Customer Reviews

Lassie Come-Home: Eric Knight's Original 1938 Classic in a New Picture-Book Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a must-buy because of the wonderful illustrations, which are breathtaking in their beauty and their ability to capture the essence of a boy and a dog. But make sure you also buy the original Eric Knight Lassie Come-Home novel. For the heart and soul of the novel are absent from the text of this version, and the loss is grievous indeed. The novel shows real, cranky people struggling hard with moral choices, and hurting when they are bound to make the right one. The novel also guides the reader into concluding on her own that living things cannot rightfully be sold, unlike this version, which just blats it out. Moral lessons that children reach on their own are the ones that become deeply rooted, so it is a shame to deny them this process of moral discovery. The realism of the novel is absent from this version, which presents stick figures spouting politically correct platitudes that would be unthinkable in the communities that Knight described. The novel presents decidedly politically incorrect people who struggle to do the right thing. A child learns best from books that present life in its bewildering complexity. Without such guides, how will she deal with a real world that is not populated with politically correct stick figures? The ideal version of Lassie Come-Home would merge these illustrations, which are the best I've ever seen, with the original novel.

This is the true, gripping, and heartwarming story of Lassie, set in Yorkshire England and Scotland, not the Hollywood version. The sensitively rendered full color pictures of people, dog, and landscape would make the book a winner but this book also offers a wonderful story put carefully and artfully into words. As a book to read aloud to young children, I would commend it; its wording is rhythmic and exciting and holds the attention from chapter to chapter. The story, about poor people who have to sell their dog, is sad yet courageous and the ending is a very happy one!

I give this book five stars because it is very fun and it teaches me vocabulary. This book is fun because this dog has to travel far from his family and has many fun adventures. It teaches us vocabulary by using them in a sentence.

The beautiful illustrations can't make up for the bland, dumbed-down text of this rip-off. The title seems to be a deliberate attempt to mislead the buyer into thinking they are getting Eric Knight's wonderful story.

Not a chance. The story is re-written, badly.

If you think your children are not bright enough to understand Eric Knight's beautiful, evocative, direct and vivid prose, or if you are too busy to bother to take the time to read it to them, or if you want to enrich a company that tries to trick people into buying a book, then I guess you can.

More discerning parents and readers should take the trouble to search out Eric Knight's original. Mr Knight's depiction of the beautiful collie's travails on her long journey home will touch the stoniest heart.

For the ambitious reader, try to find a copy of the Saturday Review (1932?) with Knight's original short story. He expanded it into the novel, and it contains such scenes as some people walking down a country road who happen to notice a ragged collie sleeping "in a ditch, with her nose pointed south" -- toward, of course, home.

Readers and animal lovers deserve the real thing, not this cynical attempt at money-making.

Book was as new. I am very happy with the purchase as well as the quick delivery. Needed it before Christmas and it arrived well before.

While the original version is for middle-school age children, the attraction of this edition is the outstanding art-work which is sure to draw in the younger readers who are getting ready to move up to more mature books. The classic themes in this story are wonderful for young children to absorb. I disagree with an earlier reviewer about the colorless writing. I too think the level of writing considering the target age-group does capture the children for which it is intended. Certainly, even if you find the narrative less than what you expected, it does not stop the beauty of this timeless classic from shining through and the art more than makes up for any shortcoming in the writing. Besides, at a younger age, grades 3-5 or so, one must be careful not to become too narrative and flowery when the goal is to keep them focused on the story line.

If you love dogs or pets and charm of Scotland and the feel of yesteryear, this is the book for you to share with your children. Lassie is the ideal companion to a young boy and a family. When you finish the book, watch the movie to help really cement the images in your mind.

When I wrote the novel,"Jack: The Christmas Collie" (based on a true story) I tried to re-capture that lost, child-like enchantment of these Collie stories of old. Lassie Come-Home is truly a classic that should be required reading in all middle-schools since Lassie has held such a prominent place in our pop-culture for the past seven decades!

I strongly recommend you pick up a copy for yourself, your children or as a gift.

Enjoy!

Kevin Brett
Author: "Jack: The Christmas Collie"

Jack: The Christmas Collie

I have to disagree with a former reviewer...I was quite surprised to see the negativity about this book. I think my standards for quality writing are pretty high...I will not read twaddle to my kids! Also when I read it I remarked to myself that wow, a book written (re)written in the 1990s and not politically-correct, as I hate those types of books, for example modern Nancy Drew books... Someone once said (and I forget who), "80% of the books were written after 1971 and 80% of those should have been left trees." If I have the date wrong, someone can correct me, but that is the date I would use if I were talking about poorly written books.

Now granted, I have never read the original version. In fact, this is the first version I ever read and was pleased that it wasn't what I expected, having only ever seen the t.v. version.

The illustrations are amazing and the language is very moving...we are swept up with emotion (me and my 5 year old) and I keep making him wait to read the next "chapter" which leaves us hanging and wanting more! It's written in 3 Parts and I'm seeing how this could be used as a wonderful living book to study dogs, Scotland, aristocracy, class systems, dog shows, the coal mines, tea time <g>, animal cruelty and proper handling, England, ethics and character issues (faithfulness, loyalty, kindness, sacrifice, perseverance, honor, etc.)

I'm sure you smarty-pants are all aware of the fact that Lassie was originally written in 1938 as a short-story and then 1940 as a novel, but I was only familiar with the American tv show version...quite different!

Lassie is a beloved dog of a poor family who have to sell her. The rich duke buys her for showing, but Lassie will have none of it, and at 4 pm everyday she takes off to her real home. Fed up, the duke sends her up to Scotland to stay. This is the story of a kind little girl, a determined dog, the trials and tribulations of Lassie's travel and the sacrificial love of the father of the poor family. That's the quick summary, but there is so much more to this story than meets the eye.

I hope you all get a chance to soak up this book with your kids...ALL ages will love it from 5 to 95! That's my definition of a living book.

I think it is a great book that teaches children and adults too, the feelings of the man's best friend,the dog,who doesn't want to leave its master when he has to give him away because he hasn't got enough money. I think that the author wanted to give children a great story but I also think that he wanted to tell children that a dog is the man's best friend and that it will never let them down when they will need somebody.I have a dog too and I think that what the author wanted to tell us is true.Well that's my opinion about this book.

Rosemary Wells adapted the classic Lassie Come-Home in picture book form a few years ago. Visually, it is a lovely book, and the telling straight-forward and true to the original. Since then, her publisher has come out with a smaller, chapter book version, with the same illustrations printed in black and white. Although I personally missed the color of the picture book, the chapter book is a nice transition for young readers ready to move past picture books. The story of the valiant, loyal dog and young master still rings true.

This is in no way a rip-off, as charged by a reviewer below, but an abridged, picture-book edition of the beloved classic with wonderful illustrations. It makes a perfect bridge for young kids transitioning from picture books to chapter books and it's a gripping read-aloud. I have to admit that I got a little teary over Lassie's suffering, but my 5 year old son must be made of sterner stuff - he just wanted to know what happened next.