2.5/5

I am not sure how I feel about this book. I have not read the original; however, I know that the original is full of complications that cannot be simplified. I felt that this adapted version were missing some of those elements. It also felt like I was reading a summary - not a book. Each chapter read like a summary and was disconnected. I have given it 3 stars because I can see that the author has tried to simplify the story as much as possible. I am also not sure who the audience is, especially as the story is more suited for adults. As you can tell, I am still confused about how to review this.

🧑‍🦱 Book Review 🧑‍🦱

🧑‍🦱 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy

🧑‍🦱 Children’s author Gemma Barder adoption of Anna Karenina.

🧑‍🦱 Publication Date - 8th July 2021

🧑‍🦱 Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky. Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and family alike and soon brings jealously and bitterness in its wake. Contrasting with this tale of love and self-destruction is the vividly observed story of Levin, a man striving to find contentment and a meaning to his life - and also a self-portrait of Tolstoy himself.

🧑‍🦱 Barder has done a great job adapting Leo Tolstoy's book Anna Karenina into an easy read for young children. Barder has made Russian Leo Tolstoy, book first published in 1878, an easy to read book that brings one of the greatest classics to life. This edition will encourage young people to read other classics and to broaden their reading horizons.

🧑‍🦱 Great illustrations provide the reader with an immediate vision of the characters, setting, and mood of the story.

🧑‍🦱 Highly recommend this edition to any adults who are feeling to daunted to read the original edition and to any child, whether they know it is a classic or not.

I finished the whole book in one sitting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have always had a hard time reading classics and they often took me s lot of time to complete them. This ARC however was just magnificent. From the writing to the writing to the illustrations, everything is just perfect about this book. It can be read by anyone of any age group without feeling obnoxious towards classics. Highly recommended!! #netgalley #kidsTolstoy

Adapted Anna Karenina as an easy to read, children's book. It has some illustrations in it that are pretty! It is super easy to read and a quick one to read as well. Loved being able to read a classic in a shorter book (only 120) pages.

Sinceramente he quedado maravillada con la agradable adaptación de este clásico de la literatura universal. Además de disfrutar mucho de la historia, la lectura fue muy amena debido a que las ilustraciones acompañaban muy bien al relato, la narración no es complicada y resulta ser muy rápido de leer.

Sin lugar a dudas, este libro lo recomendaré muchísimo cuando salga a la venta, especialmente para quienes estén buscando empezar a leer en inglés y tengan un nivel intermedio..

Who is this for?????? I fully admit I’ve never read Anna Karenina, nor do I have any plans to, but I have seen the Keira Knightly movie and have read the Wikipedia summary. Anna Karenina is a complicated Tolstoy novel about infidelity where the title character falls into such mental anguish from the infidelity she’s committed that she kills herself by jumping in front of a train (sorry if I just spoiled a 200 year old book for anyone). What sane person thinks that this would make a good book for 7-year-olds???? They don’t even teach Anna Karenina in high schools. Is there also a version of Lady Chatterly’s Lover for 7-year-olds? Some classics are meant to be read by adults and adults only.

The adaptation itself is almost painful to read. Because the story has to be simplified so much to make sense to children it lacks any depth and glosses over or ignores important aspects of the book. For example in real Anna Karenina the reason Anna goes to Moscow to visit her brother is because he’s been caught having an affair and his wife is pretty much done with him. In this version her brother isn’t willing to pick up the crying baby and his wife is stressed. If you don’t want to tell the story that’s written, don’t adapt the story. The overall tone of the simplification comes across as condescending because it is glossing over so much and telling rather than showing.

Also, THEY CHANGED THE ENDING. I’m not kidding. The end of the book is literally, “Nearing the railway station, [Anna] suddenly knew what she must do. She would board the first train she saw, not caring where it was going. She only cared that she was going with it and that she would never return.” If you don’t want to include the suicide, don’t adapt a book where the main character dies by suicide. Don’t change the ending to she got on a random train and let her family think she was dead. Some poor child is going to read this and think that’s how the book ends.

