Moby Dick

July 9, 2012
Kimmel (Even Higher!) works hard to make this classic accessible to young readers, distilling Melville’s sprawling epic into sturdy ballad-style verse: “Then Captain Ahab came on deck./ What happened to his leg?/ T’was bitten off by Moby Dick./ That’s why the whalebone peg.” Glass’s splendid spreads soften the story’s brutish aspects, which remain grim in Kimmel’s retelling: one attempt to kill Moby Dick drowns a seaman, and the next drowns Captain Ahab and the rest of the crew—all but Ishmael (“I heard the sighs and groans/ of all my friends and shipmates/ going down to Davy Jones”). Glass bathes everything in brilliant sunshine, painting the churning sea with aquas and greens and giving the white whale a sense of enormous bulk and strength. With their red noses and lumpy bodies, the seamen appear ridiculous in comparison to the majestic animal, giving weight to Ishmael’s concluding comment: “Respect all creatures, great and small, and leave the whales alone!” Parents should vet before reading aloud to sensitive children; for the stout of heart, it’s a fine introduction to the story. Ages 4–6. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

August 15, 2012
Melville's classic gets a lush, if wildly oversimplified, retelling under its author's generally sure hand. Call him Ishmael. To rhyming verse, one lad's adventures on the Pequod are retold in brief, generally accurate detail. Readers meet the harpooner Queequeg (ambiguous ethnicity and tattooed head intact), the obsessed Ahab (red eyes matching that of the titular whale's) and the crew. Ahab challenges his men to spot the leviathan, and after much searching, they find it, marking the beginning of the end for the Pequod and its crew. Kimmel's rhymes scan with clarity from the start, and he has a genius for synthesizing the loquacious storyline down to its plot essentials. A pity he chooses to end the retelling with the simplistic and wholly un-Melville-ian lesson, "The moral of this story is, / as my sad tale has shown: / Respect all creatures, great and small, / and leave the whales alone!" The high point of the title turns out to be Glass' art. His oil-and-pencil illustrations create a white whale hide interlaced with the scars of countless harpooners, his sheer girth a towering mountain of angry flesh. Readers will have little difficulty understanding the awe inspired by such a creature. For a bare-bones retelling of the original's plot, this has no equal. Just don't expect any more than that. (author's note, glossary) (Picture book. 6-10)

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September 1, 2012

Gr 2-4-Magnificent paintings in oil and pencil accompany a jaunty retelling in verse of the classic novel. Recounted in the first person by Ishmael, the text, with the lilt of a sea chantey, captures the essence of the original plot, though the rhyme scheme occasionally falters. Whaling lingo such as "Leviathan" and "parmacetti" gives an authentic flavor to the tale and is well defined in the glossary. This bare-bones version is all action with little ability to develop any thematic subtlety or character motivation, but all the elements are in place, including the suitably fierce Captain Ahab. The large format dramatically showcases the sheer majesty of Glass's impressionistic paintings, especially his depiction of Moby Dick, whose white shape rises from the depths and overflows the page, emphasizing his enormity while his all-knowing red eye slyly follows the preparations of the whalers. And the whalers are an appropriately colorful, rough-looking lot with bulbous noses and protruding stomachs. The composition is carefully crafted to make the most of the drama-the scenes of the small boat juxtaposed against the white blur of the behemoth are especially effective. Even the endpapers impress with an image of Moby Dick subliminally superimposed on a map of the world. While it may be many years before the audience will pick up the original work, this rollicking yarn with its splendid art will serve as a stand-alone introduction. Back matter includes information on Melville and the writing of Moby Dick.-Caroline Ward, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

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