The strange case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Fun & Educational Take On Classic (4.5 Rounded Up for Nostalgia)

First things first: I love Wishbone. As a child, he was a very important part of my love for reading - and for terriers, as it were - and kept me interested in even the most dryly written classics by putting a fun, entertaining spin on them. I'll admit I never went on to read most of the books the Wishbone episodes and novels were about, but to me that doesn't make a difference. Just like this book did when I was much younger and purchased it at a book fair, all of Wishbone's instalments helped me to better understand the stories covered and sparked my interest in branching beyond the typical genres I liked. I still have my Wishbone plushies, treated with love and care on a special display shelf, but sadly this was the only book which survived. It's covered in highlighter marks because, at one point, I decided to practice note-taking, but suffering through the streaks of blue ink bleeding yellow at the edges was totally worth it for the dose of nostalgia.



When I found this book stashed in some of my old belongings, I knew I had to read it again! I never cared for the original Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, which I found quite dull when I attempted to read it many years ago, but this retelling is fun and intriguing enough that even though I knew how the story ended I had fun playing along with Wishbone's narrative breaks to amp up the suspense.



The book itself is made in such a way to be fun and engaging for children. It's “narrated” by Wishbone, who appears in expressive artistic representations and ‘speaks' to the reader in bolded text.




The beginning has some educational material, covering the nature of the story and some history on the author. Throughout each chapter, new words and concepts are introduced and explained with notes by Wishbone; as such, children are trusted to actually learn while reading rather than stick to the familiarity of words they already know.





And, toward the end, there's a fun activity where flipping the pages reveals a flipbook style animation of Wishbone running through a tunnel, emerging in fancy clothes, then running back through. This does mean that most used copies will likely be quite well worn on the page edges, but that's part of what gives a book like this life and personality. It's meant to be read and used, not sat on a shelf to collect dust.



As for the story itself, it does drag a bit at times, but it's masterfully retold in a way which doesn't feel as dreadfully boring to me as the source material. Time skips are frequent and well-placed and there's a heavy focus on picking up clues left in the narrative to explain the relation between Jekyll & Hyde. I was able to finish this in two brief sittings, interrupted only by real life getting in the way; as a child, I remember taking a few days to read the whole thing and thinking it was quite thick (oh, how my standards of book thickness have changed).



Younger children may need a bit of guidance, since this is by nature a tale of violence and psychological damage, but nothing is overly graphic in my opinion.

I'm glad I took the time to re-read this book, and have thoroughly enjoyed having this trip down memory lane.