Posted by Robert Thompson on September 26, 2003 at 20:39:07 from 212.229.58.245 user robert.
In Reply to: Abridged Book posted by Dusty on September 26, 2003 at 17:58:52:
The OUP Bookworm version of We didn't mean to go to sea is not so much an abridged version as a complete retelling by Ralph Mowat. Although some of the dialogue is more or less Ransome and the plot is all there Ransome's wonderful descriptive passages are all missing. The book, after all, has only 73 pages.
It is part of a graded reading scheme and, according to OUP:
The Oxford Bookworms Library offers a wide range of original and and adapted stories, both classic and modern, which take learners from elementary to advanced level through six carefully graded language stages:
Stage 1 - 400 headwords
Stage 2 - 700 headwords
Stage 3 - 1000 headwords
Stage 4 - 1400 headwords
Stage 5 - 1800 headwords
Stage 6 - 2500 headwords
With We didn't mean to go to sea in Stage 4 are also versions of Treasure Island, The Silver Sword, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and Gulliver's Travels.
There is an activities section with some questions to be answered before reading the whole book and some after.
To summarise - this is a book clearly intended for use in school although it might work just as a story book. I'd stick to the real thing and read it to and with your 7-year-old - then he can experience the true Ransome in all its descriptive glory.