Moby Dick: or The White Whale (Oxford Illustrated Classics)

By Geraldine McCaughrean and Herman Melville

Book Overview

"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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192781537
• ISBN13: 9780192781536
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.4" x 10.8"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Really exceptional

This is so thrilling and scary and wonderfully (I mean, brilliantly) illustrated. Among other things it should go along way to alleviating student fear of the great gray book about the great white whale.

A Perfect Introduction to Moby Dick

I recently read this book to my 7th grade lit. class. They loved it and I enjoyed reading it to them. It not only tells the story of Moby Dick,it is a gem unto itself.Ms. McCaughrean's literary language enables the reader (and listener) to have a perfect image of characters and events.

Fabulous retelling and illustrations

Geraldine McCaughrean's retelling of Melville's Moby Dick provides welcome and rewarding access to the plot and characters of this classic. Victor Ambrus' illustrations are wonderful. For several years now we have been turning to this jewel!

Moby Dick, by Geraldine McCaughrean

Our family enjoyed this book! It is a wonderful way to share a classic with a child. My 8 year old son loved the beautiful language and the illustrations. This book was perfect for younger readers who may not be ready for the full version. There are great moral lessons covered in Moby Dick. Reading this book provided a natural environment to discuss these important charachter traits. It also allowed us to take off with a further study of whales. A great book!

The book was pretty good

I liked the book, I just think it could of had a little more detail at the very end. But I recommend it.