TREASURE ISLAND

TREASURE ISLAND, by Robert Louis Stevenson, ill. by John Lawrence (Candlewick 2009). This handsome, over-sized (it's 8 1/8 in. x 11 13/16 in. and tips the scales at 2.5 lbs.), unabridged edition, illustrated with Lawrence's trademark woodcuts, brings the classic tale of adventure and piracy to life.

Jim Hawkins works with his parents at the Admiral Benbow Inn, where a strange drunken sailor named Billy Bones, but who usually goes by "the captain," has taken up residence. A mysterious series of odd personages/cutthroats comes to visit, followed shortly by the captain's death. When Jim and his mother find a map in the captain's belongings, the local squire and doctor immediately conclude that it leads the way to the hidden treasure of the notorious pirate, Captain Flint.

So they outfit a ship (the Hispaniola), take Jim aboard as cabin boy, and hire a crew, including the charming and villainous Long John Silver.

And along the way, they find treachery and mutiny and mayhem...

This is an absolutely gorgeous volume. The woodcuts are bold and striking, the pages are thick, and the font is old-fashioned-seeming, yet easy to read. Sure, you can get the text of TREASURE ISLAND in paperback or download it onto your Kindle, but this edition is a work of art from and for people who appreciate the difference.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, ill. by P.J. Lynch (Candlewick, 2006)

Okay, everyone knows the story...Scrooge, Marley's ghost, Christmas past, present, and yet to come, Tiny Tim, etc.

I haven't actually read it since freshman year of high school, so when we received the gorgeous Candlewick edition this fall, Cyn and I decided to read it aloud the week before Christmas. The art, by P.J. Lynch, is amazing, and Candlewick made the laudable production choice to make the text actually be readable. (You know what I mean -- half the problem with reading the "classics" is that they're often in this horrible edition with tiny, dense type that's almost intended to defend the thing from being read). The art and design here make you want to sink in and read it aloud (the way I imagine it was supposed to be experienced). I highly recommend this edition.

And, this'll probably be my last post before Christmas, so I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings, and, to VS, a Merry Festivus.

"...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"