“Descend, bold traveller, into the crater of the jokul of Sneffels, which the shadow of Scartaris touches before the kalends of July, and you will attain the centre of the earth which I have done, Arne Saknussemm.”Īnd act upon it the professor does, immediately preparing for himself and Axel to go explore an extinct volcano called Sneffels (or Snæfell) in Iceland. Suffering from hunger, however, Axel finally yields the message, which is: Axel works on it a bit, and, to his own surprise, figures out the message – but then determines that his uncle will never know it lest he act upon it. The professor’s enthusiasm is diverted, however, when an old piece of paper falls out of the book and is discovered to have a message in code from “Arne Saknussemm!…another Icelander, a savant of the sixteenth century, a celebrated alchemist.” After hours of trying to decipher the code, and asserting that neither he nor anyone else in the house will eat until they have figured it out, he darts out of the room in frustration. It's also worth nothing that the Audible edition of the book, read by Tim Curry, is a delight.Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne opens in Hamburg in 1863, where Professor Otto Lidenbrock has just come home with a prized Icelandic runic manuscript which he is eagerly showing to his uninterested (but pretending to be interested) nephew, Axel, who is also his ward and assistant. Journey to the Center of the Earth has been made into multiple films, including a very good 1959 version starring James Mason, and an enjoyable more modern version starring Brendan Fraser (2008). Characters drink gin in a few scenes, but there's no drunkenness. Attitudes toward women - who figure very little in this novel - are understandably dated. There's a fair amount of suspense as well, and just a little blood (nothing of concern for readers at this level).

This book is heavier on the science than on the fiction, with loads of real and fictional scientific detail and discussions between uncle and nephew about what they observe and how to determine the best path. Lidenbrock discovers an encrypted message in an old Icelandic book: secret directions through volcanic tubes leading to a world below the earth's surface. The story is narrated by Axel, the nephew and research assistant of Otto Lidenbrock, a curmudgeonly but endlessly curious geology professor. Parents need to know that Jules Verne's science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, originally published in 1864, leads readers on an epic subterranean expedition. Adults drink gin a couple of times, and one smokes a pipe in one scene.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Book journey to the center of the earth