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

Melville, Herman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192781537 ISBN 13: 9780192781536

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998

Synopsis

"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.

About this title

About the Author:

Geraldine McCaughrean is the author of The Odyssey and other titles in the acclaimed Oxford Illustrated Classics series.

Review:

"Includes impressive amounts of the original material.... In Moby Dick, Melville wrote that 'the great leviathan is that one creature in the world which must remain unpainted to the last.' Ambrus's dense, richly textured pencil and watercolor illustrations prove Melville wrong. And the hulking whales are not the best of it. Human faces and hands boast finely hatched detail, while ships on the horizon or storms moving in are ghostly apparitions, expertly suggested in haunting tones.... Respectful of Melville and of young readers."--The New York Times Book Review

"The adaptation of Melville's classic story of revenge moves swiftly... The language superbly heightens the sense of drama."--The Horn Book Guide

"Prose filled with rich, vivid, precise language shapes this retelling of Herman Melville's classic adventure of obsession. Without sacrificing the quality of the original, McCaughrean has created a shortened version of the tale that's filled with intriguing, finely drawn characters and the excitement of a dangerous quest on the high sea.... This is a beautifully cohesive volume that makes a classic tale accessible without diminishing it."--School Library Journal (starred review)

"The lush prose rockets the story along like a square rigger under full sail, with all the beauty that entails. Ambrus's ample illustrations are full of character.... For those disposed to retellings of the classics, this is a prime example of the way to do it."--Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0192781537
• ISBN 13: 9780192781536
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 104
• Illustrator: Ambrus Victor G.