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Adapted or Abridged

We don't encourage the reading of abridged editions. But, understanding that some parents want to expose their kids to great stories before they're old enough to read the real thing, there are a few collections we've agreed to offer used. All the titles below are massively abridged versions of classic novels and short stories, usually illustrated, and re-written to appeal to less advanced readers.

The problem with abridged books is that they aren't really the original books at all. Sure, the main plot points are there, but classics are more than just bare bones plots; part of what makes a book great is the quality of the author's expression, the wit and grace he or she uses to tell their tale. An abridged or heavily edited version always demolishes the poetry of the original and presents classic stories as simple bulletpoint collections of incidents.

That said, if you intend to have your kids read the original later on, these could provide a decent introduction to provide some familiarity before jumping into Great Expectations or The Iliad. Sometimes reading the classics can be confusing during the first few encounters, and having some knowledge of the general plot, characters, and theme beforehand can be useful (though remember that, in an abridgement, you're getting the editor's interpretation of the theme rather than the theme itself).

With all that said, the abridged classics we have in stock are listed below. Some of them are valuable for their illustrations alone (particularly the Little Unicorn books, with full-color pictures by the Brothers Hildebrandt) or their value as collector's items, but we've priced all of them affordably. We would caution, however, if any of your literature-loving friends come over, hide these volumes in the basement.

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Aeneid for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
Roman Mythology for 5th-8th grade
$9.95
Around the World in Eighty Days (Adapted)
by Jane Bingham
from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks
by F. J. Gould
from Yesterday's Classics
Greek History Reference for 4th-8th grade
$9.95
Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Romans
by F. J. Gould
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-8th grade
$9.95
Christmas Carol
by Andrew Wheatcroft, Charles Dickens
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
$5.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Great Illustrated Classics
by Mark Twain
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Alice in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
from Baronet Books
for 3rd-6th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Anne of Green Gables
Great Illustrated Classics
by L. M. Montgomery
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Around the World in 80 Days
Great Illustrated Classics
by Jules Verne
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Beauty and the Beast and Other Stories
from Baronet Books
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Black Beauty
Great Illustrated Classics
by Anna Sewell
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Call of the Wild
Great Illustrated Classics
by Jack London
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Cinderella and Other Stories
by Rochelle Larkin
First Edition
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Hans Brinker
Great Illustrated Classics
by Mary Mapes Dodge
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (3 in stock)
GIC: House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Hunchback of Notre Dame
Great Illustrated Classics
by Victor Hugo
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Jane Eyre
Great Illustrated Classics
by Charlotte Bronte
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Jungle Book
Great Illustrated Classics
by Rudyard Kipling
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Kidnapped
Great Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Little Women
Great Illustrated Classics
by Louisa May Alcott
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Great Illustrated Classics
by Roger Green
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty
Great Illustrated Classics
by William Bligh
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Oliver Twist
Great Illustrated Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Picture of Dorian Gray
Great Illustrated Classics
by Oscar Wilde
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Pride and Prejudice
Great Illustrated Classics
by Jane Austen
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Prince and the Pauper
Great Illustrated Classics
by Mark Twain
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Great Illustrated Classics
by Kate Douglas Wiggin
from Baronet Books
for 3rd-6th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Red Badge of Courage
Great Illustrated Classics
by Stephen Crane
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Secret Garden
Great Illustrated Classics
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Sleeping Beauty and Other Stories
by David Larkin
First Classics Edition from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Snow White and Other Stories
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Great Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Swiss Family Robinson
Great Illustrated Classics
by Johann Wyss
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Tale of Two Cities
Great Illustrated Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Tales of Mystery and Terror
Great Illustrated Classics
by Edgar Allan Poe
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: The Little Mermaid and Other Stories
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
GIC: Three Musketeers
Great Illustrated Classics
by Alexandre Dumas
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Treasure Island
Great Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
GIC: Wind in the Willows
Great Illustrated Classics
by Kenneth Grahame
from Baronet Books
for 2nd-4th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Iliad (adapted)
by Homer & Barbara Leonie Picard
from Oxford University
for 4th-8th grade
Iliad (retold)
Kingfisher Epics
by Nick McCarty, Victor G. Ambrus
from Kingfisher
for 4th-6th grade
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Iliad for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
for 5th-8th grade
$9.95
Little Mermaid and Other Stories
from Baronet Books
for 3rd-6th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Little Women (abridged)
Dover Children's Thrift Classics
by Louisa May Alcott
from Dover Publications
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 3rd-5th grade
$3.00
Odyssey (retold)
Kingfisher Epics
by Alan Baker, Robin Lister
from Kingfisher
for 4th-6th grade
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Odyssey for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
for 5th-8th grade
$9.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Pinocchio (adapted)
by Freya Littledale
from Schola Publications, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
Childrens Classics
by Anne De Graaf, Daniel Defoe
from Crossway Books
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
from DK Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Secret Garden (adapted)
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
from Dover Publications
for 4th-6th grade
$2.50
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