Section Two: Monte Cristo for Kids
Section Two: Monte Cristo for Kids
Ah! Children's editions! Since The Count of Monte Cristo is almost 200 years old, and by a famous author, it's been adapted many times into a child-friendly package, perfect for a bedtime story!
Classics Illustrated has set the bar pretty high- by proving that the entire novel, with subplots, can be shoehorned into less than 100 pages.
The children's text editions have a tendency to do away with the violence, emphasize Dantes' imprisonment and escape, and cut corners on the "revenge" part. Some add child-friendly humorous scenes, have radical "re-interpretations" of the events and/or add manufactured happy endings (usually involving Dantes/The Count getting back together with Mercedes). They also draw strict lines between good/evil, with the protagonist, Dantes, as "good" and the Villefort/Fernand/Danglars trio as "evil".
I've done a site-wide update of the Plots Points Table, so "what's disposable" and "what's essential" plot points are now identical for adult books, kids books, comics/manga and movies. ✅ means it is present. ❌ means it was deleted. ✂ means it is partially present or only alluded to.
TV Tropes had dubbed the term "Adaptation Deviation", which I totally LOVE, so
I'll be using that!
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Monte Cristo, 164 pgs. Simplified by Michael West, 1931, pub: Longman Group Ltd. (UK)Monte Cristo is an adaptation for children, purposely tailored for a 1000 word vocabulary. Michael West did a standup job on this, with the vocabulary limitations being almost imperceptible because the story, and how it's told here is so engaging. HOWEVER (and this is a big one), the Dumas-based part ends (at page 149) once Dantes finds the treasure, buys a beautiful yacht in Genoa and returns to Marseilles. His next phase as the Count seeking revenge is completely bowdlerized into a well-intentioned, child-friendly, non-controversial and un-Dumas-like last chapter. A helpful footnote explains WHY this book ends the way it does: "The remainder departs from the original: it is added to finish off the story in place of the second volume which has been omitted." West substitutes a newly-invented ending where Dantes returns to his father's house and instead of finding it empty (as Dumas had written it), he finds Mercedes taking care of the old man. Dantes' father insists that he had seen his son coming up the street. They must not lose hope. Dantes comes in, and his father sees him and dies content. Dantes and Mercedes are seen sailing away from Marseilles on his ship. The fates of the Dantes' enemies are revised as: Danglars left France in 1815 when Napoleon returned. His ship was lost at sea. Fernand was killed in the battle of Waterloo. Villefort is free and clear- Dantes doesn't care about revenge. Caderousse was too old to draft into the army and went broke. If this sounds familiar, it's because some 70 years later, Karen Holmes had taken this book and simplified it even further for an even younger audience in a near-plagiarism. But it all might be legal, as Longman and Penguin Books had been folded into the same parent company.
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The Count of Monte Cristo/The House of the Seven Gables, 385 pgs (242 pages for Monte Cristo). Adapted by Mabel Dodge Holmes, 1945, pub: JJ Little & Ives Co./Globe Book Co. Inc.Can it be done? a) The Count of Monte Cristo, missing 75% of its text content b) ...but still keeping the main plot (Dantes>prison>treasure>4 flavors of revenge) c) ...and still contain the necessary subplots to feed the revenge plot? d) ...and be completely readable and enjoyable in Modern English without obvious hack n' slash editing?In the expert hands of Mabel Dodge Holmes, the answer is an overwhelming YES! The dialogue is recognizable as Dumas. The plot keeps all of the good stuff... The Rain of Blood, Dinner at Auteuil, the Cavalcantis, correct fates of all 4 of the Count's enemies... all present! Sadly, Noirtier isn't as powerful and important as he should be. He's around, but he gets the short-shrift as far as his meddling to ensure Valentine's happiness and financial security. I believe that this book was intended for high-school students, but it overlaps with a slightly younger demographic, too. Hands down, this is the finest of the text-based abridgements that's suitable for slightly older kids. This book is long out-of-print, and only available via antiquarian booksellers. It's worth it. Forget the Standard Abridged Editions or the overpriced modern day "educational" (and incomplete) books... this is the one that older kids/teens/young adults should be reading! Recommended!
