Jane Austen Children Stories: Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen Children’s Stories #3) by Jane Austen adapted by Gemma Barder

Two of my nieces have their birthdays right next to each other. For the older one I purchased The Next Great Jane while the younger one I needed to find a gift for her. I had purchased a cute unicorn skirt but I still needed to find her a book. After all:

This time I didn’t even have to think about it as I knew the perfect one: another book from the Jane Austen Children’s Stories series.

Yep, I’m going to buy all of these for the kids in my lives as it will hopefully brainwash spark a love of Jane Austen in them.

The Jane Austen Children’s Stories series takes the text of Jane Austen and adapts it for children who are reading on their own and want something longer than a beginning reader, but not quite ready for thick chapter books. Each novel has easy to read text, illustrations, but at the same time still retain the plot of the original novels.

The recommended age for this series is 7-10 years old. The series has adapted Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Love and Friendship. You can buy them individually at ~$7 a paperback (hardcover is ~$12 per book) or in a set of all seven in paperback form (plus a journal) for ~$17.

The elder Dashwood sisters are nothing alike. Elinor is the eldest; reserved, quiet, sensible, and thoughtful. Marianne is the middle daughter; outspoken, emotional, and impulsive. Everything changes when their father dies and the estate passes to their half-brother. They are left with little and forced to move away. Before they leave they encounter Edward Ferrars, their brother-in-law, and Elinor falls for him, yet chooses not to act on her feelings. In their new home; their kindly but meddling neighbors set their sights on uniting one of the girls with their friend Colonel Brandon. However Marianne falls for the handsome and dashing Mr. Willoughby; but is he everything that he seems? Will the girls find their true paths? Is Mr. Willoughby really a romantic hero? What is better sense? Or sensibility?

I really enjoy this series, as you can see I have purchased almost every book. I love that the adaption doesn’t shy away from the points of the the story, but presents all of the original work just in a slightly pared down way; making it understandable to children. I was a little worried about how they would address Eliza and Willoughby’s surprise pregnancy but it was very tasteful.

The illustrations were cute and fun, especially how mean Fanny Dashwood looks.

And Colonel Brandon? How did Marianne think he was an old man and not cute? Seriously, look at that guy.

Soooo cute!!!!

It was fantastic and a very good abridged adaption for children. I hope my seven year old niece likes it as much as I did. I definitely recommend it!

For more Jane Austen Children’s Stories, go to Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Persuasion

For more Jane Austen books for children, go to Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Emma

For more kid’s books, go to The Next Great Jane

For more on Sense and Sensibility book adaptations, go to Incense and Sensibility

For more on Sense and Sensibility, go to I Was Asked to Be a Guest on the Podcast What the Austen? + My Review of Her Episode Disney Villains x Northanger Abbey with Ann from Paper.Hearts.Library

The Next Great Jane

The Next Great Jane by K. L. Going

My niece is turning 12 and I wanted to get her a Jane Austen themed book as you know me, I’m always trying to brainwash, I mean encourage a love of Jane Austen.

So I started googling and searching for something Jane Austen-esque for a preteen. I stumbled upon a few books that sounded great, except they are out of print and are crazy expensive.

I finally came upon this book, The Next Great Jane; not a retelling but a book inspired by Jane Austen and her works. It sounded good and went in my cart. And of course when it came in the mail I HAD to read it first (and post a review).

The story is told from the point of view of soon to be seventh grader, Jane Brannen. Jane lives in Maine with her marine biologist (specializing in plankton) father. Her mother left when Jane was just a baby to pursue her dreams of Hollywood stardom. Jane and her mom are not close as she only sees her on holidays and even then not that much.

Besides her dad Jane has her nanny/family friend Ann Taylor who is her surrogate mother figure, best friend Kitty, and the rest of her small town.

Everything changes for Jane when a hurricane and famous author J. E. Fairfax come to town. Jane wants to be a writer and plans to go to the talk spending time with J. E. Fairfax to get tips on how to be a better writer. However while things start off well; a Jane Austen necklace gifted to her by Ann (Jane Austen being their shared things); it quickly goes downhill as Jane is not allowed to be a part of the talk as no kids are allowed. She pretends to leave but sneaks back in to spy and listen to what is said.

When she does so she also crosses paths with a rude Welsh boy, who makes fun of her town and J. E. Fairfax. It turns out that he is Devon Fairfax, J. E.’s son. Jane gets really annoyed with Devon and dares him to go out in the storm. Devon decides to take her up on the dare and the two run off toward the beach.

They come back but find everyone gone, having to break into the library and hiding out there having an impromptu food fight when they are found by the authorities. While no serious damage was done by the kids in the library, Jane’s mom was trying to find her and when she heard he went missing she goes to Maine to find her.

