Anna Karenina lives a comfortable life with her husband Alexis Karenina and their son. But her older husband bores her, and she doesn't feel much attracted to him. She misses her life in the city and her friends, while she is stuck here with Alexis and entertaining 'his dusty old friends and their boring wives'. And when this very hot young man starts pursuing her, she can't help but get carried away.

This book Anna Karenina is the one originally written by Leo Tolstoy and adapted by Gemma Barder and Illustrated by Helen Panayi. It is a short, easy to read story adapted from the original book for young audience.

The language is, as stated, easy to read and understand. It is perfect for the non-native English speakers like me who want to read classics but the language is hard to understand.

Given this, this book's blurb states that is 'easy-to-read level for all ages' but I don't think I am going to introduce this book to young kids. However easy-to-read this is, this book deals with themes like adultery and suicide. It doesn't matter how much this book has tried to tone this down for it to be suitable to kids, it can't be appropriate for them to read for kids unless the original story is substantially altered.

However, I liked this book. I don't like the characters in it, but I like the book. I would recommend it to people who want to read classics but find the language hard.

Thank you Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for providing the ARC of this book .

Rating; 4/5 stars.

“Anna Karenina” adapted by Gemma Barder, with illustrations by Helen Panayi, is an adaptation of the classic tale by Leo Tolstoy for young readers, as part of the Easy Classics series. This is a faithful yet simple adaptation and is very well suited for children in the middle grades and up to enjoy. The cast of characters is narrowed down a bit to focus on the main personages, so that the story is not too overwhelming or hard to understand. In this way, the plot narrows in on the main relationships. I just wish that the climax had not been glossed over so quickly. I understand that it is tough to find a way to treat such sensitive subject matter, especially in an adaptation suited for children, but the climax of the novel is pretty much obliterated and ignored, and jumps to an epilogue to try to wrap the story up. With that in mind, this adaptation is still very well done, and I highly recommend it to young readers so that they are able to experience the story of “Anna Karenina” in a more easy-to-read format.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Russian classics because they are pure literature. I've loved Anna Karenina the original book and finding this version I was interested and curious to see how the author was going to adapt it for KIDS because if you've read the real version by Tolstoy, you know that the themes in the book are not for very young readers whatever the number of illustrations you might put in it such as adultery, an ugly divorce, suicide and some other difficult subjects.

After reading this book, I would say it was really nice and well adapted but I still think that this story is not the right one to give to a child in order to read. Sorry but for me it's not suitable.

Easy and fast to read, and I really applaud the attempt at getting Russian literature, and classics in general, into children's hands. However, I just wonder about how children will handle such an intense story with very mature topics, even watered down into this easy classics fashion.

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

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I give it in exchange for an honest review.

Question: Who is the target audience for this book? Somewhere, in the universe, is there a mother who is thinking, "Man. I loved Anna Karenina. You know who I want to share this with? My second grader." I highly doubt it.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Anna Karenina, there are so many layers of conflict and inner turmoil that the title character deals with, and all of that is lost in this version. And aren't her emotions one of the main reasons for reading it? Also, the content of the story itself isn't something I would feel would be something worth broaching in a classroom. There's an affair, a marriage dissolving into bitterness and anger, and suicide. The target audience for this series is maybe age 10? I don't think infidelity and suicide are topics that kids are really searching for in their next read.

As a teacher, I wouldn't reach for this to become part of my curriculum. The pairing of such an intense story and the childish language is just so bizarre to me.

I had zero intentions to read the original Anna karenina. After dealing with 1000 pages of war and peace, I could not go through with it. But then I stumbled upon this and was super excited to be able to read it.

This was honestly really nice. It was dumbed down enough for me to understand and had illustrations which is always nice. I did not expect much, since it was almost written in a middle grade style, but no middle grade child should read this. It deals with some heavy topics I dont think they should meet this early, but its perfect for people who suck at understanding classics or just dont have the attention span for it (120 pages? This is basically a spark notes book with only the important stuff). While it claims to be suitable for all ages, I defitnely would not give this to 7 year olds.

But now I feel inclined to read the original, so maybe ill go do that now….

Anna Karenina is very unhappy in her life. She is married to someone who is much older than her and doesn't share the same interests. She feels very alone except for her son. When she meets the handsome Vronsky she begins an affair that will change the course of her whole life.

I will probably never attempt to read the actual novel so this was the perfect way to enjoy a classic. I can't say I love everything about the plot...Anna seems kind of dopey to me, but this retelling was very easy to read and the illustrations were cute.

I was provided this book to read in exchange for an honest opinion. I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

#kidsTolstoy #net galley #sweet cherry publishing

Liked it. It was super easy to read and fast too. The grammar is very suitable for kids and the story was fascinating. I didn't know what to think of it in regards to children though.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve always wanted to read Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and I was extremely excited to find an easy-to-read and illustrated version. Some classics are really hard to read for me and seeing the length of the original version has always scared me off.

