This was a concise and brief story to read. I must admit I have never read the original War and Peace, it has always seemed a little too hefty for me to attempt. So I thought this book would be a good way to read the story and learn what the classic was about.

There is a lot of romance, a lot of switching between characters which I managed to keep up with just about. I think it would be good to read the full book one day to get more detail about the actual war as that was briefly mentioned but as it was a condensed version there was little detail to any of it.

I think it was a good way to encourage younger children and adults alike to find out more about some of the classic pieces of writing, and I think it is a good stepping stone to the longer version. I hope to read it myself one day!

This is a good series for younger readers and I have enjoyed others in the series. War and Peace was a always going to be a challenge, and while this did manage to get the very core of the story across, that is the basics of the main relationships, there wasn't much else here. It was easy to read and well done, I just didn't feel it worked as well as others in the series.

I have really enjoyed the books in this series but I didn't find this one to be as enjoyable as the other books in the series.

I think that this was quite possibly the hardest book that they could have picked to convert or shorten to be more engaging for children. The plot is complex and there are a lot of characters in the book.

I found that this one jumped about a little and at times it wasn't always one hundred per cent clear who was being discussed or talking and that did distract from the main story for me. Not a criticism of the author as I said above I imagine this is the hardest of the books they have condensed.

It is 3 stars from me for this one, one that could have done with a few more pages to carry the story through.

Beautiful written and so easy to keep up with everything. As an adult now, I loved the original story more but for my children it was the perfect introduction to the story and we all enjoyed it so much. Highly recommended

It's so hard to distill a novel as great as War and Peace into an 'easy' version. I liked that this adaptation focused on Pierre, Natasha, Andrei, Marya and Nikolai. Ultimately their stories are faithful to the original. There were some parts which were either simplified too much, or totally changed, and I didn't see the need for that.
As a basic introduction to the main charterers this serves well, although their journeys are sometimes a little different.

I started the original years ago but didn’t finish. There are some stories that benefit from a simplified more condensed version, this I am afraid, is not one of them. No justice is done with the quantity and complexity of characters, It requires a deeper more protracted journey. Therefore the quality and enjoyment is sacrificed. I think in this scenario reading Tolstoy is necessary to appreciate, connect and truly understand.
Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this in exchange for my thoughts.

I must admit to having never read the original text, though have always intended to! This child-friendly version introduced me to the main plot of the epic novel in a much shorter, engaging manner. With accessible vocabulary, simple pictures and not too much text on a page, this is a great introduction to the classic for younger readers.

The big challenge with this book is the enormous cast of characters which sometimes made it difficult to follow who was who occasionally. This is not a criticism of this adaptation - it must have been difficult to compact such a long story into so few pages, however maybe not the place to start for those just beginning reading the classics.

Though this is written for children, it would be enjoyable for any age. I struggled through reading War and Peace years ago and this version would have been a big help in keeping things straight! There are so many characters that remembering all of them is a challenge but this version makes it a bit easier. The whimsical illustrations are a welcome addition too.

Thank you to Sweet Cherry Publishing for a digital review copy of ‘War and Peace (Easy Classics)’ by Leo Tolstoy and adapted by Gemma Barder.

This is part of the publishers new ‘The Russian Classics Collection for Children’. It has been suitably adapted for readers aged 7 and older. As ‘War and Peace’ is an epic, with its original edition at over 1,200 pages, adapting it to 120 pages is quite an achievement.

I completely applaud the idea of introducing young readers to the Russian classics, which can appear so formidable even to adults. While I had read ‘War and Peace’ many years ago, I recalled little so this proved a welcome refresher to the novel’s characters and themes. The illustrations by Helen Panayi are charming.

I certainly feel that this book (and series) will be of interest to parents, educators, and librarians as well as to older readers, who might wish an easy introduction to this classic novel.

Note: a free audiobook is provided via a QR code inside the book. I feel that this is an excellent idea as it allows the young reader to listen along while reading.

I’ve never attempted Leo Tolstoy’s tome and couldn’t resist this children’s version when I saw it on NetGalley recently. I didn’t have a clue what the story was about so I went in blind. I and discovered that it’s essentially a love story about Pierre who’s very shy and doesn’t have many friends until his rich father dies leaving him a fortune! It’s the old story of marrying for money and status, instead of for love, a la Jane Austen, except set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. I loved the illustrations, but I found the enormous cast of characters very confusing, so didn’t remember who was who in different parts of the story. This could be partly because I was reading it on my tablet and therefore couldn’t keep flipping the pages back to beginning of the book where there was a list of all the different characters and their families. Hopefully the children who this is aimed at won’t be so confused.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for this accessible version of a beloved classic. I've promised myself over and again that I will read War and Peacebut have been put off by its sheer volume. Although this version is intended for children, I have to say that as an adult I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely look out for other Sweet Cherry Classics.

Having never read 'War and Peace', as a twenty something year old, I thought this easy-read would be a good chance to get to know the story.

And I did get an outline and summary of the story. It is accessible, but how interesting it is for children... I don't know.
It's so condensed there's no flow, intrigue, character development or want to read on.
Having not read the original, I don't know if this is because War and Peace is in fact dry and dull, or because this easy read is too condensed.

Either way, it's a good summary to get the jist on this classic book.

2/5 stars

I tried this out because of recommendations from other readers. I was intrigued as I always think I will find Classic novels hard to read. This adaption made the story accessible and easy to follow as an adult and it was clear that complex concepts were covered in simple and clear language. Had I been 9 or 90 I would have still got the nuance and plot.

War and Peace (Easy Classics) is a child-friendly adaptation of a classic text. I must admit that I haven't read the original (although I probably should), so cannot compare it to the original. Written in a simple manner, this adaptation of the book would be easy to read on a lexical level, and could be offered to Key Stage 2 children to extend their literary range. It is a great way into encouraging children to read more classic texts but at their level.

Focusing on a number of characters in Russia during Napoleon's invasion, War and Peace (Easy Classics) shows a search for the meaning of true happiness (and perhaps the meaning of life) through their different storylines. As this book is very character heavy, it could be difficult for children to follow along. The helpful illustrations at the start of the book are useful to refer back to if you lose track of who is who, as well as many illustrations complementing the storyline throughout the book (a sure appeal for more reluctant readers).

This seemed to go down very well with my friend’s grandson. I’m very impressed because I never thought of War & Peace being accessible for children- it’s done very well with lovely illustrations without being patronising

Thank you to NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really love that they're making classics more accessible and easier to understand. I feel like classics can be quite scary, but everyone should have the opportunity to read classic literature like War and Peace without feeling overwhelmed and daunted and I'm so glad this is becoming possible.

This book was really good.
The illustrations were insanely pretty and it was so easy to understand giving it is a classic. The use of language was so simple.

So as a 30-something women who loves to read, War and Peace really should be on my TBR. Right?
Well, I have been put off by the bulky, huge book! So when the opportunity arose for me to read and review this 'easy classics' version I jumped at the chance. (Cheating??!! noooo!)

But unfortunately I just couldn't get into it, I'm ashamed to say. I appreciate this book is aimed at younger readers, but I found the amount of character really difficult to keep up with. Maybe my brain is frazzled with home-learning all day, but I just really struggled with this!

Not really as 'easy' as it makes out!