20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

French Professor Aronnax and his servant join the Abraham Lincoln, an American frigate, on a mission to find and destroy a "sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as the armored frigates." The undersea monster is thought to be responsible for the disappearance of over 200 ships. When they encounter the "gigantic cetacean" it disables the Abraham Lincoln and knocks Professor Aronnax, his servant, and the hot-tempered harpooner, Ned Land overboard. The three must cling to the beast or drown; soon they realize that it is really a man-made underwater vehicle.

Jules Verne was born in France in 1828 and died in 1905. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel was wildly successful, producing many brilliant novels in the burgeoning genre of science fiction: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in 80 Days, among others. Verne is the second most translated author in the world, after Agatha Christie and before Shakespeare.

Judith Conaway is a writer, designer, and illustrator of children’s books and educational materials. She has written activity and puzzle books as well as Stepping Stone books for Random House Books for Young Readers, including Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.