Children's abridged classics

[backinthebox]

When I was little my mum bought me dozens of little books, all classics by authors such as Dickens, Mark Twain, Jack London, Jules Verne, etc. As a result I know the stories of a huge number of classic stories that would be quite difficult for a child to digest, such as Moby Dick, Les Miserable, etc. All presented in a way that was not hard to read but didn't dumb the story down either. The books were small but thick. Does anyone know who published these books, or could recommend a series of children's abridged classics that I could get for my kids?

Daughter (9) reads and reads and reads, and complex themes don't hold any difficulty for her. She would read them herself.

DS is 6 and loves a good story read to him. The last 2 books DH has read to him were Black Beauty and The Hobbit. DH is currently trying to read the unabridged version of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea but is finding the wording very dry and victorian although he says the story is thrilling. He finds himself paraphrasing a lot. DH reckons DS loves a good swashbuckling story but it is just finding them in an accessible version that DH can easily read to DS over a couple of weeks.

Thanks!

[schmalex]

Ladybird classics do abridged versions of Heidi, the 3 musketeers, etc.

[IcedVanillaLatte]

20,000 Leagues, out loud? Respect. There are only so many lists of fish that I can take in a book.