There are two sets of books in this collection—the single title editions, and the doubles. The singles are simple, unabridged copies of standard children's classics with 1950s-esque cover art, sturdy hardcovers, lightly illustrated with line drawings throughout, and decidedly not fancy. The doubles are, in a way, just like them; there's nothing terribly distinctive about these...except that each volume includes two novels, printed together, but upside down and back-to-back, so you read one, then flip the book over to start reading the other. This is called tête-bêche (French, head-to-tail) binding, and you can read a little more about its fascinating history here on wikipedia's "dos-à-dos (back-to-back)" article or here at an article from The Guardian.
Pairing of books seems pretty arbitrary: there's no good reason The Wizard of Oz and The Jungle Book should go together, but that's the kind of shenanigans the publishers have pulled. As a gimmicky novelty item, The Companion Library is a fun and inexpensive collection to have on your shelves.
Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews
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