That’s not good.

With her mom and her mother’s new fiancé Eric present who want to create a big happy family with Jane and Jane is not pleased about this. Things get worse as Devon is staying in town and not only happens to be her culinary arts/science partner; but as Kitty is into his brother Matthew; their paths continually keep crossing.

Ugh…this guy

What’s a girl to do when it seems like life has thrown her too many curveballs? Try to channel her inner Austen and write through it all.

I really enjoyed this book as I thought it was very well written. The characters were great and all the choices and emotions they expressed were perfect reactions to all that was going on.

I loved that this wasn’t a direct retelling but a book inspired by the Jane Austen novels. Every part of it is peppered with Jane Austen and it is like playing bingo or looking for little Easter eggs.

The story was cute, fun, realistic, and had that happily ever after ending you’re searching for. It was a complete win.

I like that Jane was a little bit Emma, a little bit Elizabeth, with a smudge of Mr. Darcy thrown in. Typically when a book has a main character that is one of those girls who would never wear a dress as she is “not one of those girls”; I actually liked it in this book as dressing up and being girly was something she attributed to her mom and Jane was still angry that she left her. As the book closes, she and her mom work on her relationship and Jane realizes she doesn’t have to be a this or that girls.

At first her dad made me think of Mr. Bennet, the way he was an absent minded professor, not living up to his responsibilities and shirking them off on Ann; but as the book progressed we saw more sides of him; like how he was a father figure to orphan Kitty, was kind to his ex-wife, and why plankton is so important to him (to make the world a better place for his daughter).

There is a romance subplot when Kitty and Jane try to set her dad up with J.E. Fairfax, but it’s so obvious who really likes him and who he likes that when it fails it is hilarious while still giving you the happily ever after you want.

I definitely recommend it for any preteeens.

For more Jane Austen books for children, go to Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Persuasion

For more kid’s books, go to Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Emma

For more on Austen go to Furst Impressions: Wishbone (1995) or How I’m Trying to Brainwash My Six Year Old Niece Into Liking Jane Austen (and Wishbone)

Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Persuasion

Persuasion (Jane Austen Children’s Stories #6) by Jane Austen adapted by Gemma Barder

It was time to shop for a birthday gift for my friend’s daughter, and I always give her a book. Why?

I didn’t even have to think about it as I knew the perfect one: another book from the Jane Austen Children’s Stories. 

As I mentioned in my previous reviews any time I spot a children’s book that has to do with Jane Austen, I try and purchase it to gift to kids in my life and hopefully brainwash spark a love of Jane Austen in them. After all:

The Jane Austen Children’s Stories series takes the text of Jane Austen and adapts it for children who are reading on their own and want something longer than a beginning reader, but not quite ready for thick chapter books. Each novel has easy to read text, illustrations, but at the same time still retain the plot of the original novels.

The recommended age for this series is 7-10 years old. The series has adapted Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Love and Friendship. You can buy them individually at ~$7 a paperback (hardcover is ~$12 per book) or in a set of all seven in paperback form (plus a journal) for ~$17.

Persuasion is a story that spans over several years. When Anne Elliot and Fredrick Wentworth are young they become engaged, and Anne is persuaded to turn him down as he could die, she could be left with nothing, they are young, he is leaving for the Navy, her family won’t approve, etc. He thinks it is solely because she from a rich distinguished family, and he is not. He becomes angry, takes a lot of chances in the war and increases his wealth and stature. He returns to find Anne unmarried and her family has had a reversal of fortune, letting their mansion out to Fredrick’s sister and brother-in-law. Anne has never gotten over Fredrick and is shocked to see him enter her life again. Intrigue happens as some women are striving for Frederick’s heart, a woman has a ploy to snag Anne’s father Sir Walter Elliot, and an estranged relative reappears planning to go after his inheritance and cousin. Will the two get their happy ending together? Or has too much time passed?

I really enjoy this series, as you can see I have purchased almost one of each book. I like that the adaption doesn’t shy away from the points of the the story, but present all of the original work just in a slightly pared down way; while making it understandable to children.

I really enjoyed the art as well as I felt they really captured the characters.

I thought it was a very good abridged adaption for children and I hope the eight year old likes it as much as I did. I would definitely recommend!

For more Jane Austen Children’s Stories, go to Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Pride and Prejudice

For more Jane Austen books for children, go to Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Emma

For more kid’s books, go to Tea for Me, Tea For You

For more on Persuasion book adaptations, go to Recipe for Persuasion Audiobook Narrated by Soneela Nankani

For more on Persuasion , go to The Lost Dreams of Elizabeth Elliot or How Elizabeth Elliot is the “Sad” Version of Emma Woodhouse

Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Emma

Emma (Jane Austen Children’s Stories #4) by Jane Austen, adapted by Gemma Barder

I did not originally plan to purchase both the Northanger Abbey and Emma adaptations in this series so close together. If I had I would have done a dual post like I did for the Babylit series. I was just going to purchase the Northanger Abbey one, but a couple weeks after my cousin’s birthday party I discovered that my friend moved her daughter’s birthday party up to the first weekend in June. I needed a present stat and I always buy her a book and toy for her birthday.