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A Golden Picture Classic- The Count of Monte Cristo. 96 pages, abridgement by Edward Robinson. 1957, pub. Simon and Schuster."Golden Picture Classics" is a large (comic-book-sized), lavishly illustrated children's book, with a total of 96 pages. The illustrations by Hamilton Greene are beautiful- full color, with some of them spanning two pages. The first 70 pages, covering up to "Toxicology" (where the Count visits Madame Villefort and they discuss poisons) is exemplary. But then the realization sinks in- there's only 26 more pages left, and over half the book (and a lot of subplots and new characters) still yet to cover. And sure enough, the "warp-speed" button is pressed, and the remainder zooms by in a dizzying whoosh! Things such as Danglars' mysterious bankruptcies, the incriminating info from Janina, and the Villefort poisonings just occur, without the readers seeing how expertly the Count had pulled the strings to make all these happen. Andrea Cavalcanti barely exists, and his role is only that of a random grifter. Happily, the acceleration of the pace slows down just enough to show the satisfactory endings of Fernand and Danglars, but the Villefort Family Drama is rather underwhelming. Maximilian and Valentine's love story is skimmed through, so we hardly care about them. Noirtier is just an extra, instead of sympathetic, yet powerful independent player. And, of course, Andrea has nothing to do with Villefort. The Count's fate is correct, but because of the post-"Toxicology" speed, we really don't have a chance to savor his journey.
This book REALLY needed to be twice the length to do full justice to
the story! This is not unusual though, as a lot of other children's
editions and comics versions do the same thing, but not even this
well. This gets a conditional recommendation.
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Illustrated Classic Editions- The Count of Monte Cristo. 236 pages, abridged by Mitsu Yamamoto. 1979, pub. Moby Books (paperback).Also reprinted as Great Illustrated Classics. 1992, pub. Baronet Books (hardcover). 236 pages sounds good, so one might think this is a complete, albeit shorter version of The Count of Monte Cristo. But, about 50% of the pages are full-page, line drawn illustrations, which can doubly function as a coloring book. Based on the font size and the relative simplicity of the language, I’d say this book is suitable for 8 year olds. As far as the adaptation, it’s fairly good and accurate up to a point. After Dantes’ visit to Caderousse disguised as a priest, the story starts veering away from Dumas’ original in making Danglars and Villefort banking partners. They go bankrupt by mimicking the Count’s investments, which eventually go bad. This causes Villefort’s wife to poison herself and her young son (???).
Albert de Morcerf finally shows up, 90% of the way through the book
(no adventure in Rome, no kidnapping by Vampa), and Haydee is present
in only 2 paragraphs. The Count gets some revenge, but not exactly set
up as it appeared in the original. At the end, the Count sails away,
alone. His parting words, "wait and hope" are addressed
to Jacopo, as there is no Maximilian/Valentine love story
subplot. There's better versions out there that had been less modified and tampered with.
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Puffin Classics- The Count of Monte Cristo. 404 pages, abridged by Robin Waterfield. 1996, pub. Puffin Books.At 404 pages, with NO PICTURES or illustrations, this is midway between a teen/adult version and a children’s edition. It’s actually an abridgement of an abridgement, as a chapter-by-chapter analysis and wording comparison shows that the public domain “Standard Abridged Edition” was used as the source, and Waterfield had further edited it down, dropped some additional chapters and combined some others. The part that is inexcusable is the removal of chapters about Dantes landing on the island of Monte Cristo and finding the treasure(!). There is no reason for any book edition to go from just-escaped prisoner Dantes swimming to the island of Tiboulen and then abruptly jumps to Dantes as the rich and all-powerful Count, with endless money and disguises to get information about his enemies. It's just insane for something this important to be missing and readers are expected to assume that a) Dantes was rescued from the sea b) he found the treasure. If we look beyond this "slight" problem, the rest of the book moves along pretty well. The editing in the chapter about Haydee's backstory is particularly superb. The book, overall, has a reasonably decent resemblance to the original, and has all of the strengths and weakness of its source (Standard Abridged Edition).
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Penguin Readers- The Count of Monte Cristo. 68 pages total (47 pages for the story), retold (abridged) by Karen Holmes. 2000, pub. Penguin Books.Also reprinted 2008 Pearson Education Ltd.
This children’s book is only 68 pages, and, when looking at the Table of Contents, it’s fairly obvious why... almost everything post-treasure-discovery was cut. Really! Fernand Mondego does not exist here, but, since 3/4 of Dumas’ original story was cut, that doesn’t matter too much. That said, everything up to Dantes’ prison escape and return to his hometown of Marseilles is paced pretty well, with just the right amount of detail for younger readers. But, once the "revenge" part should kick in, this launches into fan-fiction-ish territory, and the story's resolution and conclusion is quickly crammed into to one chapter. Dantes arrives just in time to see his sick father (who Mercedes has been tending to) before the older man dies. Dantes/The Count does not become an agent of justice, retribution or Divine Providence. The fates of Danglars and Caderousse are dismissed in 2 quick sentences(!) as “Danglars left the country” and “Caderousse is very poor” (!!!). And Villefort is off-the-hook. Then Dantes/The Count is seen sailing away with Mercedes. The End. This is really too bad... this starts off so well, and falls completely apart in the end. It really comes off as The Snowflake Edition of Monte Cristo with the ridiculous amount of sanitizing and censoring to make it kid-friendly, to the point of gutting everything that made it good to begin with! Updated Note: I had just discovered that this book is based on Michael West's 1931 book, Monte Cristo.
