Paradise Lost the easy way

I was browsing the children's section at a local bookstore when I ran across The Tale of Paradise Lost. The cover says it's "based on the poem by John Milton; retold by Nancy Willard."
I started thumbing through it, noticing the lovely illustrations by Judy Daly. I was thinking how references to "Paradise Lost" come up often in other books, both high and low literatures. (A cutting edge example would be Neil Gaman's Sandman graphic novel series.) And yes, I studied PL in high school, but not college, and the only thing I remembered about it was that Satan was considered the hero or anti-hero of the work (and why would Milton make it that way?), and that he and his angels fell for nine days before landing in Hell.
So I figured this book would be a pleasant way to catch up on a great work. Being honest about it, I don't see myself going back to the original poem (which you can read on the Internet here) anytime soon, outside of a university class.
Reading the Tale has been interesting, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for kids. Sample passage:

Now let me tell you about the place God prepared for them. All around them roared floods of fire and whirlwinds of flame that gave no light but made the darkness darker. And there, big as a whale, stretched out on the burning lake, lay Satan. He turned to Beelzebub, his second in command. With the light of Heaven snuffed out of Beelzebub, Satan hardly recognized him.
"All is not lost," said Satan. "We still have the power of our hatred. I shall never bow before the Lord."
"Oh, Prince and Chief, what if God left us our courage only to make us suffer more?"

Nancy Willard has also written a children's book inspired by the works of poet William Blake, one of my all-time favorites. It's called A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers. I'll probably read that alongside the original, "Songs of Innocence and Experience."