Rockstar Book Tours: Excerpt & Giveaway ~ The Boy Who Met a Whale (Nizrana Farook)

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE BOY WHO MET A WHALE by Nizrana Farook Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About the Book:

Title: THE BOY WHO MET A WHALE

 

Author: Nizrana Farook

Pub. Date: February 1, 2022

Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 256

Find it:Goodreads, Amazon, Audible, B&N, iBooks (audiobook), Kobo (audiobook), TBD, Bookshop.org

A Sri Lankan fisherboy is swept up in a thrilling seafaring adventure, complete with a kidnapping, missing treasure, and a huge blue whale! From the author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant.

Razi, a local fisherboy, is watching turtle eggs hatch when he sees a boat bobbing into view. With a chill, he notices a small, still hand hanging over the side.

Inside is Zheng, who’s escaped a shipwreck and is full of tales of sea monsters and missing treasure. But the villains who are after Zheng are soon after Razi and his sister, Shifa, too. And so begins an exhilarating escapade in the shadow of the biggest sea monster of them all.

Author Nizrana Farook has crafted another briskly paced, action-packed quest that swells with empathetic heroes, missing treasure, and a great beast lurking beneath. Set against a vibrant, authentic landscape inspired by Sri Lanka, this delightful caper will thrill young fans of adventure and fantasy.

A Financial Times Best Children’s Book of the Year

Also available from Nizrana Farhook:
The Girl Who Stole an Elephant

 

 

Chapter

One

The boy clung to the rail with a death  grip as the ship lurched violently in  the storm. 

It was sinking. 

All around him was darkness and  the roar and crash of waves as the ship  buckled and rain lashed down. The  wind was shrill and whip-sharp. But  for all the noise, the ship was empty  of people. Where was everyone? The  boy ran along the deck, slipping and  sliding to the wheelhouse.

It was deserted. 

He sprinted down the length of the ship, hurtling  below deck to the captain’s quarters. He pounded on the  door, desperate to be heard over the sound of the thunder  and the howling of the wind. But it was impossible. 

The door opened suddenly and the first mate slipped  out, a long leather pouch clutched in his hand. He  started when he saw the boy, and quickly hid his hand  behind him. 

“Sir, the storm—” began the boy, but the man shoved  him aside and hurried down the passage. 

The boy held on to the side for balance and stumbled  into the cabin. The captain was lying in his bunk, fast  asleep. The room had been ransacked: drawers were  hanging open and books had been tossed all over the  place. The ship listed sharply and the debris on the floor  slid to one side of the room where water was pooling,  creeping darkly over fallen books. 

The boy froze in shock. The crew had known they  would be sailing into a storm. Why was the captain  asleep so soundly? Why was the whole ship asleep? Apart  from… 

He stormed out of the captain’s cabin and scrambled  up to the deck. A lifeboat had been lowered into the  sea, and the first mate was getting ready to climb down, accompanied by a man the boy recognized as the ship’s cook. 

He stared at the men, a cold fear clamping around  his heart as the rain soaked through him. “Marco!” he  screamed. “What did you do? Did you drug them?” 

The first mate looked back and shrugged, not even  bothering to deny it. 

Rain pelted the men as they prepared to get in the  boat. Something snapped in the boy, and he raced  toward them and plucked the leather pouch from the  first mate’s pocket. 

Yelling, the men gave chase as the boy sprinted away  down the ship. Lightning lit up his running figure. The  ship groaned and shifted. The men stumbled and one  fell as the boy doubled back, jumping over the fallen  man and speeding past his furious companion. The first  mate took out a knife that flashed silver in the gloom  of the night. He ran fast, closing in on the boy as water  filled the deck and crept up his ankles. 

It was over. The ship was going down, and it was too  late to save anyone. The boy wailed in anguish as he  threw himself over the side and into the lifeboat. The  ship tilted and groaned, making a huge cracking sound  as it broke apart. The men ran to the railing and yelled  at the boy, but the rain blotted out everything as he rowed swiftly away. The last he saw of the ship was it  careening jerkily off course. 

The boy screamed into the wind and wept for his lost  friends.

