I love books that introduce children to the great classics.
My own introduction to the classics was through the Classics Illustrated Comic Books. My large collection included favorites The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, Lord Jim, Ivanhoe, and Jane Eyre. By the time I was eleven I was tackling the novels themselves. When our son was growing up I found abridged paperbacks of the classics which inspired him to read his favorites which included H. G. Wells and Jack London.
What could be better than Jane Austen for young readers!
Pride and Prejudice has been adapted as plays and for movies and television since at least 1890 according to Devoney Looser in The Making of Jane Austen. The bare bones of the plot sequence is so well known by nearly everyone.
This Easy Classics book includes all the expected scenes. But this retelling also catches Austen's irony.
Chapter 1 begins with, of course, Mrs. Bennet telling her husband about the rich man who has moved into the neighborhood a good news. Mr. Bennet is described as reading his newspaper and "growing tired of his wife's excitement." Proclaiming that their daughters may benefit because the single man "must want a wife" causes Mr. Bennett to exchange a smile with Lizzy.
Pride and Prejudice is part of the Jane Austen Children's Stories which includes Emma, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Love and Friendship. The UK edition includes a free audio book download. The series is suitable for children through Middle School.
What a wonderful resource!
The book is fully illustrated.
I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen Children's Stories
by Jane Austen, adapted by Gemma Barder
Sweet Cherry Publishing
Pub Date July 9, 2020
paperback £6.99 (GBP)
UK (plus audio) edition ISBN: 9781782266136
US (Americanized) edition ISBN: 9781782267553
