The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

September 1, 2011
Gr 5 Up—-Each book opens with a few paragraphs about the author and closes with a couple pages of related educational material. "Dr. Jekyll" has profiles of mad scientists, Gulliver's Travels offers an introduction to "Monsters and Midgets" in folklore, and "Swiss Family Robinson" includes a discussion of caves and their formation and uses. There is a clearly formulaic approach to the books, but the artwork is solid across the board and the layouts are attractive. Adherence to the original texts varies from title to title. For example, "Swiss Family Robinson" takes some liberties with dialogue and narration, whereas "Gulliver's Travels" is almost verbatim in its adaptation, changing only a few 25-cent words to 10-cent words, or similar paraphrasing. The most obvious shortcoming is the use of computer-generated speech bubbles and typed text, which looks really out of place in the middle of the lovely and detailed, hand-drawn illustrations. Overall, the quality of the art and respect for the original works give these adaptations an edge over what schools and libraries normally have to choose from in this category.—"Jason M. Poole, Webster Public Library, NY"

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