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Timeless Classics- The Count of Monte Cristo. 86 pages total (73 pages for the story), adapted by Stephen Feinstein. 2001, pub. Saddleback Publishing.Up next for perusal is from Saddleback Publishing, adapted by Stephen Feinstein. Caderousse re-takes his place in the story, and he, as well as Villefort, are completely fleshed-out, but at the expense of subplots. There is one thing that bothered me- throughout this book, the main character is still referred-to as "Dantes". While true, the original, and every other version had acknowledged that Dantes had a new persona, the vengeance-machine called "The Count". Appropriately, all of the other books had referred to the new entity as "the Count" or "Monte Cristo", so seeing him constantly being referred-to as "Dantes" here doesn't work. Benedetto/Andrea, and his arc partially appear, but without the original's brilliant setup. Maximilian (who doesn't get a proper introduction) and Valentine's relationship are only touched upon. Fernand's downfall, and Haydee's role in it are rushed through. 5 pages for Caderousse's fate, yet 3 paragraphs for Fernand's inquiry and Haydee's testimony? Still, despite the speeded-up pacing of the second half, this is a good introduction to the story for kids.
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Dominoes- The Count of Monte Cristo. 83 pages total (52 pages for the story), adaptation by Clare West. 2004, pub. Oxford University Press.The next 21st century children's edition is an adaptation by Clare West. I was initially concerned about all of the photos (from the Gerard Depardieu TV miniseries) and all of the activity pages, but once I started to read, I was impressed by the fidelity to the original source material! Instead of shielding children from some horrifying events in the novel, or changing the ending, West's adaptation accurately includes such things as the execution in Rome, the marital infidelity of Villefort and Madame Danglars, and the alleged dead baby buried in a box! Towards the end, Mercedes and Edmond (accurately) sadly part ways, never to see each other again. These plot points are not described in great detail, of course, because this book is only 83 pages (including quizzes, puzzles and activities) but their unadulterated presence is quite impressive. There's a lot of plot to cover in few pages, so a lot of paraphrasing is done. It's almost amusing that some abridged versions meant for adults don't include the things that are inside of an obvious children's book! Sadly, Caderousse's arc and self-inflicted downfall was written out.
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The Treasure of Monte Cristo. 96 pages total (70 pages for the story), retold by John Escott. 2007, pub. Macmillan Publishers Ltd.At first glance, I admired the quality of the illustrations, and, while reading the text, I said to myself, "Oooooh, nice! Hits all the right points in good detail. The language is easy to understand and this flows nicely." And then I looked at the Table of Contents and immediately understood how this book can be under 100 pages... It ends right after Dantes discovers the treasure! After he renames himself as "The Count of Monte Cristo", the book's text ends with "Now it was time to find his enemies and take revenge." Yet there is no revenge. So, in reality, this is less than 1/4 of the real novel.
I don't quite understand the purpose of this book's existence. It's
marketed as "pre-intermediate" level, and suitable for ESL students,
but... what happens when these students hit the end of this book and
start requesting Book 2, so they can read the actual revenge part? At
the rate that Macmillan Readers was going, they'd need FOUR volumes of
this (about 300 pages) to tell the full story. It's been almost 15
years since publication and nothing new has appeared. These students
had probably already moved on and picked up the real thing (Lowell
Bair or Robin Buss' translation) by now.
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The Count of Monte Cristo: High Interest Classics with Comprehension Activities. 69 pages, Story Adapter: Rob C. Richards. 2008, pub. Edcon Publishing.(Disclaimer: I only read the 15 sample pages on Google Play. Still, 15/69 is a high percentage). Edcon's offering, a 69 page rendition of The Count of Monte Cristo, seems a little skimpy on the page count. That is, until I looked inside and was SHOCKED to see that the ratio of educational supplements-to-story-pages is five to one! There's 10 "chapters", and if the remainder of the book follows the pattern of the sample, one can expect to find 10 pages of story. Admittedly, those pages are jam-packed with text in 3 columns, looking a lot like a page from the Bible. It's not very reader-friendly, or inviting-looking, especially to its target audience of children, remedial, ESL or Special Ed students.
