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Sunscreen? Check. Camera? Check. Flip flops? Check. Sunglasses? Check. The Swiss Family Robinson? Anyone? Anyone? This beloved tale of shipwreck and survival is the perfect book to fuel your summer fantasies. Whether you're headed to the beach, or on a cruise, or to an exotic tropical island, the beloved story of a family marooned on a deserted island, where they build a new home, explore the landscape, and fend off threats from the wild, is the ultimate adventure novel—and a handy recap of all you've picked up from watching Survivor and Lost should you ever need to look up how to build a treehouse, defend yourself from bees, or fish for your dinner.

What's great about the Penguin Classics edition is that it's the fully restored original. The real Swiss Family Robinson was written in German back in 1812. A few years later it was translated into English (by William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, the parents of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley), and it was an immediate popular success. Over the years it was freely translated into other languages, most notably French by the Baroness Isabelle de Montolieu. Subsequent English editions adopted the Baroness's many additions to the text, and the story that became familiar to readers after 1848 was then revised several more times, in 1868, 1878, and 1879, taking the story even further from the original. Among the most striking changes over the years was the significant scaling back of the role of the mother, who in the new Penguin Classics edition assumes her rightful place in the family, and in literary history.

Summer is Here!

The weather's finally heating up, and the sun is shining! There are plenty of things to celebrate this summer—including half-day Fridays and exciting vacation destinations. While you're happily packing those suitcases, don't forget your most essential travel companion: a Penguin Classic! Here's what some of the folks at the Penguin Group are bringing along as their favorite travel and beach reads:

  • Tina Coviello, Viking/Penguin Publicity: On The Road by Jack Kerouac
  • John Fagan, Viking/Penguin Marketing: Under the Sea-Wind by Rachel Carson
  • Luke Dempsey, Hudson Street Press Editorial: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
  • Annette Pollert, Viking Editorial: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
  • Max Brallier, Contracts: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
  • Josh Kendall, Viking Editorial: The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
  • Stephen Morrison, Penguin Editorial: The Guide by R. K. Narayan
  • Karen Anderson, Viking/Penguin Editorial: The Monk by Matthew Lewis
  • Courtney Allison, Viking/Penguin Publicity: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen