The Enchanted Attic: Saving Moby Dick
Written by L.L. Samson
Picture a reluctant young reader with two reading choices: classics in one pile and contemporary fiction in the other. Which will be the favored pile? LL Samson, the author of The Enchanted Attic books, makes the task easier by melding the two piles into one. He created a series that brings the characters of the classics into the modern world and introduces readers to the classics in an un-putt-downable fashion. Saving Moby Dick is the second book in the series.
Ophelia, Linus and their friend Walter have discovered a magical circle in the attic. Once a month the circle opens to the other world (second and third grade readers would so enjoy this magic!). Lay a book in the circle, taking care to open it to the page (time) you are interested in, and you can choose the character from that book that you want to bring to life. The character has sixty hours of life in the real world. If the character is not back in the circle within that time then poof — he disappears forever.
Uncle Auggie organizes a Moby Dick themed party. Captain Ahab then becomes the logical choice to be the next visitor. The story moves the reader along at a steady clip (or full sail to continue the naval metaphor). Captain Ahab is bewildered by his surroundings, but he is a fast learner. The friends learn too: in this story they come to understand the stranglehold that obsession can have over a person.
So cleverly is the character of Ahab described, such an ease of comprehension is there, that the third grade reader is eager to go on to read the original story, Moby Dick. Mission accomplished.
Title: The Enchanted Attic: Saving Moby Dick- Author: L.L. Samson
- Publisher: Zonderkidz
- Reviewer: Anjali Amit
- Paperback: 182 pages
- ISBN: 978-0-310-72797-2
- Genre: Fiction
