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Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Story
Author: Richard Bach

Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9788172235789
Pages: 96
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Jonathan Livingston Seagull, first published in 1970, is a short novel about a seagull named Jonathan Livingston. The first part of the book shows that unlike other birds, Jonathan is bored of just fighting for food. He wishes to learn all there is to flying, and manages to dive at a speed of two hundred miles per hour. He becomes excited as he is the fastest seagull ever. However, the other birds say that he is recklessly irresponsible and therefore should be banished from the flock. Jonathan doesn't lose his passion for flying, and continues to practice his skills. One day, he meets two other seagulls who tell him about a wonderful place where all gulls love to fly.

Jonathan becomes friendly with a different group of seagulls and befriends the wisest seagull, who guides him to fly in a way that would instantaneously allow him to reach any part of the universe. In the next part of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the protagonist decides to return to his original flock and teach his skills to other seagulls who have been outlawed by their flocks. He also spreads the message of love. Will his students be able to learn from their master? Will the other seagulls accept what he has become and learn from him?

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is filled with illustrations by Russell Munson. After a plane crash in 2012, Bach wrote the fourth and last part of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Within two years of its publication, more than a million copies had been printed. It also reached the No.1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list, and stayed there for 38 weeks. It is the bestselling novel in America as per the Publishers Weekly list. A movie of the same name was also made. In 1973, actor Richard Harris won a Grammy for the audiobook.
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