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Title: The Water-Babies (Puffin Classics) by Charles Kingsley ISBN: 0-14-036736-5 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: July, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Do NOT buy this abridged version!
Comment: Kingsley's novel is brilliant--it's a fantastic and difficult read for both children and adults. But do NOT buy the abridged version (Puffin). One thing that is taken out is Kingsley's many sarcastic references to American democracy. The publishers have taken out the anti-American sentiment to sell more copies to Americans--this is, of course, a very American thing to do, and it's this sort of thing that led to Kingsley's satire in the first place. I would suggest that publishers stop mutilating books and start reading them. I certainly hope people will stop buying the abridged version.
I note, by the way, that the anti-Irish sections are left untouched.
Here are some passages--page numbers are to the excellent Oxford World's Classics version, ed. Brian Alderson (1995):
"But he [Cousin Cramchild] was raised in a country where little boys are not expected to be respectful, because all of them are as good as the President." (85)
"Being quite comfortable is a very good thing; but it does not make people good. Indeed, it sometimes makes them naughty, as it has made the people in America . . ." (115)
" But they were true republicans, those hoodies, who do every one just what he likes, and make other people do so too; so that, for any freedom of speech, thought, or action, which is allowed among them, they might as well be American citizens of the new school." (141)
"So she packs them [the sperm whales] away in a great pond by themselves at the South Pole, two hundred and sixty-three miles south-east of Mount Erebus, the great volcano in the ice; and there they butt each other with their ugly noses, day and night from year's end to year's end. And if they think that sport--why, so do their American cousins." (147)
There are others.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Water Babies
Comment: This book was a wonderful novel to read. It showed how little kids were treated durning this time period. Once the faries found Tom his life changed forever. The author explained how he started out as little boy and saying bad words to how he changed and in to a understanding boy. The book is a wonderful read because it shows what happens to others who don't know what it's like. Not all of this is true because it is a fairy tale. The author's one quote that stayed with me the most is "You're not supposed to belive all of this because it's a fairy tale even if you do believe. This is a powerful story and should be read to little children. It will show them that being bad is not the way to go. If kids learn tpo be nice when they are young then it can stop hatred and people being mean in future years.
Rating: 5
Summary: Lesson for Life
Comment: It was whilst reading the Waterbabies to my children that it dawned on me that the lessons to be learned from Mrs Be Done By As You Did and Mrs Do As You Would Be Done By had been a powerful guiding force. It is sad that more children today do not learn the underlying message.Perhaps our world would be a nicer place.
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Title: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, Arthur Hughes ISBN: 0140367462 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling ISBN: 0812504690 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 February, 1992 List Price(USD): $2.99 |
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Title: At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald ISBN: 0812567129 Publisher: Tor Classics Pub. Date: 15 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title:The Water Babies ASIN: B00007GZR9 Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $13.46 |
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Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, John Tenniel, Martin Gardner ISBN: 0451527747 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: 12 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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