D. H. Lawrence said that there could be no more perfect work of the American imagination than Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, which makes it ideal material for CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED. Adapted by award-winning graphic novelists P. Craig Russell and Jill Thompson. In addition to his incredible graphic adaptations of operas, the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde, and Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, P. Craig Russell is known for both his collaborations with best-selling author Neil Gaiman (The Sandman story "Ramadan") and adaptations of Gaiman's works, such as "Coraline" and "Sandman: The Endless," all of which makes Russell an inspired choice to adapt The Scarlet Letter. Russell broke down the novel into comic book script form as well as page layouts, providing artist Jill Thompson, also a well-know Neil Gaiman collaborator ("Sandman: Brief Lives"), the foundation for her beautifully painted comics pages.

Themes: Adapted Classics, Low Level Classics, Graphic Novels, Illustrated, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fiction, Tween, Teen, Young Adult, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo Books, Hi-Lo Solutions, High-Low Books, Hi-Low Books, ELL, EL, ESL, Struggling Learner, Struggling Reader, Special Education, SPED, Newcomers, Reading, Learning, Education, Educational, Educational Books. These literary masterpieces are made easy and interesting. This series features classic tales retold with color illustrations to introduce literature to struggling readers. Each 64-page eBook retains key phrases and quotations from the original classics. The Scarlet Letter takes place in 17th century Puritan New England. Read along with this touching tale of Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl as they struggle to survive as outcasts. Only one person, Arthuer Dimmesdale, the Reverend, knows Hester's true story, but he is kept away for fear of what the community will think of him. Find out how Hester turns hardship into the ability to help the very people who scorned her.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's powerful tale of forbidden love, shame and revenge comes to life in this manga presentation of the classic story. When Hester Prynne bears an illegitimate child, she is introduced to the ugliness, complexity, and ultimately the strength of the human spirit. Though set in a Puritan community during the Colonial American period, the moral dilemmas of personal responsibility and consuming emotions of guilt, anger, loyalty and revenge are timeless. This beautiful manga retelling of Hawthorne's classic American novel is faithfully adapted by Crystal S. Chan and features stunning artwork by SunNeko Lee which will give old and new readers alike a fresh insight into this tragic saga of Puritan America.

After a brief authorial digression about how his stuffy coworkers at the Custom House kept him from writing this book until he was fired, Hawthorne starts us off with a tour of the jail of the mid-17th century Massachusetts Bay Colony.Inside the jail is one Hester Prynne, an adulteress who's just about to be released from prison so that she can be paraded through town, displaying the scarlet "A" that she's been forced to wear as evidence of her adultery. How do we know she's an adulteress? She's got a baby daughter, Pearl, but her husband has been away for two full years. Even we can do the math on that one. Despite all the shaming, Hester protects Pearl's father from punishment by refusing to give up his name.The adultery parade (worse parade ever) is winding through town when... Hester Prynne's long-lost husband arrives in disguise! Once she's back in prison, he shows up and orders her to keep her mouth shut so he can carry out his Nefarious Plan of ferreting out and seeking revenge on her lover. For some reason, she agrees.Hester's husband tells the townspeople that he's a physician named Roger Chillingworth. He's a smart fellow, so he realizes pretty quickly that the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is the likely father of Hester's baby. Obviously, his next step is to stalk the minister day and night. The minister is too afraid to confess his sin publicly, but he's feeling pretty guilty, not to mention antsy from Chillingworth's constant examination, and also maybe in a little pain from strange red mark that's on his chestOh, and this goes on for seven years.Finally, Hester realizes that her husband has been doing some really wack psychological manipulation to the man she loves, and she reveals Chillingworth's true identity to Dimmesdale. They concoct a plan to settle in England and create a new life together. Yay, happy ending!Or not. Dimmesdale ultimately backs out and confesses his sin to the townspeople on the scaffold where Hester was publicly shamed seven years earlier. He goes out with a bang by ripping his shirt open (à la Jean Valjean) to reveal the mark on his chest, just before dying.That's all very dramatic and satisfying, but it's not the end. About a year later, Chillingworth dies and leaves all his money and property to Pearl, which means she and her mom can finally get themselves out of that awful community and return to England to build a new life. Yay, happy ending for sure this time!Not quite. Years later, Hester actually returns to the colony, resuming the scarlet letter of her own will. When she dies, she's buried near the minister, and they share a gravestone marked with--what else?--the letter "A."

Themes: Hi-Lo, adapted classics, low level classics, graphic novel. These literary masterpieces are made easy and interesting. This series features classic tales retold with color illustrations to introduce literature to struggling readers. Each 64-page softcover book retains key phrases and quotations from the original classics. The Scarlet Letter takes place in 17th century Puritan New England. Read along with this touching tale of Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl as they struggle to survive as outcasts. Only one person, Arthuer Dimmesdale, the Reverend, knows Hester's true story, but he is kept away for fear of what the community will think of him. Find out how Hester turns hardship into the ability to help the very people who scorned her.

The Scarlet Letter by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne was published in 1850. This work of historical fiction is considered to be a masterpiece of American literature and a classic moral study. Set in 17th-century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1642 to 1649 the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and refuses to reveal her lover’s identity. Hester believes herself to be a widow, but her husband, Roger Chillingworth, returns to New England very much alive and conceals his identity. He finds his wife forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her dress as punishment for her sin and her secrecy. Chillingworth becomes obsessed with finding the identity of his wife’s former lover. Hester struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. When it’s revealed that her lover is a saintly young minister, Dimmesdale, who is the leader of those exhorting her to name the child’s father, he is tormented until stricken by guilt, becomes ill and publicly confesses his adultery before dying in Hester’s arms. Hester herself is revealed to be a self-reliant heroine who is never truly repentant for committing adultery with the minister and feels that their act was consecrated by their deep love for each other. She begins a new life with her daughter in Europe and years later upon her return to New England, she continues to wear the scarlet letter. After her death she is buried next to Dimmesdale and on their joint tombstone is a description of the scarlet A.

It is the mid-seventeenth century in Boston. Hester Prynne, dignified and silent, is led through prison doors to her public shaming by members of the Puritan town. Holding her illegitimate child to her breast and bearing a bright scarlet letter “A” embroidered on her bodice, Hester must now struggle to create a new life for herself and her child within this censorious community. When her missing spouse reappears and takes up residence in town under an assumed identity, the stage is set for an explosive confrontation between the truly moral and the merely religious.