I keep going back to the question of “why?” Why would someone write this? Why would anyone buy this? Is it for influencers to put on their kid’s shelves so they can instagram the pretty cover and pretend their child is cultured? Is this supposed to actually teach kids the story of Anna Karenina? Because I can tell you with 100% certainty that if a high schooler picked up this version and read it in lieu of the real book and then was tested on it, they would fail. I can get why people would want children to be exposed to classical literature and I did enjoy the illustrations, but there are way more appropriate books out there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just want to start of by saying that I had never read the original version of Anna Karenina. It's a classic that is often mentionned in my classes, but I never had the courage to pick it up because my first language isn't english and translations aren't always good, so it's hard for me to completely understand. But THIS????? this was absolutely amazing. I got to discover the story in a shorter, I would say child-ish version and it was perfect for me. I highly recommend if you're curious about classics, but scared of reading the OG work.

Classic literature sometime intimidating young reader. That's why the light format as this book is very appreciate.

Although this book very cute and quite authentic with real story but I think not really suit for younger readers.

Clear, concise summation of this deep classic. Adult themes were addressed in the most family-friendly manner, while still stressing the significance of the moral implications.

A super easy read for children. The illustrations were so adorable. I loved how much they simplified this book.

Thanks Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for sending me this book.

Great condensed easy to read adaptation of a classic. The illustrations also added a wonderful touch and brought the characters to life.

*Thanks to Sweet Cherry Publishing & NetGalley for this Ebook in exchange for my honest review

A really easy and enjoyable adaptation of the classic Anna Karenina. Throughly enjoyed this version and did not feel like i lacked even though it was published for kids! Beautiful illustrations as well.

*Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an arc for an honest review*

I have never read Anna Karenina before and i must say i was definitely very intimidated by the book. So i must say that this edition was a joy to read and gave me enough background and information to understand and enjoy the story very well.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to get young people interested in the classics as it definitely keeps you interested throughout.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Anna Karenina is an adapted version of the classic novel by Leo Tolstoy. In this version for children, it is told of the classic version but broken down in to understandable language, parts and simplicity to keep young readers interested and able to follow the story.
I loved how they smoothed the ending at the translation into an accident rather than what the real ending portrayed.
I really enjoyed this book and the illustrations were cute too. This was a quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for this ARC

This was a lovely adaptation of the novel. The illustrations are beautifully done. I thought the story is accessible to any reader, young and old.
A great intro into Anna Karenina was very informative and left out the right bits for a young reader.

This is great easy to read version of Anna Karenina. It makes understanding the relationships between the characters and the plot of the story much easier, even for adult readers. This version also includes lovely illustrations which makes for a great read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are entirely my own. I enjoyed this book. It was very helpful to have a short adapted version of this book. I wanted to know the story but do not have the time to read the huge original book. For that reason, I always appreciate these easy classic books.

I absolutely love this book. I love that there are young adults introduction to classics. It is my most favorite. I will read the original classic after reading this one.
#kidsTolstoy #NetGalley

4.5/5

What a sweet and helpful little book.

For someone like me who’s not ready to jump into a Tolstoy and would like to know the basis of the story before watching the film, this was perfect.

The illustrations were beautiful and cute. The detail in the story was just enough to let me know what happened while also keeping me interested to learn more in depth details if I wish.

I really like that this book is accessible to any reader, young and old.
I hope it sparks an interest in Anna Karenina and other Tolstoy books for other readers as it did me. I’m also interested to read more Easy-Read titles as they’re nice and short, but also endearing and informative.

Anna Karenina (Easy Classics) is an adapted and illustrated edition of the Russian classic written by Leo Tolstoy. This book is part of the Easy Classics Epic Collection.

Set in 1874, the story revolves around the Kareninas, Vronskys and Oblonskys – three important and respectable families of Russia.

Anna seems to be living a happy life with her much older husband and son in St. Petersburg. But deep inside, she is terribly unhappy. She misses the lively city of Moscow, in which she grew up. The story is about how a chance encounter with a young officer Count Vronsky changes her life.

Since it’s a retelling of a classic, we should not be judging the theme, premise and the character portrayal.

The illustrations by Helen Panayi are bright and cheery. Also, the font size makes it an easy read.

Though this picture book is meant for all ages, I feel it’s not appropriate for younger readers. Adultery and suicide, being few of the key themes, do not make this a child-friendly book. Also, the way relationships are handled in this classic do not send out a positive message about family and love.

Matured readers may appreciate the adaptation, for it’s an easier way of reading the classic (the original is about 900 pages long!) Readers who are interested in reading classics, but are unnerved by their large number of pages might find this a good way to start. In that sense, the adaptation serves its purpose.

Tolstoy’s original is considered as the greatest work of literature ever written. If you are wondering whether the adaptation, bring the original to life? Well, it’s a big no – for it lacks the essence and the magic.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing in exchange for an honest review.