You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy these stories.
We have been reading more long form books lately, especially now that we have finished our Lord of the Rings marathon. (sob!) Talking animals have replaced elves and hobbits in our two recent favorites: The Wind in the Willows and The Jungle Book. Both classics, available in a multitude of formats, abridged and uncut, Disney and otherwise.
I always go for the original version myself, as the language of the authors is so much richer (and so much more interesting for the grown ups to read!) And Penguin and Puffin, two aptly named and beloved publishers of literary classics, have given us two lovely versions of these volumes to enjoy and maybe even keep around the house for awhile. Actual books. Made from paper. That you hold in your hands. With pages that turn. Crazy.
This edition of The Wind in the Willows is part of the Penguin Threads series and features a front and back cover that is an embossed representation of a crazy embroidered Mr Toad driving madly away in a car. The inside cover is, appropriately, the back side of the embroidery. The physical object of book itself is a pleasure to hold in your hand… thank you Penguin. I never read this book as a child, so I was just as enthralled with the mysterious world of these animals as my daughter, and also just as sad when it was done.
But we drowned our sorrows in The Puffin Classics edition of Rudyard Kiplong’s The Jungle Book. Which I also never read as a kid (What was I doing?) Who knew that after the seminal story of Mowgli and the Tiger there were a whole mess of other, equally captivating stories of animals in the Indian jungle?
Another lovely thing about the Puffin Classics is that they include an afterward, with facts about the author, more in depth information about the various animals (who knew that wolves have three eyelids?), and activities and questions to further spur imagination. And they are interesting, intelligent questions. Not the dumbed down squeaky annoying stuff you hear for kids on TV these days.
So go out there and get these books. Or get other ones. (and then let me know which ones you love) And read some of these longer classics to your kids. You’d be suprised how willing they are to sit and listen when it’s a captivating story. And how nice it is to carve out a little analogue time in this digital world we live in.
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