Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Evocative of an era when all travel was an adventure, this timeless classic is perfectly captured by Robert Ingpen's rich and detailed illustrations
Although we live in an age when round-the-world travel is possible in hours rather than weeks, Jules Verne's tale of a race against the clock has never lost its power to thrill. Set in 1872, Mr. Phileas Fogg, a gentleman of precision and predictability, and his manservant, the ever resourceful Passepartout, ride through India on an elephant, sail the South China Sea in the teeth of a typhoon, and cross the snow-covered plains of the American Wild West in order to fulfill a wager that the journey can be completed in just 80 days. The acrobatic and inquisitive Passepartout can seldom keep out of trouble. While he is pursued by irate Indian priests, drugged in an opium den, and saving a runaway train, his master's composure is never broken as the hours tick away on his precisely accurate pocket watch. But Phileas Fogg is above all a gentleman, and stopping to save the life of a beautiful young widow may have cost him his fortune. The ill-assorted but determined trio have to use all of their ingenuity and some remarkable vehicles to race back to London. Will they make it in time?
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
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
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information