Cozy Classics: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Published: May 23rd, 2014

Cozy Classics: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

By: Jack Wang & Holman Wang

Simply Read Books

ISBN-13:  9781927018385

Give a kid a classic!  Cozy Classics is the popular board book series that presents well-loved stories to children ages 0 + through twelve child-friendly words and needle-felted illustrations.  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain's timeless tale of childhood about an imaginative boy who's always getting into trouble, and is one of the world's most beloved classics.  Now you can share this classic with children of any age.  www.mycozyclassics.com

Review

     So, I have read a few of these before, most notably Emma and Jane Eyre.  I didn't realize how hard this particular book would be to translate to this narrative style, than say, Emma happened to be!  But considering that unless you have the room to be wordy, Twain's story definitely makes NO real sense whatsoever!  Just like in their previous books, Jack and Holman Wang use felt puppets staged in different scenes to tell a story, using only twelve words to describe exactly what's happening.  Knowing the story previously, I expected it to make better use of the adventure storyline that monopolizes the last half of the book, but the way it was worked in was very jagged and really had no narrative flow.

     The first word used in this book is HIDE and the page shows Tom with his hand in a jam-pot, hiding behind a re-creation of the first page of the original book.  It definitely represents Tom's mischievious nature to a tee, and is a good example.  The next picture is of Tom whitewashing the fence, with the word PAINT.  That doesn't translate quite as well, considering all we see is Tom doing the work.  Unless you already knew, it doesn't in any way hint that he's going to cause the other children to fight over doing the work for him, by fooling them into thinking it's fun.  Next, they show Tom kissing Becky (seemingly for no reason, at school I think?), with the caption KISS.  I guess it's an easy way to introduce Becky.  It ties in with the fourth page, where Tom is trying to comfort Becky as she cries (because he kissed her?), with the word CRY.  Huck is introduced next playing with some toy swords with Tom (PLAY), which I guess is as good a way as any of introducing him I suppose.

     The storyline begins to get coherent next, with Tom and Huck outside at night in front of a fire (CAMP).  Next, there's a STORM and the two of them are caught in it.  Randomly they're on the street in front of a house, in nice weather, with Becky looking all lovestruck and it says HOME.  Then Becky and Tom are together again in front of a CAVE, then they're LOST in the cave with a candle and bats overhead, Tom is helping Becky climb OUT and then Tom & Huck are randomly back in the cave together with a pick-axe - and treasure (GOLD).  As a whole, the photographs/staging are all very creative and visually appealing.  But I do think that the treasure storyline wasn't really used to the best of it's abilities.  Also, out of everything else that happens in the book, Becky is what gets the main focus?  Talk about odd narrative decisions...but like I said, I can definitely see this being a difficult one to translate.  All in all, an interesting attempt and not the worst I'll ever read (especially for a board book based on a classic), but not the best either.  I'd recommend it if you want to compare and contrast, or want a cute book to look at with a child.

VERDICT:  3.5/5  Stars

**I received this book from Simply Read Books, on NetGalley.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book was published May 23rd, 2014.**

Cozy Classics: Jane Eyre

Published:  November 20th, 2013

Cozy Classics: Jane Eyre (Cozy Classics)

By: Jack & Holman Wang

Simply Read Books

ISBN-13:  9781927018316

Give a kid a classic!  Cozy Classics is the popular board book series that presents well-loved stories to children age 0+ through twelve child-friendly words and twelve needle-felted illustrations.  Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte's mysterious romance about a young governess who discovers a terrible secret about the man she loves, and is one of the world's most beloved classics.  Now you can share this classic with children of any age.  www.mycozyclassics.com

Review

     So for anyone who didn't catch my first review, this is my second foray into the Cozy Classics books.  My first was their version of Jane Austen's Emma, which I found truly adorable and hilariously fun to read/interpret as an adult who has read the original book.  I can say that I was laughing throughout this one as well.  The biggest issue that I had was how little it actually represented the original story.  But as other reviewers (and I myself) have said, representing a literary classic in just twelve words, with felt puppets staged around is not an easy endeavor!  Jane Eyre is pretty complex story, not necessarily more so than Emma, just in very different contexts.  It's a lot easier to allude to social niceties and blunders, mixed with romance/friendship than it is to talk about the crazy wife in the attic.  

     It introduces the reader to Jane (the word "girl") sitting at a table with a book, looking miserable.  Next we see the word "red" and she is pictured looking terrifed and trying to wrest open the door to the red room of her nightmares.  The third word is "stand" and has Jane on a stool at the front of a classroom, being humiliated.  These are the only words we're given to represent Jane's mess of a childhood.  While the less horrific of some of the things that could've been shown to children, it also doesn't do much to tell us what exactly is going on - unless we already know (as lots of adults probably already know the gist of the story).  Then we get "woman", with Jane all grown up (I respect that the Wangs make the Jane puppet plain looking in accordance with the story.  It could be tempting to do otherwise, especially when marketing a romantic classic to children!)  We are introduced to Rochester on the ground, clutching his knee ("fall").  Probably the most nonsensical thing about this is how far in the background his horse happens to be, when he's just fallen from it.  We next see Rochester leaning on Jane and limping away from the scene of misfortune (help) and all of the sudden he's recovered, they're holding hands and about to kiss each other (appropriately titled "kiss").  I like the light filtering in between them and the trees, and the happy looks on the puppets' faces.  Especially considering the shit's about to hit the fan!

