《The Swiss Family Robinson》

Book Description The highest standards in editing and production have been applied to the Wordsworth Children's Classics, while the low price makes them affordable for everyone. Wordsworth's list covers a range of the best-loved stories for children, from nursery tales, classic fables, and fairy tales to stories that will appeal to older children and adults alike. Many of these volumes have contemporary illustrations, and while they are ideal for shared family reading, their attractive format will also encourage children to read for themselves. Like all Wordsworth Editions, these children's books represent unbeatable value. This story tells of the happy discovery of the wonders of natural history by a family shipwrecked on a desert island, who remain united through all the adversities they encounter. From School Library Journal Grade 3-5-- It goes without saying that, in the process of condensing and rewriting these books down to a fourth-grade reading level, most of the distinguished aspects of the works--writing style, language, atmosphere, characterization--have been sacrificed for a simple, not to say simplistic, master-plots approach that conveys the incidents but fails to impart the justification for their continuing endurance in the canon of juvenile literature. The books are illustrated with some attention paid to the sense of the plots and characters. For those who persist in the fallacy that knowing what the so-called "classics" of children's literature are about is a satisfactory substitution for actually experiencing them by reading the original, this series is acceptable. For the rest of us, it's as if someone's painted a guppy white and called it Moby Dick. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Christine Behrmann, New York Public Library From AudioFile Wyss's timeless classic is about an industrious Swiss family that miraculously survives shipwreck and builds paradise on an island populated by an impossibly rich array of plants and animals. Narrator McGowan's crisp British voice nicely captures the cultivated, energetic father; the four sons all sound alike. Yet the listener isn't deterred. McGowan's excitement is so infectious that the tale hurries on. All four of my children (ages 5-13) enjoyed the presentation; so did I. All collections should have some version of Swiss Family Robinson, and this is a good one. D.W. Book Dimension : length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6