War and Peace

Pierre inherits his father's enormous fortune and has no idea what to do with it. Seven years later he is a prisoner in a shed in Moscow, eating a baked potato that a peasant soldier has shared with him, and he cannot remember anything tasting better.

This chapter book retells Tolstoy's War and Peace for young readers. It follows Pierre, his friend Andrei, and Natasha Rostov across fifteen years that include Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the Battle of Borodino, and the burning of Moscow.

Tolstoy believed history is made by countless ordinary people, and that emperors and generals control far less than they seem to. The book centers on Pierre because a clumsy, curious man wandering onto the field at Borodino in a white hat, with no weapon and no orders, is that argument in a single picture.

Like the novel, the book slows down for small moments: a conversation that lasts until three in the morning, a soldier carefully folding the cloths from his feet, a father holding his baby on one big hand.

Much of the difficulty of Tolstoy's first hundred pages is not knowing who anyone is. A child who has already met Pierre, Andrei, and Natasha has a head start. A foreword introduces Tolstoy and the three main characters, with pronunciations for the Russian names, and an afterword tells young readers what is waiting for them in the full novel.

Ages 6-10 - 92 pages - about 8,700 words - 22 black-and-white illustrations - Independent and guided reading

Content note: Includes war, executions, death, and grief.

Also available for Ages 0-4 and Ages 3-7.