Overview
IDW is proud to introduce a new line of graphic novels that adapt some of the best-loved books of all-time. Next in the line is Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.Travel around the globe in eighty days! This is the crazy bet that the English gentleman Phileas Fogg accepts from the members of the eminent London Reform Club in 1872. He drags his manservant Passepartout from steamboat to railway in a reckless race against time. The whole English police force - convinced that he is the fabulous thief who has just robbed the Bank of England - is also dragged into the race, with Detective Fix at their head. It is a wonderful adventure where their paths cross that of a beautiful Indian woman destined for the funeral pyre, and where bridges collapse and ships burn... but will the gentleman's extravagant expenditure be enough to get them back in time for the day and hour they are due to arrive?
In 1872 Phileas Fogg wins a bet by traveling around the world in seventy-nine days, twenty-three hours, and fifty-seven minutes.
Synopsis
On a wager, the eccentric English gentleman Phileas Fogg accepts a challenge to circle the globe in eighty days. Follow Phileas and his faithful valet Passepartout, in this classic fantastic adventure.
Praise for Classic Starts™:
“The books have won the praise of a number of educators. Peggy Charren, a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an advocate for higher-quality children’s media, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, said she has read several {and states}’they’re terrific.’”—The Wall Street Journal.
“Where abridgements are useful in introducing literature to grade-schoolers not equipped to handle the real thing, books in this series will fill the bill.”—Booklist.
“Large print, short chapters, and an abundance of white space provide an attractive, more-accessible option for readers who are not ready to handle the originals.”—School Library Journal
“Even those who dislike adaptations will find much to admire in this retelling…”—School Library Journal (for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
“This…retelling will be appreciated by readers not yet ready for the original work.”—School Library Journal (for Anne of Green Gables).
Editorials
From The Critics
Praise for Classic Starts™:“The books have won the praise of a number of educators. Peggy Charren, a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an advocate for higher-quality children’s media, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, said she has read several {and states}’they’re terrific.’”—The Wall Street Journal.
“Where abridgements are useful in introducing literature to grade-schoolers not equipped to handle the real thing, books in this series will fill the bill.”—Booklist.
“Large print, short chapters, and an abundance of white space provide an attractive, more-accessible option for readers who are not ready to handle the originals.”—School Library Journal
“Even those who dislike adaptations will find much to admire in this retelling…”—School Library Journal (for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
“This…retelling will be appreciated by readers not yet ready for the original work.”—School Library Journal (for Anne of Green Gables).
Children's Literature -
Philleas Fogg, a proper British gentleman, was a fanatically punctual man who followed a precise routine each day, eating breakfast, reading the paper, playing cards at his favorite club and returning home at the exact same time. He lived his life by his watch. Placing a wager of half of his fortune, he was confident he could circle the world in eighty days. His friends at the Reform Club took the wager and Philleas Fogg and his new butler, Jean Passapartout, a one-time acrobat, departed on a worldly adventure. Along the way he was delayed by a certain detective Fox who believed Fogg to be a bank robber. Fox's efforts, in addition to natural delays, such as a broken train bridge, runaway train engines, bandits, the rescue of a young East Indian maiden from rogues, several missed trains, steam ships and a night in jail, all led Fogg to believe he had lost the bet. He failed to take into consideration the time changes as he passed through different time zones in the world, ultimately bringing him back to his beloved London one day early. His rescued Indian maiden agreed to become his wife and when he sent Passapartout to make the arrangements with the minister, her found the date was not what he had thought and so he burst forth into the Reform Club at exactly fifty-seven minutes to the hour that he was scheduled to return. As usual, Philleas Fogg entered the club precisely on time, collected his wager, married Aouda, and lived a precise and punctual life with Passapartout as his butler.School Library Journal
Gr 3-5 - All three adaptations of these classic novels fall prey to the usual pitfalls involved in such a process. The bare outlines of the plots are provided, but character development, a true sense of place and time with regard to setting, and masterful description of the action all go by the wayside. Jungle Bookis mistitled as it references only the Mowgli stories and moves from incident to incident so quickly that the "law of the jungle" morals in Kipling's anthropomorphic fables are lost. Treasure Islandis written in a similar breakneck, choppy style, and Long John Silver, one of the most memorable characters ever created, is eminently forgettable in this telling. In 80 Days, the historic events that made such a journey even thinkable, like the opening of the Suez Canal and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, are never mentioned, nor is the International Date Line, which enabled Fogg to win his wager, mentioned, let alone explained. The cartoon illustrations in all three volumes border on offensive as no matter which country or culture is depicted, the dot-eyed faces are virtually identical except for minor variations in skin tone. Some illustrations make no sense, as when the action in 80 Daysdescribes the servant Passepartout at the bottom of a circus pyramid, but the picture is of a Japanese tearoom.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
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