(3) YA Illustrated by Rovina Cai. Bathsheba lives in a futuristic whale society that has adopted many customs of seafaring humans; they explore, hunt, and use ship-building technology. Led by Captain Alexandra, the pod "hunt[s] for a legend, a myth, a devil": Toby Wick, a human whale-killer. Their fantastical, violent quest is infused with Ness's powerfully made allusions to Moby-Dick and richly illustrated with Cai's swirly, atmospheric art.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Ed Young. Using mixed-media collage and text taken from Moby-Dick, Young and DaCosta have assembled a vivid and thoughtful introduction to Melville's celebrated American epic. Page layouts boldly shift from horizontal to vertical as the tale unfolds. A surprise twist reveals a gentler conclusion: the whale is a googly-eyed toy and the setting a bathtub, accounting for the abbreviated retelling and mellowing the high drama.

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2017

(4) 4-6 Treasure Chest series. Maisie and Felix time travel to 1840s Hawaii and meet teenage Liliu, who will grow up to be Hawaii's last queen. Before the twins return to their own time, they encounter Herman Melville and get kidnapped by sailors on a whaling ship. The atmospheric historical setting, with well-integrated details of Hawaiian culture, balances the weak time-travel plot device. Biographical notes are appended.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Andrew Glass. Kimmel distills Melville's hefty novel into short stanzas of rhyming verse. Glass's striking turquoise-toned paintings do a grand job of capturing the scale of the sea and the whale. All in all, however, this scant treatment reduces the classic novel of tragic obsession into a surprisingly cheerful and gently humorous reminder to "respect all creatures, great and small, and leave the whales alone!" Glos.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac