If the language is too advanced, wait on that book. The original is simply too good to miss 99.9% of the time. The couple of abridgements we’ve enjoyed – Dangerous Journey for Pilgrim’s Progress as early as 4 years. And Little Pilgrim’s Progress for self reading around 8-10 years. That said, we’ve read the original aloud at young ages, too. There’s one other we liked, but the name escapes me. We have enjoyed some audio dramatization a that have been abridged, but even so, we prefer the originals! overwhelmingly, I’d vote for the original books. Little kids love classic and/or well-written literature!
Don’t underestimate your kids. My ds5 listened to The Hobbit as well as Narnia stories with rapt attention when he was barely 3. The same had been true for all 4 of my kids (dd14, ds11, dd8, plus the ds5).
We’ve read Aesop cover to cover multiple times. A simple, “ass is another name for a donkey” is all it ever took.
When kids are accustomed to the easy watered down stuff, they can come to view the original as simply too difficult. But there is such pleasure in good books. Once the appetite is formed, no disneyfied or other adulterated version will do!
Compare The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson and Disney.
Original
FAR out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects. We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand. No, indeed; the most singular flowers and plants grow there; the leaves and stems of which are so pliant, that the slightest agitation of the water causes them to stir as if they had life. Fishes, both large and small, glide between the branches, as birds fly among the trees here upon land. In the deepest spot of all, stands the castle of the Sea King. Its walls are built of coral, and the long, gothic windows are of the clearest amber. The roof is formed of shells, that open and close as the water flows over them. Their appearance is very beautiful, for in each lies a glittering pearl, which would be fit for the diadem of a queen.
Disney
Deep beneath the sea lived a little mermaid named Ariel. She loved exploring her underwater home with her friend flounder but dreamed of living on land as a human. Ariel was always searching for human treasures. Ariel was always searching for human treasures. When she and Flounder found a strange forked object, they swam to the surface to find Scuttle the seagull.
“It’s a dinglehopper!” he proclaimed. Ariel’s father was King Triton, ruler of the sea. He thought humans were dangerous.
———–
No comparison. ☺️
