Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea | Full Week Lesson | Adapted Version | Verne | No Prep

Do you want students to read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but you don’t have weeks to push through a 400-page 19th-century novel with wide variation in reading levels?

Here’s the solution: A resource that gives you both the complete original Jules Verne text (public domain) and a tightly adapted 5-Part, one-week version (1/5th the length of the original), so you can match the reading path to every student—without changing your assessments or losing instructional time.

The adapted and original versions line up part-for-part using a clean chapter mapping (Parts I–V). Every discussion question, multiple-choice exit quiz, short-answer item, and challenge question has been audit-validated to work for both tracks. Mixed-ability classrooms can now stay on the same scenes, ideas, and themes—even when reading different versions of the text.

Quick Guide for Teachers

Adapted-Only Track (Fastest: 5-Day Model)

• Best for classes that need a manageable, one-week novel study.
• Day 1–5: Students read one adapted part per day and use the matching discussion questions and self-grading quiz
• End the week with the Final Worksheet (Vocab + short answer + challenge questions).
• This track keeps the lesson tight, predictable, and easy to finish within the week.

Original-Only Track (Longer: Multi-Day Per Section)

• Ideal for advanced readers or classes with time for a full novel study.
• Students read the original chapters aligned to each adapted Part.
• Assessments still work exactly the same (except no vocab words)
• This track preserves Baum’s full language, pacing, and descriptive style.

Dual-Track Differentiation (Mixed Readers, flexible timelines)

• Lets your entire class study the same plot, themes, and characters at the same time—even if they are reading different versions of the text.
• Assign adapted version part 1 to students who need a shorter, clearer text and original chapters that correspond to part 1 to students reading the full text (This is fully detailed in the Teacher's Guide)
• Give original-text students multiple days per section while adapted-text students can reread, complete targeted vocabulary work, and/or tackle included discussion questions in small-groups.
• All assessments are usable for both tracks: Discussion questions + MC exit quizzes for each Part + Final Worksheet (except for Vocab Words)

What's the tradeoff of using the adapted version?

Pros:

• Reduces story to a fraction of its original length, fitting neatly into a one week lesson.
• Well suited for shorter attention spans to maintain student interest.
• Preserves core narrative elements, themes and character development.
• Better than omitting it completely due to time limits.
• Works for whole-class read-alouds, small-group novel studies, independent reading, or close reading unit.

Cons:

• Omits some original language and details for brevity, potentially losing nuances of the author's style.
• Limits opportunities for in-depth literary analysis by excluding certain subplots or descriptive passages.

This product includes a zip file consisting of:

Full Original Text ~100,000 words (PDF, DOCX)

• Great for advanced students that can read fast or for classrooms that want to take multiple weeks to read through the story.

Adapted Version Text ~18,500 words, 50 pages (PDF, DOCX, Google Docs)

• Divided into 5 parts for easy daily reading sessions

Student Worksheet (PPT, Google Slides, PDF print)

• 10 Vocabulary Words
• 10 Short Answer Recall/Comprehension
• 5 Challenge Questions (synthesis, analysis, themes, real life connection)

Teacher’s Guide & Answer Key (PDF, DOCX, Google Docs)

• 5 Sets of Daily Discussion Questions (1 per part)
• 5 Sets of Self-Graded Exit Quizzes (1 per part, 20Qs each)
• Answer Keys for Vocab, Short Answer, and Challenge Questions
• Key Figures & Places reference sheets to help students track characters and settings
  

Text Summary

Think of this adaptation as a “mini-novel” version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: all five parts, one continuous story, tuned for middle-grade and early high school readers.

• Part 1 – From Rumors of a Sea Monster to the Man of the Seas: Professor Aronnax joins the U.S. frigate Abraham Lincoln to hunt a mysterious “sea monster,” only to discover that the creature is a metal submarine, the Nautilus. Thrown overboard during a nighttime collision, Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land are rescued—then imprisoned—by Captain Nemo, who declares that they will live under the sea and never return to land.
• Part 2 – Life Aboard the Nautilus and Four Thousand Leagues under the Pacific: Nemo reveals the secrets of the Nautilus: its electric power, double hull, and ballast tanks, and leads his guests through an underwater forest near the Island of Crespo. As they cross the Pacific following currents and exploring sea life, the Nautilus eventually grounds near Gilboa, and Nemo calmly calculates that only time and the tides will free his steel ship.
• Part 3 – A Few Days on Land and the Arabian Tunnel: Granted a hunting trip on Gilboa, the trio enjoy a brief return to solid ground before being driven back to the Nautilus by Papuan attackers—whom Nemo drives off with non-lethal electric defenses. A funeral in a coral cemetery, the dramatic rescue of an Indian pearl diver, and a journey through the Red Sea culminate in Nemo’s revelation of a hidden undersea tunnel that carries the Nautilus beneath the Isthmus of Suez into the Mediterranean.
• Part 4 – Treasure, Atlantis, and the Road toward the Pole: In the Mediterranean and Atlantic, Nemo uses hidden gold from wrecked Spanish galleons to quietly fund oppressed peoples, and shows Aronnax the drowned ruins of a city he believes to be Atlantis and submarine coal forests. As the Nautilus turns south and battles cachalots to defend peaceful whales, Nemo drives his ship into Antarctic ice fields and pushes toward what may be the South Pole, proving the reach of his undersea domain.
• Part 5 – Accidents, Vengeance, and Escape from the Maelstrom: Trapped under the Antarctic ice with dwindling air, the crew barely survive a desperate attempt to melt and ram their way out. After rounding Cape Horn and fighting monstrous squids, Nemo sinks a warship from the nation that destroyed his home, revealing the full extent of his vengeance. As the Nautilus drifts toward the deadly Maelstrom and Nemo collapses under his grief, Aronnax, Ned, and Conseil escape in a small boat and are rescued by fishermen, leaving the fate of the Nautilus—and of Captain Nemo—an unanswered question beneath the waves.

This one classical literature reading resource gives you a complete, no-prep, one-week unit for teaching 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in bite-sized steps—preserving Verne’s original story arc and themes while making it truly teachable in real classrooms with real time limits

Try one of these free classical literature mini readers just like this one to see if it meets your needs:

• A Christmas Carol | Free Full Week Lesson | Adapted Version | Charles Dickens
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Full Week Lesson | Adapted Version Text | No Prep

Standards

• Reading Literature: CCSS RL.6-8.1, CCSS RL.6-8.2, CCSS RL.6-8.3, CCSS RL.6-8.4, CCSS RL.6-8.5, CCSS RL.6-8.6
• Writing: CCSS W.6-8.2
• Speaking & Listening: CCSS SL.6-7.1

Want more? Save 40%!

Get the full Middle School Classical Lit Sets | Bundle of 8 Adapted Text Versions

This bundle includes adapted versions of:

• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Baum, 1900) [FREE DOWNLOAD]
• Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery, 1908)
• The Secret Garden (Burnett, 1911)
• The Call of the Wild (London, 1903)
• Black Beauty (Sewell, 1877)
• White Fang (London, 1906)
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Verne, 1870)
• Robinson Crusoe (Defoe, 1719)
• BONUS: A Christmas Carol (Dickens, 1843) [FREE DOWNLOAD]