Moby Dick: Or the White Whale

by Geraldine McCaughrean (Adapter), Victor G. Ambrus (Illustrator), Herman Melville

"There is a whale in the sea, as white as a ghost, and it haunts me. Sometimes, when I'm afloat in sleep, like a drowned sailor, he swims towards me--a nightmare all in white, jaws gaping, and I wake up screaming and salt-water wet with sweat. Somewhere out there in the bottomless oceans lives
Moby Dick, a great white winter of a whale, and I shiver still at the thought of him."
In vivid and compelling language, the award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean retells Herman Melville's classic story of the obsessed Captain Ahab and his relentless hunt for the great white whale, Moby Dick. Together with Starbuck, the mate; Queequeg, the harpoonist; the sinister crewman
Fedallah; and the innocent narrator, Ishmael, Ahab travels the oceans of the world in pursuit of the elusive monster, braving waves like strips of volcanoes and lightning like the visitation of angels.
McCaughrean's text is beautifully complemented by Victor Ambrus's evocative pictures of ships and the sea and of the white monster, Moby Dick, a creature as vast and dangerous as the sea itself. Children and young adults will be thrilled and captivated by this wonderful adventure tale.

Genres: Classics, Fiction

103 pages, Library Binding

Published May 1, 1998

About the author

Geraldine McCaughrean is a British children's novelist. She has written more than 170 books, including Peter Pan in Scarlet (2004), the official sequel to Peter Pan commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital, the holder of Peter Pan's copyright. Her work has been translated into 44 languages worldwide. She has received the Carnegie Medal twice and the Michael L. Printz Award among others.

Reviews

[Repix Pix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Las adaptaciones de Geraldine son una maravilla.

[Barbara DaCosta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This version of Moby Dick presents Herman Melville's complete story line. I came across this book while researching for my own work Mighty Moby, and really enjoyed McCaughren's adaptation of this classic. She was able to capture the majesty of the story, and the poetic elegance of Melville's writing while making it her own original work. She also did this without talking down to a younger audience or calling attention to her writing unecessarily. The illustrations are fabulous.

[Zoe Kennard]

The problem with abridging an 800 page novel from 1851 into a 100 page picture book is that the things I found charming in the original (the homoeroticism and the digressions about dubiously accurate whale facts) are of course the first things to be cut, leaving behind mostly just the racism and depression. I'm also fascinated by the choice to add an epilogue that somehow makes it even more dismal. I do sort of like the illustrations though.

[Kalen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let’s be real, I was never going to read the original full version of Moby Dick. That’s not the kind of reader I am. That’s why I like this book so much. It gives me all the knowledge I need to answer Jeopardy questions and some very splendid pictures to help my imagination along.

[Gig Wailgum · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting take on the classic. did not like the beginning but the middle and end were strong. illustrations were excellent.

[Kátia Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que história linda! Que obsessão trágica!Uma lição para aprendermos que a vingança não traz paz de espírito. Perdoar/esquecer e seguir em frente é o melhor remédio.

[Glenn Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s ok

[Stefani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read the original--I hear it's boring and slow in the vast middle--so I think we just got all the action in this Oxford Illustrated version! My children enjoyed listening to me read it to them.

[Jeanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned more history of the sea and sparked memories of a childhood spent near the ocean.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm recommending this for the illustrations. Victor Ambrus at his best!