A lovely story about Dale the Whale who gets lost in the sea. Just in time, Amy May the grey stingray, finds the way back for Dale the Whale's eighth birthday party. The story introduces the long vowel sound 'a' and the alternative ways to spell this sound. It ensures your new reader can apply their new knowledge immediately. It includes several fun and engaging activities for your new reader to complete in order to check and reinforce their learning. This is the first book in the PLUS level series 2 of 'Sounds make Words make Stories'. The learning that takes place in this book builds upon the learning from Series 1. This is a structured reading program that introduces sound groups in a systematic and uncluttered way. It builds confidence and capability in your new reader by only focusing on new sounds together with those already learned. This program has had success with young readers, stubborn readers, readers with learning difficulties and readers with English as a second language. It has been proven to be an excellent educational tool within schools as well as for home learning. The program contains self-reader books as well as read-aloud story books that complement the reader's journey. They contain fun characters who have interesting adventures and teach a moral value. The read-aloud story linked with this self-reader is 'Dale the Friendly Whale'.