Uncle Tom's Cabin

Librarians will dispute Miss White's contention that "boys and girls no longer read Uncle Tom's Cabin;" what cannot be disputed is the dismay with which they regard it, the difficulty they have in understanding it. To overcome the difficulties and "to heighten the effect," she has cut references to terms "outside a young reader's knowledge and understanding" which she interprets to mean "vocabulary beyond the ten-to-fourteen level;" she has substituted indirect for direct discourse in some instances to achieve "a change of pace;" she has removed "old fashioned punctuation" ("they don't understand the semicolon at all"); she has eliminated some explanation of characters and description of surroundings, and "unessential religious commentary and interpolation;" she has simplified the opening of the story "with the object of capturing the reader from the start." All this results in a version which is twenty percent shorter than the original and which is unquestionably easier to read. It is still the story of Uncle Tom (and Eliza and Topsy,) and it still is a moving document, but it is not Mrs. Stowe's book. Hopefully, librarians will have both on their shelves and offer readers an informed choice between the two. (Kirkus Reviews)