Even in the first chapter, the text gives the erroneous notion that
there was a competition between Dantes and Danglars for the captaincy
of The Pharaon. M. Morrel chooses Dantes, and then Danglars starts
whining (!!!). Dantes is subsequently referred to as the captain, as
if it was a done deal. Nope, not true at all! Then there is the
illustration of Villefort opening the incriminating Bonapartist
letter
(addressed to Noirtier) in front of 3 other witnesses, 2 of them being
policemen! No, no, no!
Boasting the highest price-per-page cost in existence ($11.99 for 10
(presumed) story pages), I just don't see this as a good deal or an
enjoyable read. There comes a time when packing in too much
educational material becomes an impediment and a space-waster, and
Edcon's edition fits this description to a tee.
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Calico Illustrated Classics-The Count of Monte Cristo. 112 pages, adaptation by Karen Kelly. 2010, pub. Magic Wagon, a division of the ABDO Group.Karen Kelly's 2011 children's adaptation is part of the "Calico Illustrated Classics" series. The 18 chapters (identically named to the corresponding ones in the original) are very true to Dumas' writing. So, what's the problem? How does this all fit into 112 pages? Answer: For every chapter that exists here, there's FIVE chapters that had been dropped. And often, without any attempt to account for what happened in the missing chapters or include a narrative bridge to plug the huge gaps. Like Ainsworth's Magazine, characters suddenly pop in (without introduction), interact with other characters who seem to know them well (but we don't), do things and drop out. Even early in the book, Fernand and Mercedes' relationship in the Catalans is skipped over. Midpoint, there is NO indication that they had married and changed their names to "de Morcerf". The Italy chapters and Albert's kidnapping by Vampa are only briefly referred to as Albert talks about it after the fact. The Count buys the house at Auteuil but without the proper context, so the stunning reveal of finding a baby's skeleton is meaningless. As this hot mess moves towards the end, the Count takes a backseat to the events. Benedetto suddenly become important, with no lead up as to how and why. The Villefort family subplots involving Valentine, Maximillian, Heloise, young Edouard and Noirtier are missing. So Villefort goes mad for no good reason. Danglars' fate in Rome is shown and then the book ENDS RIGHT THERE. That's right... we have no idea what happens to the Count. I did a double-take. I had to verify that my copy was not defective. It's not. It's 112 pages and ends this way intentionally (shakes head). This is so disappointing. And it hammers home the notion that Dumas' original tale is an intricately woven tapestry. Remove one thread and the rest falls apart. It cannot be shortened, or abridged or adapted for children simply by whacking out chapters. It takes a lot of work and thought to remove things, and to carefully weed out all previous and subsequent references, and still maintain a good story flow. This is not the one. It has illustrations, but those are not very good. Not recommended.
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Illustrated Classics Series-The Count of Monte Cristo. 68 pages, (editor unknown). 2011, pub. Diamond Books (India).I knew from the start not to have high expectations for Diamond Books' (India) retelling of Monte Cristo. Because the preview showed that the book's leisurely pace was going to be a problem: 1/4 of the book in, and Dantes hadn't even been sent to Chateau D'if yet!After buying it, I dug in. The text wasn't too bad, although misspellings would creep in and distract me. There are illustrations, but rather amateurishly-done pencil drawings. After taking its sweet ol' time getting to the "revenge preparation" section (2/3 of the way in), the book takes us to Leghorn, where the Count and Jacopo book a luxury hotel and order fine tailored clothes. Wait!!! This sounds like a retread of...something! Then it hit me... this is a plagiarism of Mitsu Yamamoto's 1979 overly loose adaptation in Illustrated Classic Editions/Great Illustrated Classics! There is no way that another author could possibly independently come up with this alternate little excursion! By the last chapter, the rush job becomes increasingly evident. The grammar slips badly, and some sentences are just incomprehensible. It does a terrible job in explaining the Fernand/Ali Pasha/Haydee/Albert duel situation. It has the same ending as Illustrated Classic Editions/Great Illustrated Classics which isn't what Dumas wrote. Then, there's the unintentionally hilarious back cover blurb, which insists that this book "must be read by youth, housewives, students and executives".
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The Count of Monte Cristo. 132 pages total (112 pages for the story), (editor unknown). 2013, pub. Madhubun Educational Books (India).
