Les Miserables (Stepping Stones) by Monica Kulling

Les Miserables (Stepping Stones) Reviews

• 
  Koby Parker

  I will start out by saying this book was amazing. I tried to read the original "Les Miserables" but it was extremely difficult, considering I'm only thirteen. So I got on the Barnes and Noble website and ordered "Les Miserables (A Stepping Stone Book)" and I am so glad I did. The plot begins by introducing the main character Jean Valjean. He is writing a story to his daughter Cossette. The rest of the book except for the end is what the story he is writing says. The whole book is a giant, descriptive adventure. I felt as if I was living it. Even though it is a simplified version of the original, it leaves out no emotions or details. It also has some historical events in it. Trust me, you won't be bored.
  
  
• 
  Shinee Erdenebat

  It is a story about life of man who is generous, intelligent and good care of the others. The man was breadwinner in his sister's household and steals a loaf of bread to feed them. Unfortunately he was put in jail nineteen years for that. From that time he became a les miserable man and started story
• 
  Ren

  My 6yo loves the movie. We tried giving him one of our copies of the novel which isunabridged, well my husband did. He had told our son if he read the book we'd take him to see the broadway production. I found this kids version on amazon and put out a feeler for it on the classical education forum I belong to. I purchased it and my little guy read it in 4 days while we were on vacation. I read it too and thought it was a great child version of the story. I recommend it to anyone with a child who is interested in the story.
• 
  Louise Jennings

  After watching the film that came out in 2012 I decided to give this book a try and unfortunately due to the time is was written and style it was written I was unable to finish. It is a very hard book to read but if you want to delve in deeper to the film and can cope with a very hardworking book I would recommend this book. It is not the fault of the writer but of the difference of our times.
• 
  Lucretius

  Recently reread this. Yes, there are potentially frustrating diversions into history and social commentary, but who are we kidding, this is one of the greatest books EVER!
• 
  Marie Horning

  A great summarized version of the book for kids. My girls and I read this together before seeing the musical, and it made their experience so much more enjoyable to be able to understand the plot.
• 
  Ebookwormy1

  An age appropriate accounting of this fascinating story that uses concrete language to communicate the key plot points. There are some slight literary flourishes, though they are inconsistently done. Most notably, the book begins as if it is a letter written from Valjean to Cosette at the time of his death, but the author loses the first person voice several times. In addition, the final scenes are somewhat convoluted by this lack of consistency in switching from Valjean to an omniscient narrator. There are probably other editions for kids that are better, but this is the one we have, and it's adequate. An enjoyable single sitting read for a mama who loves the story, and a joy to introduce to our youngsters.
  
  For the highly recommended original publication, as well as other resources and presentations of this story see my review...
  Les Miserables, Hugo, 1862
  
  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
• 
  Ben

  The story is a classic and one of my very favorites, and if only for the story and characters which were a product of Victor Hugo's imagination do I give this work 2 stars. I already have a certain aversion to adaptations, but they are a good way to introduce classic works to my son -- I don't think he would have the patience for Hugo's 1,000 + page classic at this age. This work represented all of the things that I dislike about adaptations: changes in style, too much condensation (this book could have easily been tripled in length), elimination of certain characters and events (retaining only those viewed as essential to the plot) and introducing too many characters in too short a time (this ties back to the last two points raised) -- my son enjoyed the story, but he couldn't keep track of all of the many characters, with French names, introduced over the course of a mere 100 pages.
• 
  Heather Painting

  I have a lovely copy of this book. I've read it so many times, the spine has crumbled and broken apart.
• 
  Ali

  Bit of a curate's egg. Ended up probably enjoying the diversions more than the story. Marius and Cosette were beyond annoying.
• 
  Josje

  Luisterboek
  Pasgeleden naar de musical geweest, dus interessant waar het verhaal vandaan komt. Veel meer (achtergrond)informatie op een mooie manier verteld. De kant van de vroegere armoede wordt veel over geschreven, mooi want daar lees je niet vaak iets over. Zo leefden en leven mensen echt... Met stukjes wat lastiger te volgen vanwege al de verschillende Franse namen. Je leert ook best veel over Frankrijk en Parijs in de 19e eeuw. Sommige personages zijn heel mooi beschreven, met meer diepgang dan wat ik ken. Vooral het laatste stuk van Javert. "De maatschappij verraden om zijn geweten trouw te blijven. Hij herkende zichzelf niet meer. Het gezag was in hem gestorven."
  Gavroche heeft in het boek mijn hart gestolen, veel meer dan met de film/musical. Wat een verhaal en wat een einde.
• 
  Stephen

  I read this book with my 11 year old because he was interested in the story. Clearly this book is a lighter telling of Les Mis, but some of the changes to make it more palatable for kids were jarring. In particular, they essentially erased Eponine from the story entirely aside from a couple of throw away lines. That disappointed me as she is my favorite character In the story. Overall, it is a fine entry into the story for younger audiences.
• 
  Patricia

  I was listening to Les Miserables in its entirety and got lost with some mixed up chapters. So I grabbed this copy to figure out what was going on, especially when I let a few months lapse between listening to more. I did eventually finish the long long version, and enjoyed reading this version to top it off. I have never seen any adaptation in theatre or movie, so this was a fresh read for me.
• 
  Brian

  I was getting tired of the silly chapter books. So, I found some of these classics adapted for kids and against my childs wishes I read it to him over the course of five nights or so. And he liked it! Even this watered down version was tough to follow, but he was asking questions about it.
  
  I cried at the end of the book, he was just happy to get back to Inspector Flytrap.
• 
  T

  This is a fantastic book, age appropriate for kids. We did this as a read aloud. It is a very quick read and entirely enjoyable a rendition, a marvelous adaptation; if you have desire of a shortened version, this fits perfectly. Jean Valjean’s misfortunes are engrossing and his love and care for Cosette (and Marius) and his true character shine through it all. Loved it!
• 
  Yarns Chaos

  This book was well adapted for a children's version. IMO, parents should read this book before their children to determine when they'll be old enough as they do have some parts that might be graphic or hard to explain to younger readers. (For example, "Slit his throat!")
• 
  Heather Wold

  I’ve only seen random parts of the movie and never really knew the storyline of this book. I was happy to see it in a very condensed form in our curriculum. I enjoyed it, I don’t think my girls enjoyed it but I’m glad I read it with them.
• 
  Brooke

  Good introduction for children. Still held some of the adventure and excitement even though it was shortened by so much.
• 
  Brian

  A good short adaptation for kids
• 
  Martha Avila

  Precioso!! Lo leí con mis pequeños y también les encanto
• 
  Christy

  Fairly true to the story.
• 
  Melissa Paisley

  Great way to introduce my elementary kids to this fantastic story!
• 
  Brianna Banana

  i read this book in one day lol to me it was comprehensible, but my bf says it’s hard to read because it’s too watered down and smashed together. it doesn’t rlly flow because all the in between stuff was cut out and just the “important” details were left in this book. i honestly don’t remember most of it because it was so short and watered down. :/ i may just read the actual book in the future. lol i grabbed this book in the library thinking it was the original for some reason 😳