The Railway Children	Kidnapped
The Odyssey	Anne of Green Gables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Railway Children

E. Nesbit

Ji-Hyuk KIm

Usborne Illustrated Originals, 2016

384pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781474915984

 

Kidnapped

Robert Louis Stevenson

Fran Parreno

Usborne Illustrated Originals, 2016

448pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781409581970

 

The Odyssey

Retold by Anna Melbourne

Sebastiaan Van Donnick

Usborne Illustrated Originals, 2016

255pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781409598930

 

Anne of Green Gables

L. M. Montgomery

Usborne Illustrated Originals, 2016

504pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781409598671

Every time someone produces a list of “Books Children MUST Read” or “The Top 100 Books EVER” or something similar, there are certain titles that are always included – titles like The Railway Children, Kidnapped, Anne of Green Gables and The Odyssey and a host of others that have been written over the past century or so and the quality of the story has earned them the tag of ‘classic’.  While it is hard to pin down exactly what it is that makes a story “a good read” let alone a classic, generally it is agreed that it is a story that has a plot that focuses on a universal truth that is understood by readers from various backgrounds, social levels and abilities and has stood the test of time and is considered representative of both life and literature of the time.

However, as our children are surrounded by graphics and demand these as an integral part of their reading, some of the text-dense releases of the past hold little appeal for them and so many miss out on being acquainted with stories that they might enjoy.  Usborne is addressing this with their new releases of the stories under their Usborne Illustrated Classics banner with complete and unabridged reprints of the originals but that are illustrated in full colour and packaged with attractive covers.  Endpapers help situate the story as their landscape is very different to that which is now familiar and  some have glossaries of unusual words or phrases and information about the author, the setting or the timeframe.  By searching for the title on Usborne’s Quicklinks site readers can find links to websites that tell them more about the story itself or its author.

While competent, independent readers will read the stories for themselves, these new editions are perfect for a teacher to serialise in the classroom or a parent reading to a child at bedtime. (Kidnapped first appeared as a serial in the magazine Young Folks, so it would a perfect starting point to introduce Stevenson’s works.) A wonderful way to introduce a new generation to titles from the past that they should read.