Moby Dick

As an English teacher, I love reading classic literature, so when I discovered the Cozy Classics series, I was thrilled. These books are designed for infants and toddlers and summarize lengthy works such as Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, and Les Miserables with a few simple words. The best part, however, is the art. Each series of pages features a felted character or image as the illustration, giving the book an almost 3-D feel, and making each page enticing. The rich colors and unique take on the classics is absolutely perfect for a little one. The Cozy Classics version of Moby Dick is precious. It has Ishmael, Ahab, and of course, the white whale, but this is a book that is as amusing for children as it is for adults. For example, one of the images is of Ahab’s wooden prosthetic, and the word on the facing page simply says “Leg”. This honestly could even be fun in a middle school or high school classroom as an introductory or review activity. Obviously there are parts that are left out of the story, but as a baby’s first abridged version, this is a must, and I can’t wait to see which other classics authors Jack and Holman Wang decide to tackle.