Chapter

Two

The baby turtle scuttled down the  golden beach, wet and gritty with sand.  Bit by bit scores of others emerged,  their shiny black bodies, flailing limbs,  and beady eyes glinting in the early 

morning sun. They scampered toward  the water, their little legs scuffling over  the freshly turned-up sand. A bale of  tiny turtles—all eager to make their  first meeting with the sea. 

Razi laughed as he ran after them,  careful not to step on any of the little creatures. The sight never failed to amaze him and lift  his spirits. He’d seen it a hundred times, coming early to  this stretch of beach to watch the newly hatched turtles  running into the sea at sunrise. There was a white one  among them, an albino turtle, the pattern on its back  etched out in shiny black lines. It was lagging behind  and in danger of getting lost. 

“Go on! Go, your friends are leaving!” called Razi. He  knew not to touch it and so he hoped his voice would  cheer it on instead. Sure enough, the white turtle perked  up and scuttled after the others. 

Overhead a yellow-beaked ibis wheeled past. Razi  kept an eye on it in case it tried to attack the babies. The sea was a grayish blue, deepening gradually to  a brilliant turquoise with the rising sun shining on  the waves. Coconut trees fringed the beach, their wiry  trunks twisted like swaying cobras. 

Standing on the shoreline, Razi watched in awe.  A wave came in, drenching the baby turtles as they  swarmed up to meet it. They hopped into the water,  greeting it playfully. Razi held his breath. This part  always worried him. The turtles looked so little and  fragile. But the whole lot of them swam away happily,  dots of black on the rolling blue waves surging into the  great ocean.

He sat cross-legged on the sand and watched them  bob away. They disappeared quickly, swimming away to  their new lives. He knew that turtles always came back  to the very same beach they were born in to lay their  own eggs. So someday when Razi was an adult he could  be back here and see the babies of one of these same  turtles. 

It was a lovely feeling. But it couldn’t completely  dislodge the sadness that dimmed Razi’s world, no  matter how much the sun shone and waves danced. 

The sun rose higher and prickled his skin. Then he  saw something bobbing in the water. Something dark. Razi squinted into the horizon. The turtles were all  gone, but this was too big to be one of them anyway. Whatever it was, it was heading toward land. The sea glittered a brilliant, sparkling blue now, and  the dark object swirled closer and closer to the shore  with every wave. 

It was a boat. 

Razi stood up. This wasn’t a fishing boat like the ones  on Serendib. This boat was plain and simple, with no  sail or outrigger, and, as it moved closer, Razi saw it had  some strange lettering etched on the side. 

Foreign letters, thought Razi excitedly. Where had the  boat come from?

It dipped into a wave and then lifted up, a solitary  blot on the empty ocean. As it surged closer, Razi saw  something droop out over the side. Something small  and bunched. 

A hand. 

An actual human hand! Someone was in the boat! Razi staggered back, jabbing his foot on a pointed  shell. The pain hardly registered as he watched the boat  bobbing closer. He looked around the beach wildly to  see if there was anyone to help. But, as usual, it was  entirely deserted. 

The boat swirled closer and Razi froze. Was he going  to have to get into the water? Dread clawed his heart at  the prospect. 

A gull squawked overhead, startling Razi. It was the  jolt he needed, and he ran into the sun-warmed water,  soaking his clothes as he waded quickly toward the boat. 

This is okay, you can do this, he told himself over and  over as he tried to ignore the water rising to his chest. Razi reached the boat and looked over the side. An  egret swooped by and darted off again, leaving the echo  of its cry. 

Razi gulped. 

Lying in the bottom of the boat, sunburned and still,  was a boy.

Chapter

Three

“Okay now,” said Razi. “Stay calm,  stay calm, this is serious. Just BE  CALM.” 

With all his strength he pulled the  boat out of the sea and dragged it up  the beach, making a groove in the soft  sand. 

The boy was on his side, cheek  pressed against the bottom of the  boat. His eyes were closed and his  expression was blank. His lips were  parched, and his skin was covered in patches of white where salt had dried. Even his clothes  were dried up, and they rustled like paper when Razi  shook his shoulder. 

