Learned since, can be like ocean currents,' Hohn writes poetically.

Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them (Viking, 370 pages, $27.95), goes far beyond a simple investigation into these questions. Set out to learn what the toys might have encountered on the high seasĪnd whether they actually made it to the Atlantic, but the resultingīook, Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at SeaĪnd of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Night-to put his investigative skills to work in a five-year wild duckĬhase, away from his wife and newborn son. It also sent Hohn-schoolteacher by day, investigative journalist by The image of inanimate yellow ducks bobbing cheerfully in the ocean inspired children's author Eric Carle ( The Very Hungry Caterpillar) to write 10 Little Rubber Ducks, and beachcombers in Newfoundland and England to search for weather-beaten bath toys that might have safely crossed the Arctic. Ship en route to the United States from China. Turtles-circumnavigating the globe after tumbling off of a container Of thousands of plastic bath toys-ducks, beavers, frogs and

Night, when one of his students brought to his attention the existence

In the grand tradition of Tony Horwitz and David Quammen, Moby-Duck is a compulsively readable narrative of whimsy and curiosity.Donovan Hohn was correcting high-school English papers one With each new discovery, Hohn learns of another loose thread, and with each successive chase, he comes closer to understanding where his castaway quarry comes from and where it goes. Moby-Duck is a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive dealings of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. A revelatory tale of science, adventure, and modern myth

Moby-Duck by Donovan Hohn