India (the country) seems to be very passionate about Monte Cristo! I
had counted FOUR different children's e-books (all in English) in
Google Play, ranging from 67 cents to $5.94. The adage is, "you get
what you pay for". So, after examining the preview samples of each of
the 4 India e-books, the one that caught my eye and impressed me the
most was by Madhubun Educational Books, so I bought it. My initial hunch was right. This is fantastic! The book is in full-color, and the cutsey illustrations are reminiscent of 1990's-era Sierra and LucasArts video games- in a good way. But let's get to the story adaptation. It's just stunning. Like all of the other kid's books, Dantes landing the ship Pharaon at Marseilles up to his escape from D'if is accurate. But what sets this apart and above all others is how the revenge part is handled. My jaw dropped as I read... EVERY major plot point is there! Includes Franz meeting Sin(d)bad on the isle of Monte Cristo (this is a first). Even the bloody stabbings and the poisonings, all by the correct culprits. I don't think I've ever seen anything this thorough before in a children's book. Magnificent!
I think this one takes the crown for "Best Illustrated Children's
Version of Monte Cristo". The story portion is 112 pages, and Madhubun
had wisely placed all of the educational activities at the end of the
book, so the reader can skip them and simply be swept away and awed by
the story with no interruptions. This is such a joy and a delight to
read. Children who read this book will truly have the genuine Monte
Cristo Experience. I only wish I could get a copy of the physical book. Highly Recommended!
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The Count of Monte Cristo. 140 pages total. (editor unknown). 2018, pub. BPI India Pvt Ltd. (India).(Disclaimer: I did not buy this book. My impressions are based on the 30 (out of 140) page sample). This looks to be a sincere attempt at adapting Monte Cristo for children. Full-page, line-drawn illustrations are about 1/3 of the contents, so the text portion is estimated to be about 100 pages. Personally, I didn't think the art was great and it looks amateurishly done by an art student. It's serviceable, but does not sweep the reader into that era. The clothing and setting look closer to the late-Victorian era in the UK. The cover painting is far better and looks professionally done. Now, on to the text adaptation. Within the 30 preview pages, several re-interpretations, contradictions (or flat-out errors) cropped up, so I knew that this wasn't going to be a fantastic children's version. I was able to locate 15 discrepancies in just those 30 pages... things such as: The Pharaon's voyage was described as "unsuccessful"; the Danglars/Fernand conspiracy against Dantes was plotted at a "motel"; The King (in 1815) was called "Louis Philippe" and then contradicted several pages later by calling him "Louis XVIII". BTW, Louis Philippe and Louis XVIII were different people and ruled at different times. But... I can at least see and acknowledge that they tried, and avoided fan-fiction or flights of fancy.
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Illustrated Classics-The Count of Monte Cristo. 240 pages (220 pages for the story), (editor unknown). 2021, pub. Wonder House Books (India).From India, the most recent children's Monte Cristo book (2021) is the first one in decades that comes in hardcover, with an actual sewn binding. Of the 220 pages, about 25% of the book are full-page illustrations, derived from 19th century books, converted to line-art and modified slightly. These can be colored-in by kids.Unlike most kids' books, it mentions drugs- the Count (as Sinbad) gives hashish to Franz and he carries a hashish/opium concoction in a hollowed-out emerald. Coverage of Franz/Sinbad and the Rome Adventure is excellent but this level of detail comes at a cost- at the halfway point, the book hadn't even left Rome yet! The Andrea Cavalcanti subplot is badly done: a) It masks his illegitimate origins, b) not enough emphasis that stolen baby=Benedetto=Andrea, c) The Cavalcantis aren't impostors, paid by the Count d) the Major is independently wealthy, believes Andrea is his true son and lavishes money on him e) Andrea pointlessly murders Caderousse (blackmail not involved) f) There IS NO PUBLIC TRIAL or outing of Andrea's true identity! By page 212, Fernand is finished, his death rather graphically described as "he blew his brains out". There's 8 more pages to cover the downfalls of Villefort and Danglars and the Max/Val resolution and ending, and it's a complete failure. This is not the place for 4 full-page illustrations...too much plot yet to cover! Villefort goes "crazy" (insane) because he believes that Valentine died. The culprit never pays for the crime. Danglars goes bankrupt because the Andrea/Eugenie wedding was cancelled, and his wife and daughter leave him. That's it. The last scene with Max/Val and The Count/Haydee goes by too quickly. Initially, this book had a lot of promise. The illustrations are great, and so is the text, until it approaches the ending. That's when the inefficient use of text and space in the early/middle chapters becomes glaring. It really needed tighter editing: like shortening or removing less consequential parts such as: King's cabinet at Tuileries, Sinbad's palace, drugs, Rome, breakfast chatter with Albert and his friends, and the M. Zaccone misdirection ploy, in order to place the focus where it belongs- the careful setup and execution of revenge against Fernand, Villefort and Danglars!
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