His eyes remained shut. 

“Um, hello,” said Razi. “Er, listen, are you alive?” The boy was as still as a stick. The sun beat down  on him mercilessly, frying his already parched body.  He had to be moved to the shade and given some water  immediately. 

Razi took a deep breath and carried on talking to the  boy, despite feeling foolish. “So I’m going to move you  over there. Get you out of the sun.” He leaned into the  boat and grasped the boy under his arms. 

To his surprise the boy slid out easily, as if he was no  weight at all. Razi dragged him all the way up the sand  to the shade of the coconut trees and laid him down.  Out of the sun’s glare, it was instantly cooler, and there  was a soft breeze too. 

The boy twitched, his eyes fluttered open slightly, and  then closed again. 

Razi almost cried with relief. 

“Now, that is good,” said Razi, trying to sound  encouraging. It had worked for the turtle, after all. “You  stay here—I’m going to look for some water.” He stood up and looked around.

Something out at sea caught his eye. Another boat,  identical to the one the boy had been in. There were  two men in the boat, and the taller of the two was  standing up, gesticulating furiously at the beach while  the other rowed to shore. Razi couldn’t understand  any of this. What was going on? 

Razi emerged from the trees and walked down the  beach to meet the men. The tall one, who was strongly  built with close-cropped hair, immediately jumped  into the water and ran to him. To Razi’s alarm, he  gripped him by the collar and lifted him off his feet. 

Razi tried to scream. He blanched at the man’s  furious expression. 

“Marco!” said the other man, coming up the beach.  “That’s not him.” 

The tall man shoved Razi away. He seemed angry  that he’d got the wrong person. Razi turned to run,  terrified. He had to get away from these men fast. 

“Where is he?” yelled the one called Marco. He  rounded on Razi. “You! You must have seen him.” Razi shook his head hard. Was the man talking  about the boy on the boat? He wanted to say something,  anything, but couldn’t find the words. 

“He must be around here somewhere,” said the other  man. “That’s his boat over there. We’ll find him.”

“Find him and kill him,” said Marco, kicking at a  scuttling crab. 

Razi began to tremble. The boy was lying unconscious  just yards away from them in the shade of the coconut  trees. He was weak and barely alive, and these men  wanted to harm him. He couldn’t let them do that. 

“Oh! D-do you mean the boy in the boat?” said Razi,  finding his tongue at last. 

Marco stopped and turned around. “What do you  know?” 

“N-nothing,” said Razi, which was true. He pointed  toward Galle town, then carried on less truthfully. “He  asked me where the closest town was, and I told him it’s  a mile up the beach. So he ran that way.” 

Marco came toward Razi slowly. His thick neck and  meaty shoulders made Razi shrink away until he backed  onto the side of their boat. 

“When was this?” said Marco, breathing into Razi’s  face. 

“An hour ago.” 

“Why did you say before that you hadn’t seen him?”  The man spoke slowly, making the words sound doubly  dangerous. 

Razi swallowed as he tried to think of a reason. “I  wasn’t sure what you m-meant. I m-mean, ‘Where is he?’ doesn’t mean much, d-does it? Now, if you’d said,  ‘w-where’s that boy who came on the boat…’” He was  blabbering and Marco was looking at him with deep  suspicion. He should shut up before he brought some  serious damage down on himself. 

“I see.” Marco still spoke slowly and deliberately. “If I  find out that you’ve been lying to me, I will find you and  I will kill you. Understand?” 

“O-of course,” stammered Razi. “That-that sounds  clear enough.” He caught himself before he blathered  on anymore. 

With that, Marco and his accomplice got back in the  boat and rowed off.

Chapter

Four

Razi watched the boat heading in the  direction of Galle. 

He exhaled and pressed his hands  to his forehead. What had he gotten  himself into? He looked back toward  the unconscious boy, his foot clearly  visible for anyone to see. 

He had to check that the boy was all  right and then get out of there as fast  as he could. 

Razi ran to collect some fallen King  coconuts. Once he’d found a pointed stone, he managed to pierce one, making a terrible  mess, and felt the welcome squirt of cool coconut water  on his face. 

