Gulliver's Travels (Gift Books) - Hardcover

Grade 3-4-Swift's satire has elements that have always appealed to children-high adventure, detailed fantasy, and scatological humor. The challenge in adapting an edition is to somehow keep the author's cynical, political voice and not reduce the story to a series of merry sea adventures. The best of the 17 versions now in print, James Riordan's Gulliver's Travels (Oxford University Pr., 1992) does exactly that. In contrast, Beneduce's book, however lushly illustrated, retains too little of the original to offer readers an adequate introduction. She omits Gulliver's shame at his body excretions, which Riordan includes; more importantly, she omits plot details that are basic to explaining the story's events. For example, readers are told that Lilliput is about to be invaded by Blefescu, but they are not told why. The serious dispute of the big and little enders is not mentioned. Beneduce has made an attempt to maintain the book's original tone, but has edited out its heart. In contrast to the spare text, Spirin's illustrations are a beautiful celebration of Lilliput. His fantastic paintings seem drawn from 17th century court life-the clothing, buildings, and ships have a dreamlike quality as well as a sense of historic accuracy. But the illustrations are not enough to salvage a text that is a bare-bones travelogue, not an early introduction to a rich novel.
Kathleen Whalin, Belfast Public Library, ME
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.