     This is when the action (if you can call it that) starts to take place in the book, with Rochester leading Jane to the attic to tell her the big secret ("stairs" with her veil in hand and trailing after them) and running away, obviously upset ("leave").  This is very confusing without prior context.  What's so important about the stairs?  Why is Jane running away two seconds later, upset and not wanting to be around the man she was in "kiss" position with only two pages ago?  Either this book is meant for babies who won't ask questions or adults who will find it a fun exercise in terse storytelling with beautifully crafted visuals.  It's fun to speculate on that as well!  Next we seen Jane on a doorstep with her eyes closed ("cold") and Rochester backed into a corner with a fire raging in front of him ("hot").  The last scene depicted has Jane once again with Rochester, smiling and leading him to a chair with his eyes closed ("care").  I believe that the Wangs did the best they could to depict the full story, but to a child this would probably come across pretty confusing.  I think that last scene should have had bandages over Rochester's eyes probably, to depict the fact that he was blind a little more clearly.  The whole reason Jane leaves when she finds out about Rochester's crazy wife is that she's got a serious moral backbone, but also a devalued sense of self in that she doesn't think she was enough for him anyways.  An extremely difficult thing to depict in a children's board book, with twelve words, when trying to give any sense of story as well.  All that aside, I had fun once again with this concept (even if it wasn't quite as good as Emma). 

VERDICT:  3/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, Simply Read Books, via NetGalley.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published November 20th, 2013.*

Cozy Classics: Emma

 

Published: December 5th, 2013

Cozy Classics: Emma (Cozy Classics)

By: Jack Wang, Holman Wang

Simply Read Books

ISBN-13:  9781927018378

 

Give a kid a classic!  Cozy Classics is the popular board book series that presents well-loved stories to children aged 0+ through twelve child-friendly words twelve needle-felted illustrations.  Jane Austen's Emma is a romantic comedy about a young woman who makes mischief through matchmaking, and is one of the world's most beloved classics.  Now you can share this classic with children of any age.  www.mycozyclassics.com

 

Review

 

     What to say, what to say.....how much can I tell you about a board book that consists only of twelve pages/words/photo illustration-thingys?  Well, I can tell you that it was absolutely hilarious to read this as an adult!  I adored the felt puppet-tastic illustrations!  They were so well-staged, which I suppose is still difficult even though it does get around working with real people as models like it would in live-action photography.  And while it cuts out the drawing aspect of art it still takes craftsmanship to stage one of these scenes, let alone twelve of them.  The synopsis makes sure to tell you that this book is a romantic comedy.  From the words chosen though, you don't really take away any romantic context unless you happen to know the story of Emma prior to reading this little slice of the original story.  It introduces the reader to Emma and Knightley (lady and man, respectively), shows Emma taking Harriet from Mr. Martin (Goodbye).  Then it goes to Emma trying to set Harriet up with Mr. Elton (Hello), Knightley questioning Emma about her matchmaking (Why), and Mr. Elton's proposal to Emma herself (the surprise on puppet Emma's face, alongside the word 'Surprise!' was especially amusing)!  Next Frank Churchill (Weston? Can't remember) is seen carrying Harriet (Carry), in someone's house with her (Thanks), Emma and Frank laughing at poor old Miss Bates who looks dejected (Laugh). 

     Then the climax of the book happens when Knightley scolds Emma (Angry), Emma admits her wrong actions and they make up (Sorry).  The last page has the word 'Happy', with Emma and Knightley arm-in-arm and Robert Martin behind them with Harriet.  As someone who knows the story in detail, I have the nuances of the story already in my background knowledge and am able to interpret romantic intent.  As such, I don't think a child would necessarily get it unless it was explained a little bit better by a parent/whoever is reading it to them or with them.  The book hits the high points, but the thing with Miss Bates does seem pretty out of place based on the other eleven pages/words included.  Also, when we saw the Frank puppet I thought it was Mr. Knightley and couldn't figure out why he looked different.  It wasn't till his last page (laughing with Emma) that I made the connection.  Other than that, this book was absolutely adorable.  I am truly excited to read more in this series.  I especially want to see how these guys manage to tell Les Miserables in only 12 words!  I highly recommend it for anyone, even adults who don't have kids to use as a reason to read these books - you don't need the justification! :)

 

First thoughts:  OH. MY. GOD.  Absolutely hilarious!  Only 12 words to describe this classic novel, accompanied by pictures of little dolls staged to act things out.  I am in love and need to read all the others in this series.  Oh, the possibilities!  I wonder how in the ever-loving, HELL the people behind this managed to do Les Miserables or War & Peace!  More on this later!

 

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

 

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, Simply Read Books, via NetGalley.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published December 5th, 2013.*