Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex, Adapted for Young People from In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick is an adaptation of the author’s more New York Times best seller history book. The book has been adapted into a 2015 motion picture, In the Heart of the Sea, which has not been received very well, but I think that now I’ll have to watch it.

I enjoyed reading about New York City (Manhattan) in the 1850s, a rough place full of richness, poverty, and gang elements. There are many elements of magic and mysticism to this novel, something I was not expecting which are central to the story and the themes which, I believe, the author was trying to project.

The coffee company Starbucks is named after the first mate of the Pequod, (the whaling ship from Moby Dick which was the company’s original name).