in literature, it refers to great whales...

When I was at The Learning Lab's Lunch for Literacy, I won the book - Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld.

Forget what you think you know about World War I ...

This story takes place in an alternate 1914 Europe. Fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek is on the run from the Clanker powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery. He forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn, a girl disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service. She is learning to fly genetically engineered beasts used by the Darwinists to fight the Clankers.


The narrative of the book alternates between the perspective of Alek... the son of the murdered Clanker nobles ...and that of Deryn... the daughter of a dead British Navy airman.


This book is the first in a series of three that are sure to entertain.


"You see, my grandfather's true realization was this: if you remove one element--the cats, the mice, the bees, the flowers--the entire web is disrupted. An archduke and his wife are murdered, and all of Europe goes to war. A missing piece can be very bad for the puzzle, whether in the natural world, or politics, or her in the belly of an airship."


Listen to the first chapter of the audio book for free.



Check out Scott Westerfeld's video tour of his office and how he does his research.