The Bishop's Candlesticks

What this book practices

A retelling, in new words, of an episode from Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables: a released convict, a bishop's silver, and a mercy that is harder to bear than punishment. Practices reading motive and tracing a change of heart through evidence in the text.

Level

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

Themes

Classic, Kindness, Honesty

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 an episode of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (1862). Source: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (1862).

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 one episode near the beginning of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, a French novel: the released convict Jean Valjean, Bishop Myriel of Digne, the stolen silver and the boy on the road. The episode is shortened and retold in new sentences. The retelling was checked against the public-domain English translation by Isabel F. Hapgood (1887) and reworded so that no sentence follows it; no abridgement, play, musical, film or illustrated edition was used. Only the events, the names and the two short lines named in the text record come from the original. Public domain. In the United States, copyright in works published before 1929 has expired, and this work was first published in 1862. In countries where copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, the term ended on 31 December 1955, because Victor Hugo died in 1885. The retelling uses the wording of no English translation apart from the two short lines named in the text record (it was checked against Isabel F. Hapgood's translation of 1887, which is itself in the public domain), so no translator's rights are involved. 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 (a mountain town in southern France in 1815). 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 one episode of Les Misérables (Jean Valjean's arrival in Digne, the night at the bishop's house and the day after). Every sentence is new PlayOwl wording. The text was checked against the public-domain English translation by Isabel F. Hapgood (1887) and reworded so that no sentence follows it. Two very short lines spoken by Jean Valjean are kept in words that translation also uses: "I am not even a dog" and "I am a wretch!" Original wording owned by PlayOwl. The underlying story is in the public domain (see the adaptation record).