A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (The Iona and Peter Opie Library of Childrens Literature)
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Book Summary Information
Author: Nathaniel HawthorneContributor: Joel Pfister
Illustrator: Walter Crane
Introduction: Ola d'Aulaire
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2001-07-05
ISBN: 0195145763
Number of pages: 256
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (The Iona and Peter Opie Library of Childrens Literature)
Book Review: A Wonder Book
Summary: 4 Stars
This book belongs to the genre category of myths and legends. Out of a possible five stars I would rate this book a four because the content is very dense, and at times a bit hard to understand. But still, the book was very gripping. The author's vocabulary is vast, and some of the words he used I had never heard. Some of the sentences are phrased abnormally too. The sentences are considerably lengthy.
This book is full of tales such as "The Golden Touch," "Three Golden Apples," "The Paradise of Children," "The Gorgon's Head," and others. Since the stories were written in the 1800's the writing style is much different than the current modern day style.
The storyteller, Eustace Bright, is in the town of Tangle Wood with all of his nieces and nephews, at their family house. The kids always request a story from their uncle Eustace, and then he would proceed to tell a wonderful story filled with fantasy characters, and of course; there was always an obvious moral to each tale.
I enjoyed this book, and each story within it. The characters in the stories had great personalities, which made the book a thrill to read. It's full of imaginary settings, and magical things.
Eustace Bright told many stories of heroes such as Hercules, on quests. Along the way, they would meet up with all sorts of creatures. For instance in the tale, "The Three Golden Apples" Hercules comes across a man, who has the burden of holding the sky upon his shoulders.
Over all I would recommend this book. Especially to those who enjoy fairytales and fantasy stories. However, like I said, the book can be a quite hard to understand at times. This is a miraculous book, filled with extraordinary characters.
Summary of A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (The Iona and Peter Opie Library of Childrens Literature)
Here are the stories of King Midas, Pandora, Medusa, Hercules, and the other inhabitants of Mount Olympus told by one of America's greatest writers. Written in 1851 as a money-maker for the struggling Hawthorne, A Wonder Book has become a favorite for generations of children everywhere. Hawthorne's mastery of adventure and his command of narrative and character open a child's mind to the wondrous landscapes of ancient mythology in stories such as "The Gorgon's Head" and "The Three Golden Apples." Oxford has created a beautiful and memorable edition of this classic children's text with illustrations by famed book artist Walter Crane, whose full-color plates and decorative art originally accompanied the text in the late 1800s. An introduction by Ola d'Aulaire, son of the creators of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, sets the stage for the young reader, and an afterword for adults by Hawthorne scholar Joel Pfister places A Wonder Book in Hawthorne's body of work and in historical context, conveying the strength of its romantic imagination in the face of the encroaching Industrial Revolution. Adults and collectors will find this major new edition a treasure and their children will happily enter a world of magic and imagination, led by one of the greatest American storytellers.General Books
- Children's Books > Ages 9-12
- Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( H ) > Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- ( O ) > Opie, Peter & Iona
- Literature > Classics by Age > General
- Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Anthologies
- Greek & Roman
- Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( H ) > Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- World Literature > Mythology > Children's Books > Greek & Roman
- United States > 19th Century
- Classics > Hawthorne, Nathaniel
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