He went back to the boy and lifted his head up, tipping  the King coconut slowly against his mouth. Half of the  water sloshed out but the boy stirred awake and soon  began to lap it up. He took in a good amount and then  lay back down, his eyes closing again. He smelled of salt  and the brininess of the deep sea. Razi felt a chill in  spite of the heat of the day. 

“Er, looks like you’re a bit better then,” said Razi,  edging off and sitting back on his heels. 

The boy opened his eyes. His face furrowed slightly  and his eyes traveled all around him—taking in the  jewel-bright sea, the shell-strewn beach with the boat  pulled up high on the sand, and the bunches of bright  orange King coconuts in the tree above him. 

He blinked in confusion and tried to sit up. “Huh?” “I said it looks like you’re feeling better,” said Razi,  even though the boy probably couldn’t understand him.  He was clearly from a faraway land. “You’re safe.” The boy looked at Razi for the first time. “Where is  this?” he said, speaking Razi’s tongue easily. “Serendib,” said Razi. “You’re on the island of  Serendib.”

The boy lay back wearily but there was a hint of a  smile on his face. He touched his chest and his clothes  rustled again. 

Razi stared at the boy. The rustling sound wasn’t  coming from his clothes after all. There was something  long and cylindrical hidden inside his shirt. 

*** 

The boy slowly began to lift himself up until he was  leaning against the tree. 

“Here,” said Razi, prying the coconut open into two  halves. He showed the boy how to scoop out the soft,  pulpy insides. The boy took the coconut and scarfed  it down gratefully. Seeing he was still hungry, Razi  pierced open another King coconut for him, all the  while keeping an eye out for the two men. 

“What’s your name?” asked the boy, after taking a  long swig of coconut water. “I’m Zheng.” 

“I’m Razi. I live in the town down the beach from  here. How come you speak our language?” He glanced  nervously at the sea. Would the men be back? And was  it all right to leave the boy in this state? 

Zheng wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.  “Oh, I speak loads of languages. I don’t mean to boast, but I can’t think of a language I don’t know even a little of. Been all over the world, you see.” 

Razi frowned. So much for not boasting. 

Zheng put down the coconut and gave a small sigh.  “Listen,” said Razi. “I don’t like to hurry you while  you’re like this, but you need to get out of here fast.” “Why do you say that?” 

“Because a man called Marco means to kill you.” The boy startled and dropped the coconut, water slosh ing over his legs. He scrabbled around as he tried to get up. “Hold on!” said Razi. “I didn’t mean that fast!” Zheng stared at him with such panic-stricken eyes  that Razi felt instantly sorry for him. “Who are you?”  said Zheng. “Are you working for Marco?” 

“No! He and another man came ashore in a boat soon  after you did.” 

“Marco is here?” Zheng got up and staggered around  like a crab before he managed to straighten up. “Wait, where are you going?” said Razi, following  Zheng as he stalked around in a panic. 

“I don’t know. Just away. I’ll figure something out. I  always do.” 

Razi could hardly leave him now. Zheng was shuffling  inland in his ragged clothes, tired and weak, barely able  to stand.

“Wait, Zheng.” Razi ran up to him. “There’s a place  near here where you can rest for a bit.” 

Zheng turned back and looked at him hopefully.  “Come on!” Razi led the way up the beach, threading  through the coconut trees to the abandoned fisherman’s  hut he knew was there. “It can’t really be seen from the  beach. You’ll be safe while you hide and think of what  to do.” 

The hut was just a minute up the beach, small and  coconut-thatched. There was a single wooden window  that didn’t close very well. The corners were full of  cobwebs, and the door hung lopsidedly off its hinges. It  wasn’t great, but it was safe. 

“Would anyone come here?” said Zheng. 

“No. It was abandoned a long time ago. No one comes  to this beach at all. I only come here because of the  turtles.” 

Zheng relaxed visibly and settled on the hard earth  floor, stretching himself out. 

“What’s that rustling noise coming from your shirt?”  asked Razi. 

Zheng paled under his sunburn. “I’m not sure what  you mean. I think it’s my bones creaking.” Razi suppressed a chuckle. Whatever it was, clearly  Zheng didn’t want Razi to know.

