Baby Jane Austen

So I’m sure some of you might be thinking that I will be writing about Jane Austen’s life as a baby.

She was probably a cute baby.

Well no, I’m not. Instead I am talking about Jane Austen novels for babies!

I know, how cool is that? There is a company called BabyLit that takes classic novels and turns them into baby primer board books; that is learning books for babies.

Now they can also read classic novels!

So far they have Dracula on counting: Alice in Wonderland on colors; A Christmas Carol on colors; Wuthering Heights on the weather; Moby Dick on the ocean, Jane Eyre on counting; Romeo & Juliet on counting; The Jungle Book on animals; Sherlock Holmes and the Hounds of Baskerville on sounds; Anna Karenina on fashion; Jabberwocky on nonsense; Frankenstein on anatomy; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on colors, and Huckleberry Finn on camping.

And of course they have covered Jane Austen with Emma, Pride & Prejudice, and Sense & Sensibility.

And of course me being a major fan, I just had to buy them and check them out.

But as I have no children and didn’t have any extra book space to hold onto them for if that ever happened (my books are already in every spare spot I have) I bought them for my friend’s baby. So far I have only purchased two (Emma and Pride & Prejudice), one for Christmas and the other for her first birthday. When I buy Sense & Sensibility for this Christmas I’ll review it.

Emma: A BabyLit Emotions Primer by Jennifer Adams

So we know the story of Emma right? The bare bones of it is a bored girl tries her hand at matchmaking:

But in the ends her schemes don’t go anything like she planned.

However, that is too advanced for a baby; so this one is all about emotions with cute illustrations. Emma is excited! Mrs. Bates is scared! Mr. Knightley is Loved.

You got that right!

Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Counting Primer by Jennifer Adams

So Pride & Prejudice, the most famous of the Jane Austen novels. In it a mother is trying to marry off her offspring, but her meddling can cause some issues.

Plus some manipulations, misunderstanding, and perseverance see that four couples find their happy match (once again bare bones).

So once again too much for a baby, so this one is all about counting: nine fashionable dresses, five sisters, two gentlemen, etc.

Sense & Sensibility: A BabyLit Opposites Primer by Jennifer Adams

So this is the story of two sisters who go from being wealthy, to having nothing.

They get caught up in others manipulations, in their own striving for happiness, and discovering that being all sense or all sensibility isn’t the right way to be; their should be a balance of both. Plus sisters will always be there for the other.

There are also manipulations, secret affairs, meddling matchmakers and more. But of course, that isn’t something babies can grasp so instead we have opposites: big, small, happy, sad, etc.

So What Did I Think Of It?

So while it doesn’t tell the whole story of these novels (which I didn’t expect it to) I thought these were a wonderful idea and I want to purchase them all.

In a world where less and less people are reading, especially the classics: it is important to bring these memorable works back into the mainstream. I mean there is a reason why they were chosen as classics and they need to be read by everyone.

And while this book focus on it’s theme (colors, counting, feelings) more than the plot of the novel; two very imoprtant things come out of here.

First, the child is being given a classic novel and grows up hearing that name and the characters; making them much more open to reading the real book when they are old enough.

And second, you reading to your child teaches them the importance of family time and the importance of reading. Thus making them book fans too.

So I highly recommend buying these and adding them to your child’s bookshelf. After all:

Save Our Youth! Read Classics Today!

For more on Emma, go to When You Shockingly Relate to Mr. Woodhouse

For more on Pride & Prejudice, go to Death Comes to Pemberley

For more on Sense & Sensibility, go to I Don’t Want You Far From Me: Sense and Sensibility (1995)

For more Emma variations, go to The Austen Series: Amanda

For more Pride & Prejudice variations, go to The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy

For more Sense & Sensibility variations, go to The Dashwood Sisters Tell All: A Modern Day Novel of Jane Austen

For more books based on Jane Austen, go to Captain Wentworth’s Diary 

I Want to Understand You: North & South (2004)

Most Romantic Moment #11

So I’ve mentioned my love of this show before. My friend introduced me to it and I fell head over heels for Mr. Thornton.

So the show takes place during the English Industrial revolution, the late 18th century. Reverend Richard Hale has decided to leave the church of England, and is forced to leave his parish in the country South, and go to Milton, in the industrial North. He brings with him his wife, and daughter Margaret.

 Her father becomes a private tutor, with only one client, Mr. Thornton. Mr. Thornton was born poor and worked his way up, now owning his own cotton mill and becoming one of the richest men in the area. He’s also just how I like them:

He and Margaret get off on the wrong foot, and continually are having misunderstandings. However, as much as Margaret and Mr. Thornton say they don’t care about each other; time will tell.

Besides their relationship, there are others things clashing. The workers want more money and are threatening to unionize.  But Mr. Thornton doesn’t have more money to give them. He may be wealthy, but his money is wrapped up in cotton prices and completely dependent on how well it does: plus he bought new, pricey, technology to help the workers and doesn’t have enough profits to pay everyone what they wish. It’s a complicated issue.

Most Romantic Moment: I Love You and Want to Understand You

*Spoilers*

So the romantic moment I have chosen comes at the very end of the series. Mr. Thornton has already declared his love and proposed to Margaret.

How romantic

But she has refused him because she thinks he just wants to add her to his possessions.

I mean:

Since then they have had several more misunderstandings, Margaret’s parents have died, she returned to the English countryside, and the mill has been closed (with the town most likely following). Mr. Thornton has decided to journey to the South and visit Margaret’s hometown.

How romantic

I know some of you probably don’t understand this. How could I pick it over Margaret saving his life or his famous “look back at me scene.”

The reason why I choose him traveling to Margaret’s old home this time around instead of the other two was because of one simple thing: he wanted to travel there because he loves her and wants to fully understand who she is.

He has heard her talk about the South on and on. So he decides to travel there because he wants to finally get a view on who she is.

He has been wrong about her before, as she was about him; and has decided that the only way he will be able to convince her that he really and truly cares; is if he he goes to her hometown and learns everything he can about who she is, why she loved the South, her home, her whole culture that makes up who she is.

He loves her just so much that he wants to know every thing about her; from beginning to end.

To start Romance is in the Air: Part IV from the beginning, go to I Can’t Pretend I Have to Be: Casual Sex? (1988)

For the previous post, go to I’m Putting You First: How to Steal a Million (1966)

For more on North & South, go to Old Fandoms and New Fancies

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Growing Up Is Hard to Do

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For more Relationship Rules, go to What a Girl Wants For more on Nicholas Sparks, go to Basic & Simple For more quotes, go to I Just Haven’t Met You Yet