copyright date: October 2015 primarily marketed for: young adults (6th grade and up) The Beast of Cretacea by Todd Strasser is just the book the world needed. Strasser’s futuristic retelling of Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick, is a dystopian adventure story that is filled with heart. The story opens with protagonist, Ishmael, waking up on a ship on Cretacea after being transported from Earth, which is covered by the Shroud and becoming a less and less viable home for humans. Ishmael hopes to earn enough money hunting sea creatures called terrafins to pay the way for his foster parents and brother to join him. Readers get details about Ishmael’s past in chapters that flashback to his life on Earth. These chapters develop Ishmael’s relationship with his foster family and solidify our understanding of his motivation to be successful aboard the ship. However, there is much more to Ishmael than his past. He forms strong bonds with his fellow
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