May 1, 2026
What a cute book! I read this to my weekly kids storytime group, and we all got some laughs. None of us had read the original Moby Dick because we aren’t interested in men’s personal journeys. But all of us were interested in a whale’s personal journey.
Moby is a whale who wants to make friends. He discovers a bobbing boat with some humans on board and uses all his awesome friend-making tricks to impress them. He tries “Tag”, which almost capsizes the boat; he does a majestic leap over the boat, which scares the humans, and that’s when Ahab, the captain, takes matters into his own hands. He grabs a poking stick and gets to poking! But it just tickles Moby. Moby can tell his friend-making-plans aren’t working and feels pretty bummed about it. He sinks to the bottom of the ocean to ponder. He realizes, “not everybody will get you. But that’s okay.” Oh, OK, Moby, take us to church. This was a sermon, and it’s the only one I’ve ever liked.
Bits and Pieces: The art was created on Procreate using an ipad. My nephew K said, “I would like that whale to move into my swimming pool.” Which had nothing to do with the book and wasn’t particularly helpful for my review. But I suppose it speaks highly of the character, Moby, so I take what I can get. My friend F (who is only one years old) said “uuhhgff!” during the live reading, and no one knew what the heck he meant. We politely moved on. I’m sorry my storytime kids group isn’t better at helping readers decide whether to buy the book or not.
Not Sure About: Spoiler! Why didn't we learn what the squid’s name was?
Favorite Part: I liked it when Ahab was tickling Moby with his lil spear. That’s my kind of humor. I also liked the sailors' lil outfits.
