And The Ocean Was Our Sky

AndThe Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, 160 pages

What if whales only hunted men because we hunted them?  What if they killed people and used all of our parts, wasting nothing?  What if they only wanted to protect themselves?  And what if there were a man who had killed so many whales that his name, Toby Wick, became a legend and that there was a whale obsessed with catching and killing Toby Wick?  Bathsheba’s captain, Alexandra, is that whale.  Bathsheba, whose mother was killed by humans, is happy to follow Alexandra in the hunt to kill more people but doesn’t believe in Toby Wick.  Although Bathsheba hates all humans she becomes fascinate das gets to know a human prisoner who has been giving them information about where to find Toby Wick.  He makes her question what she knows about humans and what humans know about whales.  This retelling of Moby Dick from a whale perspective is fascinating.  I loved it and hope to put it in the hands of lots of teens.