Little Tom

Tille, Václav, 1867-1937Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 180K words
Chapters: 19

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Little Tom by Václav TilleAuthor: Tille, Václav, 1867-1937,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jan 31, 2011

Editor's review

Little Tom is an English-language work by the Czech writer Václav Tille (1867–1937), released by Project Gutenberg as a free e-book. Tille was himself a folklorist and literary scholar, and this background gives his children's writing the narrative texture of folk tales rather than that of a mere didactic sketch. The book falls under juvenile belles lettres; it is short and moderate in difficulty, making it a good entry point to early English-language children's literature. The Gutenberg edition is also valuable for its public-domain status: readers may freely obtain, quote, and reuse it, and researchers can treat it as a sample of European children's literature around the turn of the twentieth century. Note that the e-edition was prepared by Project Gutenberg, so readers should focus on the story's pacing and characters rather than expect detailed notes or an introduction. It suits reading in short stretches—on a commute or before bed—and works well as extensive reading material for English learners.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want light English texts for extensive reading
Readers interested in European folk tales and early children's literature
Translation or adaptation enthusiasts who need public-domain material
Parents looking for short English books for their children

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting detailed notes, introductions, or scholarly resources
Readers who prefer long, complex plots or modern narrative pacing
Readers uncomfortable with the period feel of early children's literature

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the main storyline, then look up unfamiliar words on a second pass to avoid interrupting the reading rhythm.
Consult the information on the Gutenberg page about the author and edition to deepen your understanding of the text's context.
If using it for English study, retell each section in two or three sentences to check comprehension.
For parent-child reading, have an adult read aloud first, then ask the child to recount the story in Chinese.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What English level is this book suited to?

As early children's literature, its language is generally plain with short sentences, though it carries period usage. Readers with basic English reading ability who can handle the occasional word with a dictionary can try it; it suits extensive rather than intensive reading.

What are the features of the Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg was the earliest project to offer free e-books, and this is its public-domain e-edition of the work, free to obtain and use. The edition is usually plain text with few notes or introductions, so readers must supply background themselves.

What else is worth knowing about the author, Tille?

Václav Tille (1867–1937) was a Czech writer and folklorist who long studied folk tales and literature. This background gives his children's writing a folk-narrative quality; watch for traces of oral literature in the stories.

Is this book suitable for translation practice?

Yes. The text is in the public domain, moderate in length, and not difficult, making it good for short English-to-Chinese practice. Translate a section on your own first, then compare with another version or review your own work, focusing on tone and pacing in children's literature.

Comments

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About the author

Tille, Václav, 1867-1937 Author · Czech · 1867–1937

Tille, Václav (1867–1937) was a Czech literary historian and writer. He worked for many years in literary history while also engaging in comparative literature, looking beyond a single national tradition to the circulation and transformation of folk narrative across different traditions. As a writer, he retold folk fairy tales under a pen name, turning oral stories into readable texts; his representative work is Little Tom. Such retellings preserve the folk character of the tales while showing his care for narrative method and language style. Public information on the details of his life is limited, and the specific course of his scholarly and writing activities is difficult to describe in detail; judging from the surviving works, however, his contribution lies mainly in linking academic research with popular reading, bringing folk tales into a more stable written form and thus to a wider readership. The library currently holds one work by him.