A Journey to the Centre of the Earth

It all began when Professor Otto Liedenbrock discovered a coded message in an old runic manuscript, but it was his nephew, Axel, who deciphered the messages meaning. That's when the race truly started. The message pointed the way to a previously unknown world, one lurking right beneath their feet. And with that brief clue, the hunt was on. Liedenbrock, Otto, and their native guide Hans descend into the depths of the Icelandic volcano Snæfell, in search of adventure and new lands, and find it… in spades! Prehistoric monsters, aquatic dangers, strange geology, proto-humans, and the adventures of a lifetime await them as they voyage toward the center of the Earth, and then back up again to escape into the sunlight.Author Jules Verne (1828-1905) started life as a lawyer, but soon quit the profession to devote himself to writing, to the world's greater benefit. His first produced play, Les Pailles rompues (The Broken Straws), debuted in Paris in 1850, the year before he received his law license. His first published short story, "L'Amérique du Sud. Etudes historiques. Les Premiers Navires de la Marine Mexicaine" ("The First Ships of the Mexican Navy"), was published in Musée des families in 1851. His first published novel, Cinq semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon)—the first of his Voyages Extraordinaires, and the first of more than 50 novels—finally appeared in 1863. Today, Verne is remembered as one of the founders of science fiction, and is one...