Readers 'Jump into' Classics in Publishing Venture

LONDON – Readers will be able to "jump" from a new adventure series into children's classics "Treasure Island" and "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" in a new digital book initiative launched on Amazon's Kindle on Tuesday.

Written by children's author David Gatward and targeting children aged 9-12, the "Booksurfers" series features four children -- Jake, Becca, Ryan and Harriet -- who are kidnapped by an arch-criminal and his evil henchwoman.

They are forced to jump "into" the classic adventure stories to steal famous fictional artefacts such as the map in Treasure Island, using a gadget called the Nautilus.

Readers using the Kindle will be able to switch to the original text of the classic story in what organisers said was an original way for youngsters to experience famous old stories they often encountered only in the movie theater.

Booksurfers was created by intellectual property development company FourteenFiftyFour Ltd, and will be available only in e-book format in the English language through Amazon worldwide. Each adventure comes bundled with the original story.

"There are many fantastic stories from the past few centuries which younger audiences are only familiar with through other representations such as film," said Zoe Watkins, creative director at FourteenFiftyFour.

"Booksurfers gives young readers an opportunity to discover and interact with classic stories in an exciting new way."

"Robin Hood" and "A Christmas Carol" will be published later this year as part of the initiative.