So when I was trying to find a book for a 7 year old, the first thing that popped in my head was to get another one book from the Jane Austen Children’s Stories.

As I mentioned in my previous review, any time I spot a children’s book that has to do with Jane Austen, I try and purchase it to gift to them and hopefully influence spark a love of Jane Austen in them.

The Jane Austen Children’s Stories series takes the text of Jane Austen and adapts it for children who are reading on their own and want something longer than a beginning reader, but not quite ready for thick chapter books. Each novel has easy to read text, illustrations, but at the same time still retains the plot of the original novels.

The recommended age for this series is 7-10 years old. The series has adapted Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Love and Friendship. You can buy them individually at ~$7 a paperback (hardcover is ~$12 per book) or in a set of all seven in paperback form (plus a journal) for ~$27.

Emma is the story of a girl who has been mistress of her house and doted on by her father. After her governess marries (a match she believes she put together) she becomes bored and intends on trying her hand at matchmaking. She pygmalions her new acquaintance, Harriet Smith, and plans to set her up with the new minister. Things do not go according to plan as her matches do not take hold and her “creation” takes a life of her own.

While I enjoyed the Northanger Abbey review, I loved this adaption of Emma. It was done a little different with it starting off with a breakdown of the characters, a who’s who of everyone.

The book easily captures the attention of the reader as it leans in to the already comedic tones of Emma. The illustrations were also well done, no complaints of the men’s outfits here.

I really enjoyed it, and I think the 7 year old who I purchased it for will love it as well. If you are looking for Jane Austen books for elementary schooled children in your life, then I definitely recommend giving this series a read.

For more Jane Austen Children’s Stories, go to Northanger Abbey

For more Jane Austen children’s books, go to Jane Austen (Little People, BIG DREAMS)

For more on Emma book adaptations, go to Emma Manga

For more on Emma, go to Lean on Me: Austentatious (2015)

Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen Children’s Stories #5) by Jane Austen, adapted by Gemma Barder

If you’ve been following me, you know that I love to brainwash share my love of Jane Austen with my nieces and my friends’ children.

So any time I spot a children’s book that has to do with Jane Austen, I try and purchase it to gift to them and hopefully influence spark a love of Jane Austen in them.

One day I was on Amazon when this Jane Austen Children’s Stories series came across my book recommendations. This series takes the text of Jane Austen and adapts it for children who are reading on their own and want something longer than a beginning reader, but not quite ready for a thick chapter books. Each novel has easy to read text, illustrations, but at the same time still retain the plot of the original novels.

The recommended age for this series is 7-10 years old. The series has adapted Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Love and Friendship. You can buy them individually at ~$7 a paperback (hardcover is ~$12 per book) or in a set of all seven in paperback form (plus a journal) for ~$27.

Northanger Abbey was the first of Jane Austen’s books to be written and is a parody of gothic novels and a satire on society. In the story Catherine Morland is a minister’s daughter who loves to read and has an overactive imagination. She is asked to accompany family friends to Bath and while there her life becomes a bit like a novel as she meets the mysterious Tilney family, and the. delightful and handsome Mr. Tilney. She also has another less moral man vying for her affections, Mr. Thorpe. She is later given an opportunity to stay with the Tilneys in their home, Northanger Abbey, and while there wonders if there is a dark secret on the premises. Catherine begins investigating but is there really a mystery or has her overactive imagination just struck again?

I thought the adaption was very well done as it reminded me a lot of the Great Illustrated Classics series I used to read when I was a child, but geared for a slightly younger age. They kept the plot of the book, but removed some of the language or plot points that would sail over a elementary aged child’s head.

I also enjoyed the illustrations, well…except for the men’s outfits, they were not accurate.

I love the way they drew General Tilney. Look how sour he is, there is no doubt that General Tilney is an unpleasant man. Just look at his face.

I really enjoyed it, and I’m hoping my 10 year old cousin, who I purchased it for, will love it as well (fingers crossed). If you are looking for Jane Austen for an elementary schooled child in your life, then I definitely recommend giving this series a read.

For more Jane Austen children’s books, go to Jane Austen (Little People, BIG DREAMS)

For more on Northanger Abbey book adaptations, go to Jane in Love

For more on Northanger Abbey, go to What’s a Girl To Do When Your Parents Won’t Allow You to Live Your Gothic Dreams?