jeans and a shock of hair like gold fuse wire. It turned out he needed a research assistant for a study on the feeding behaviour of humpbacked whales. So, that summer I stood on the top of a 200m cliff in Newfoundland at the bottom of which were my first humpbacks. I’ll never forget those three, grey, streamlined bodies, the beautiful curl of their flukes and their long white flippers showing turquoise through the green waters. 

I spent two Summers on that cliff and on Hal’s little sailboat Firenze, studying behaviour and distribution of wild whales. The experience of sailing, exploring and adventuring changed me forever. I’d always adored the sea but never been around boats, as my father claimed he was the only person to get sea sick while watching the canoe sequence in the film “How The West Was Won’. The realisation that, once aboard a sailboat, you can literally go anywhere, was completely new and utterly beguiling. In spite of the cold and the never ending sea sickness (I am in spite of all my weeks aboard small boats a hopeless sailor) I adored being afloat and propelled by the whispering and singing of the wind in the sails. 

Since those magical summers I’ve been lucky enough to sail with Hal and his ever expanding group of research collaborators on other sailboats in other oceans. I’ve followed blue whales in the Indian ocean, and sperm whales in the Sea of Cortez and the Caribbean. The sailing – long passages in dodgy weather, starry skies at 2 am, coming into port at dawn – has been woven into many of my books over the years and of course was the seed from which the sea faring tiger, Skrimsli – one of the heroes of the Song that Sings Us, suddenly sprouted. 

I don’t sail now but I do have extremely regular contact with the sea. I live within sight of it and I seldom go a day when I’m home when I’m not on it or in it. This morning my husband and I were out on his slowly chugging little fishing boat to haul our crab and lobster pots. What is wonderful about any kind of floating expedition – boat, kayak, SUP, or wild swim – is that it is an adventure because the sea, even in calm weather, is a wild thing, unpredictable and unruly. You have to have your wits about you, you have to pay attention to the wind, the light, the surface and while you are doing that, the small world of human ‘things and stuff’ falls away. 

I put a lot of adventure into the Song That Sings Us A and although Harlon, Xeno and Ash don’t choose the adventure they embark on at the start of the book, by the end, they are able to relish new experiences and new challenges – they have become more adventurous. One of the many things I want for my readers, is for them to have adventures in the world, to explore, to learn new skills, try new experiences. I want them to feel they can step out and go in search of wildness.

Thank you to Nicola Davies for this lovely article. Having read The Song That Sings Us I feel sure that it will inspire young readers in the manner she hopes.

Thank you to Graeme Williams and Firefly Press for their help in preparing this post. Please do follow the rest of this blog tour to find out more about this remarkable book.