Around the World in Eighty Days: The Wager

What this book practices

A retelling, in new words, of the opening of Jules Verne's 1872 novel: the exact Mr. Fogg, his new servant Passepartout, the wager at the Reform Club, the departure that same night, and the detective at Suez who takes Fogg for a bank robber. Practices inference about character and motive.

Level

Chapter book: Seven chapters, about 185 words on a page

Themes

Classic, Adventure, Humor

After the story

A short activity checks understanding, then a prompt to tell a grown-up about the book.

Levels are PlayOwl's own design guidelines for each grade, not a certified reading level. In I'll Read, PlayOwl records that a child turned every page; it cannot hear whether the words were read.

Credit and rights

Retold by PlayOwl from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1872). Source: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1872).

The words are new PlayOwl writing that follows a story in the public domain. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Adaptation

Follows the events of the opening of Around the World in Eighty Days (Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) by Jules Verne, a French novel first published in 1872. The story is shortened and retold in new sentences, checked against George M. Towle's English translation of 1873 and reworded so that no sentence follows it; the two short phrases kept are named in the text record. No abridgement, film or illustrated edition was used; only the events, characters and figures of the wager come from the original. The original's dated depictions of other peoples are left out. Public domain. In the United States, copyright in works published before 1929 has expired, and this work was first published in 1872. In countries where copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, the term ended on 31 December 1975, because Jules Verne died in 1905. The 1873 English translation by George M. Towle (died 1893), against which the retelling was checked, is also in the public domain, and no sentence of the retelling follows it. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Cover

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit. An original design, not based on the cover or pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Illustrations

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit, from the picture briefs in this file (London and the port of Suez in 1872). Original designs, not based on the pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Narration

Spoken by the reader's own device voice. PlayOwl ships no recording. No recorded work exists.

Text

Written for PlayOwl in 2026 as a new, shortened retelling of the opening of Around the World in Eighty Days (from Mr. Fogg's London household to the steamer leaving Suez). It was checked against George M. Towle's public-domain English translation of 1873 and reworded so that no sentence follows it. Two short phrases that are also Towle's wording are kept: the title phrase "Around the world in eighty days" and Passepartout's line "so much the worse for the sun". The figures of the wager (days, hours, minutes, step counts, route, dates, sums) are facts of the story, carried in new sentences. Original wording owned by PlayOwl. The underlying story is in the public domain (see the adaptation record).