While I enjoyed the story and I found the adaptation well done, I have to say that this, in no way, is suitable for children. I feel like the target audience should be people that would like to read classics but have a hard time to do so, like me. It’s also suitable for people who are learning English.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for this accessible version of a much loved classic. I've promised myself time and time again that I will read Anna Karenina but have been put off by its length. Although this version is intended for children, I have to say that as an adult I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely look out for other Sweet Cherry Classics.

I am not intending to read the actual work by Leo Tolstoy. This is why I decided to read this abridged novel.
Over all, I enjoyed this adaptation as a quick easy read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for the copy.

Anna Karenina is young and beautiful. She is married to Alexis Karenina who is a lot older than her. She has always felt unhappy and miserable in her marriage, until the reason to assure that feeling was standing before her in the train station named Count Vronsky. A handsome young officer who also felt the same "lust at first sight" if you may.. Forgetting that she is married with a child, Anna decides to fall in love with the Count and meet him secretly; thinking that no one knows. But everybody knows...
Alexis gives her two choices, either she cut ties with Count Vronsky, or she is to never see her son ever again.

The story makes you think about things like:
What is wrong with settling in?
What is wrong with actually going through a divorce despite what society thinks of you?
Why is it not ok to have a simple life?
Do we really have to fulfill all of our desires?

and much more....

it feels weird to have this story targeted for younger generation. I mean topics like (Adultery, divorce, lust, cheating..... and much more) In my opinion aren't suitable to children or the younger generations.

I loved this adaptation and illustration. Maybe it was set for small kids, but I really enjoyed it as an adult. I have always wanted to read Anna Karenina but was so afraid to commit to it due to its length. I am so happy I read this adaptation.

I think the idea of turning classics into kid's books is an interesting concept and can work really well, but I don't think this one was for me. The drawings are very cute and I'm sure others will love this, but I think in this instance I find it's a tale with so much detail that it didn't work for me without that detail.

3/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for providing this e-arc!

I'm somewhat older in terms of the marketed audience this book is meant for but nonetheless i enjoyed this and can recommend tho but upon reflection this wan't the best summary and perhaps not the best if the child intends to reread the unabridged chunk of a novel

This book definitely hit the mark it was supposed to. I'm in AP Lit right now and I used this to understand Anna Karenina as its required reading, and. it was so much easier to understand. I loved the illustrations, and the book was very easy to follow. Lifesaver!

This is a good abridged digestible version of Anna Karenina! I loved the artwork and appreciated the character and family guide at the beginning. My only complaint was that I felt like this book couldn’t decide if it wanted to be an abridged version for adults or children. The subject matter and content is adult by nature so I don’t feel it is necessarily appropriate for children, but was still written with children in mind which made it a little confusing.

A super easy to read and illustrated adaption of the Russian Classic Anna Karenina! This was a short and sweet version that captured some of the main events and points of the original story. It’s a great read for anyone looking for a simplified version and even has gorgeous artwork in it!

*Thanks Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I love the story of Anna Karenina and think it's a classic. This book was easily accessible to young readers.

So there's a guy who's going to have an unhappy life, because he's in love with a woman who's not interested. That woman in turn is in love with Count Vronsky, who seems interested – at least until someone better turns up. That someone is Anna Karenina, who is married, and unhappy, and seemingly stuck with it and him. But of course she can wrap them all up in unhappiness by falling for the Count herself, and – this being one of those Victorian-era novels that just relish infidelity – she will, by damn it. It's up to our author to make sure that, actually, this is a good thing and that everyone is ultimately destined for a happy life instead. Or just kill them off.

And it's up to our modern adapter to make sure all this comes across for a primary school audience. Happily, they've done a good job – with caveats. This needed a heavy edit – I've seen that audio versions of the original run to 38 whole hours, and this would be but a fraction of that. What seems to have been cut too much, in my mind, is the milieu – yes, we swing from St Petersburg to Moscow and back, and yes there are pointed comments from the narrator and from the characters whenever Anna has done something particularly against the morals of the day, but perhaps too much of how these society people operate has been excised.

Still, there is a lot of the original drama here (he says, as someone who has neither read it nor seen a TV version). If children these days are interested in the sex lives of society wives from way before they were born (and I doubt I would have been when I was the age this book aims at, but that's just me) they will like the ins and outs of everything, and the way everyone's happiness swings in and out of the sunshine like those married people on those ancient weather indicators. To the right reader, it goes without saying, this will capture such a spark in their imagination they will come to love books like this, and find their older selves loving the original – full-time job as it might be. This served its purpose in being a student's refresher course in the novel, and a guide for the very young to the saga concerned, and while not to everyone's tastes probably did as good a job of it in so few pages as could be expected.

Anna Karenina (Easy Classics) as adapted by Gemma Barder initially caught my attention as I have never read the Leo Tolstoy classic, but was curious to see how it was condensed and adapted as a book for a younger audience. As an adult, I was interested to read this reshaping of the Russian classic, but I can say with conviction that this is a tale that does not lend itself to being suitable for young readers, and I cannot imagine that I would ever want to share, nor expand upon, the theme of adultery with children of any age. While I applaud the idea of bringing the classics to young readers, I did not find this particular title to be altogether appropriate for adaptation.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for an ARC.