Robin Hood (Bullseye Step Into Classics)

Rating:
Summary: "Robin Hood" is great, a classic!
Review: I am 6 years old in first grade and I love this book! I like the characters best. It's great. The words were not hard for me. I've got 20,000 Leagues under the sea, the last of the Mohicans, Robin Hood, and Kidnapped, and Robin Hood is one of the best of these.

Rating:
Summary: Nearly perfect for the intended audience
Review: I bought this book to read with my 7 year old, and I am pretty well pleased with it. The vocabulary is simple, the sentences are short (and often start with the word "and"; my grade school teachers would be appalled), but the tale is told effectively and accessibly for young readers.

Also, unlike some other books for young readers (e.g. the Droon series), this book does not simplify to the point of eliminating all of the descriptive passages. When Robin disguises himself as a musician, he wears "feathers of many colors" and carries a harp. There's not enough description to interfere with the pace for impatient children, but there is enough detail to hang your imagination off of.

As for the story, there were some frustrating omissions. The origin of Robin Hood is given only a few paragraphs in the introduction, and the tales of how Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck joined the band are missing. The book only tells how Little John joined. The rest just sort of show up later in the story. I'm sure that was done to keep the pace of the story moving, but it would have been good to have more of the stories written in this same style.

The rest of the story is a reasonably solid narration of the traditional tale of Robin Hood, with no more than the usual level of variation. I definitely recommend this book as a good way to introduce children to the story of Robin Hood, though I like the Dover Children's Thrift Classics edition slightly better.

Rating:
Summary: Nearly perfect for the intended audience
Review: I bought this book to read with my 7 year old, and I am pretty well pleased with it. The vocabulary is simple, the sentences are short (and often start with the word "and"; my grade school teachers would be appalled), but the tale is told effectively and accessibly for young readers.

Also, unlike some other books for young readers (e.g. the Droon series), this book does not simplify to the point of eliminating all of the descriptive passages. When Robin disguises himself as a musician, he wears "feathers of many colors" and carries a harp. There's not enough description to interfere with the pace for impatient children, but there is enough detail to hang your imagination off of.

As for the story, there were some frustrating omissions. The origin of Robin Hood is given only a few paragraphs in the introduction, and the tales of how Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck joined the band are missing. The book only tells how Little John joined. The rest just sort of show up later in the story. I'm sure that was done to keep the pace of the story moving, but it would have been good to have more of the stories written in this same style.

The rest of the story is a reasonably solid narration of the traditional tale of Robin Hood, with no more than the usual level of variation. I definitely recommend this book as a good way to introduce children to the story of Robin Hood, though I like the Dover Children's Thrift Classics edition slightly better.