How long does it take to read A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys?
A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne takes about 3 hours 47 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 47 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1800. 206 pages, about 56,650 words. Written for children.
8 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 6 hours 18 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 47 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 22 minutes |
The page count is the median across 144 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Six legends of Greek mythology, retold for children by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Included are The Gorgon’s Head, The Golden Touch, The Paradise of Children, The Three Golden Apples, The Miraculous Pitcher, and The Chimaera. In 1838, Hawthorne suggested to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that they collaborate on a story for children based on the legend of the Pandora’s Box, but this never materialized. He wrote A Wonder Book between April and July 1851, adapting six legends most freely from Charles Anton’s A Classical Dictionary (1842). He set out deliberately to “modernize” the stories, freeing them from what he called “cold moonshine” and using a romantic, readable style that was criticized by adults but proved universally popular with children. With full-color illustrations throughout by Arthur Rackham.
Subjects: Classical Mythology, Greek Mythology, Children's stories, American, Fairy tales, Mitología griega, Literatura juvenil
