Frankenstein (A Stepping Stone Book) Paperback – April 12, 1982

Ah, Frankenstein. Mary Shelley. Lord Byron. An island. Fireside stories. A competition. And! A novel is born. But not just any novel - a GOTHIC novel. Our first Science Fiction novel. A novel that struggles with medical ethics, morality and ultimately, what it means to be human. All of this is wrapped up in an epic struggle between two equally unlikeable characters but each of whom represents a part of humanity - one is a creator, an innovator, an explorer; the other is a creation who is desperately lonely, angry, confused and ultimately, abandoned. Each engages in behavior and makes choices that are reprehensible. But the triggers for their acts - what about those? Is each character morally excused from their bad acts due to the understandable chaos they face? These questions are current, real and unanswerable in a simple way. Stanford University, for the book's 100th anniversary, held a campus-wide celebration the entire academic year, with medical ethics talks at the Med school to reading and discussing this book in Another Book Club. I revisit this book annually in October, my Month of Horror, and conclude that this classic deserves to be considered and pondered carefully.

I bought these for a mixed grade-level (3rd-8th) book club in an extended care school program, and they were perfect. The illustrations and large print were perfect for the little ones to read and understand, and the adaptation was engaging enough to challenge the older kids with regards to theme and structure. This book made "Frankenstein" accessible to kids with so many different backgrounds and reading abilities, and sparked lively conversations. We had great fun, and I will be purchasing other titles in the "Stepping Stones" series.

My student are non/low readers who loved to be "scared".Frankenstein (Step-Up Classic Chillers) was a book that kept my 2-4 graders interested. They asked to read the pages and were proud of themselves when they were not only be able to read a page,a chapter but they were SUPER proud of themselves when the finished the book! The story, of course, was "watered down" and just gave the basics of the story. I was personally disappointed that the story was not very discriptived in the scences or character building. Taking this all into consideration, I still recommend Frankenstein (Step-Up Classic Chillers) to anyone who wants to read a classic with students or children who are low readers.

Absolutely loved it. I work with 12th grade students who have very poor reading and writing skills for various reasons (SPED, ESL, fell through the cracks...). This version maintained the integrity of the original text at a vocabulary and sentence structure level that worked for my students. They were interested in the story and highly motivated by the language to finish it. I also ordered Stepping Stone Book version of The Time Machine. I can't wait.

I, on the other hand, think it’s the saddest book I’ve ever read. Aside from that, it’s written well for children to be able to read and understand without losing the essence of the story.

I purchased to read with my 4th graders. Thankfully I previewed the text ahead of time. Not appropriate for kids. (Yes, I know the real story of Frankenstein)

I can really understand this book, not like other books. And thrills me also. My dad bought it for me, my name is Tobias and I am 9 years old.

This is a great book for struggling readers. I used it with my English Language Learners in middle school. The vocabulary and control text did not take away from the original book.

Good read.