“Thank you for everything,” said Zheng. “The less you  know about any of this the better. Marco is a dangerous  man, and Cook isn’t too sweet either.” 

“Don’t I know it.” Razi leaned against the window.  “He’s already threatened to find me and kill me if I was  lying to him. And I was.” 

Zheng shook his head in confusion. “What are you  talking about?” 

“Marco asked if I’d seen you. I said you went to town  and sent him the wrong way.” 

Zheng’s face turned sour. “Oh no. He’s not someone  you want to cross for any reason.” 

“What about you, though? Will you be all right?” “Of course,” said Zheng, leaning his head against the  wall and closing his eyes. He seemed to have become  more relaxed after reaching the hut. “I’ve been in all sorts  of situations. When you work on a ship and have been all  over the world, you’re ready for anything. Reminds me of  the time we had to fight off pirates. Not that it happened  just the once, but this one time was particularly tense,  because I had only one working arm at the time.” Razi had no idea how seriously to take any of this. He  was curious about Zheng, though, and felt responsible  for him after rescuing him from the boat. “Who are you?  How did you come to be in that boat?”

Zheng’s face screwed up, as if he was trying to hold  back some emotion. “I was on a merchant ship that  sank.” 

“You’re a ship’s boy, then?” 

Zheng nodded. “It might not sound like much. But I  was very close to the captain, no less. And I’ve been all over the world. Been doing this since I was eight, and  now I’m twelve. Imagine that.” 

That was impressive, but Razi wasn’t about to admit  it. He was twelve too, but he had never even left the area  he lived in. 

“Where did you say you were from again?” said Zheng. “Galle,” said Razi. “It’s a town about a mile or so up  the beach from here. There’s nothing else around. If  you go up the beach the other way there’s a village, but  that’s even farther away than Galle.” 

“What were you doing here then?” 

“I was watching turtle hatchlings. There are always  loads of them here. I like to see them go safely to the  sea. Did you know that’s why they run to the sea so soon  after birth? It’s so they’re safe from predators.” 

“That’s nice,” said Zheng, though he didn’t look  too interested in the turtles. Which wasn’t surprising  considering he was running away from a maniac who  was trying to kill him.

“I’ve got to go now. My mother will be waiting for me.  We usually have breakfast together before she goes to  work. Good luck, Zheng.” 

“Ah, breakfast… Can’t remember the last time I had  it,” said Zheng, a mournful expression on his face.  “Well, goodbye, Razi. Thank you for everything.” 

Razi nodded and turned to go. He stopped at the  doorway. He couldn’t very well leave Zheng without  food. The coconut pulp was hardly anything. 

He turned back to Zheng. “Don’t move from here. I’ll  bring you some food and water and then you can be on  your way.” 

Zheng looked thrilled. “Could you hide my boat as  well? If Marco comes back, it’ll show him where I am.  I’d do it myself if I wasn’t so weak.” 

“Sure.” Razi smiled. He’d move the boat, bring the  food, and that would be the end of that.

Reviews:

“It’s a thrilling, old-fashioned treasure hunt, and the Sri Lankan setting makes familiar arcs feel fresh. Short, action-packed chapters keep things moving at a fast clip, while lush descriptions and flashes of beauty (including an astonishing encounter with the titular whale) will keep readers absorbed. A proper adventure story with a tender heart.”-Booklist

“An exciting and appealing page-turner.“–Kirkus Reviews

“Farook invokes the beauty of her native Sri Lanka with sparkling descriptions of island and sea. . . . This lyrical ­story, reminiscent of Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories will be appreciated by all lovers of adventurous fairy tales.”-School Library Journal

Grab book 1, THE GIRL WHO STOLE AN ELEPHANT now!

 

About Nizrana Farook:

 

Nizrana Farook was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the beautiful landscapes of her home country find their way into the stories she writes. She has a master’s degree in writing for young people, and lives in Hertfordshire, England with her husband and two daughters.

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Giveaway Details: 

3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE BOY WHO MET A WHALE, US Only.

 

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