20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

I am strongly in favor of the classics being read in their original form. However, I also know that time marches on and new readers are easier to attract if the language is altered into a more modern form. This book is profusely illustrated and the language has been reasonably altered. Therefore, the story is well presented and as unchanged from the original as possible. However, there is one spot where a serious error was made. On page 149 there is the paragraph: "One day, the ship began to dive down much deeper than usual. The Nautilus went down to a depth of twenty thousand leagues before it stopped." This figure is ridiculous, the twenty thousand leagues in the title refers to the distance of the voyage, not the depth of the dive. Twenty thousand leagues are more than the circumference of the Earth. I believe that all children should be exposed to the stories of Jules Verne. Presented in the proper historical context, they demonstrate a degree of precognition on the part of Verne that few others can match. While this book is not the original, it stays close enough to it for me to recommend it.