Listeners will laugh aloud at the silly antics of a pair of opinionated sea mammals in a tale presenting two sides of a debate, slyly revealing the way identical facts can be used to support opposite positions.
A boastful whale and a showboating otter compete in a battle of words to prove that each is the greatest animal ever to swim the seas. Listened to one way, the first-person text brags about whales’ superiority; listened to the other way, it extols how much better otters are. Using true information about the two marine species to make both arguments, Kate Messner’s adroit text brilliantly illustrates how the same words can be used to express contradictory opinions when speakers have a one-sided view of the world. Includes factual back matter about language usage and the actual similarities of whales and otters. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Nature
Folklore
Identity
Audiobook details
GenreChildren's Literature, Fairy Tales and Folklore
Length5 mins
Narrated byGary Tiedemann
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateApr 21, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1#1
2#2
About the author
Kate Messner
Kate Messner is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous pictures and middle grade titles. Before becoming a full-time writer, she was a TV news reporter as well as an educator who spent fifteen years teaching middle school English. She lives on Lake Champlain.View all by Kate Messner
