For centuries, rhyming has been used by many cultures as a means of telling stories, teaching, and passing along valuable history and knowledge via songs, proverbs, and fables. In The Search for Golden Dolphin, Pamela Ann Parker uses rhyme to share a positive message with children everywhere. The story is about a little girl who must find a mysterious golden dolphin whom she believes holds the key to grant a wish of dire importance. It is a colorful metaphor for waking up to one’s own true spirit and imagination.
Throughout Pamela’s childhood, her mother Tiki used rhymes as a fun form of expression. She would create special rhymes to mark significant events. Hearing the rhymes would encourage Pamela to play with words, song, and rhythm. Later in life, Pamela realized how powerful this tool was and wanted to use it to create a story to help inspire children to face obstacles in life with kindness, friendship, self-confidence, and hope. Pamela’s true-life adventures and trials inspired the story of the golden dolphin, which Pamela first wrote in 1998 as a children’s novel titled, The Rainbow Journey. Years later, Pamela adapted the novel into a shortened fairy tale-poem, The Search For Golden Dolphin, to honor her mother, Tiki Parker.
by L. Lopez Espina (2013).
In 2008 Pamela shared her story and knowledge with her talented goddaughter, L. Lopez Espina, who has since passed it along to her own daughter, continuing the tradition of generational storytelling. Lopez Espina has added her own experience and rhymes to Pamela’s story. Her vibrant illustrations transform the story into an engaging picture book in which even the youngest of children can enjoy looking for the hidden golden dolphin in every illustration.
The Search for Golden Dolphin is a magical journey told in rhyme and vivid illustration that not only deals with the challenges of loss, but also invites children to bravely believe in themselves and in the power of love to discover that any obstacle can be overcome with what is already inside them.
