Around the world in eighty days / Jules Verne.

Jules Verne (1828-1905)
Jules Gabriel Verne was born in Nantes, Frances. His early childhood was deeply influenced by sea-faring tradition in the family. Lured by the sailing adventure, young Jules once ran away as a cabin-boy on a trading ship, only to be caught and sent home. Opera and the stage took his next fancy when pursuing Law in Paris. When his enraged father came to know of this and cut off his allowances, Verne began writing to earn.

Verne's first break came when his sci-fi Cinq semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Ballon - 1869) became a runaway success and an acknowledged forerunner to the immortal works that followed. Journey to the Centre of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Mysterious Island, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in 80 Days established Jules Verne's name as a pioneer of science fiction and as an undisputed foreteller of modern inventions to come; among them, the space flight, the guided missiles, submarines - helicopters - motion pictures - and even air-conditioning!

The immense popularity of his work brought him a fortune. In 1876 he bought a personal yacht and sailed around the Continent, beginning the novel The Invasion of the Sea, which was to be his last. Jules Verne died at the age of 77 in the city of Amines in France.

"Phileas Fogg has always been a quiet, orderly, and predicable English gentleman who reads the newspaper, visits the Reform Club, and dines at exactly the same times each day. But this routine is abandoned when he wagers his fortune in a bet at the Reform Club, promising that he can travel around the entire world in eighty days. Fogg sets off immediately to prove his point, accompanied by his new valet, Passepartout, whose job is turning out to be quite different from the tranquil position he expected. As the pair travels by boat, train, carriage, and elephant from one country to the next, Fogg's meticulous planning maps out their route. But not even he can anticipate every delay and danger along the way. And unbeknownst to him, the trip is being shadowed by Detective Fix, who is convinced Fogg is a bank robber running from justice. With the clock counting down, the only thing that's certain is that this trip will end in either glory or ruin"-- Provided by publisher.

Ages 10 up Aladdin