Dating back to the 6th century BC, Aesop's Fables tell universal truths through the use of simple allegories that are easily understood. Though almost nothing is known of Aesop himself, and some scholars question whether he existed at all, these stories stand as timeless classics known in almost every culture in the world. This is volume 5 of 12.
Dating back to the 6th century BC, Aesop's Fables tell universal truths through the use of simple allegories that are easily understood. Though almost nothing is known of Aesop himself, and some scholars question whether he existed at all, these stories stand as timeless classics known in almost every culture in the world. This is volume 6 of 12.
Dating back to the 6th century BC, Aesop's Fables tell universal truths through the use of simple allegories that are easily understood. Though almost nothing is known of Aesop himself, and some scholars question whether he existed at all, these stories stand as timeless classics known in almost every culture in the world. This is volume 7 of 12.
Dating back to the 6th century BC, Aesop's Fables tell universal truths through the use of simple allegories that are easily understood. Though almost nothing is known of Aesop himself, and some scholars question whether he existed at all, these stories stand as timeless classics known in almost every culture in the world. This is volume 8 of 12.
Dating back to the 6th century BC, Aesop's Fables tell universal truths through the use of simple allegories that are easily understood. Though almost nothing is known of Aesop himself, and some scholars question whether he existed at all, these stories stand as timeless classics known in almost every culture in the world. This is volume 9 of 12.
"Heidi" takes us on a journey to the eventful childhood of a good-hearted girl from the Swiss Alps. A warm and loving story, full of touching moments, it reaches children and adults alike. It was written in 1880 and published in two parts:
1. Heidi's years of learning and travel.
2. Heidi makes use of what she has learned.
This English translation from 1915 has "an especial flavor, that very quality of delight in mountain scenes, in mountain people and in child life generally, which is one of the chief merits of the German original. The phrasing has also been carefully adapted to the purpose of reading aloud"
In The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920), the first of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books, we are introduced to the good doctor who gives up treating people after Polynesia, his parrot, teaches him animal languages. His fame in the animal kingdom spreads throughout the world and soon he sets off to cure a monkey epidemic in Africa, finding all sorts of exciting adventures on the way.
This recording is of the original edition, which is in the public domain. Later editions, which are still under copyright, changed some language and plot elements that are considered racially derogatory.
Anne's House of Dreams is book five in the series, and chronicles Anne's early married life, as she and her childhood sweetheart Gilbert Blythe begin to build their life together.
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day...
Written in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit, or, How Toys Become Real is the tale of a sweet unassuming toy rabbit who questions what it is to live and to love. It was the first children's title written by Margery Williams (1881 - 1944), who had previously created only for adults. This story eclipsed all others, to become her most famous work, and an ever adored classic for all ages. (Summary written by Marlo Dianne)
"It was by a sort of accident that The Velveteen Rabbit became the beginning of all the stories I have written since…By thinking about toys and remembering toys, they suddenly become very much alive. Toys I had loved as a little girl--my almost forgotten Tubby, who was the rabbit, and Old Dobbin, the Skin Horse, and the toys my children had loved." -- Margery Williams
This classic story by Margery Williams, published in 1922, imparts the timeless message that toys need not be expensive or modern to be appreciated. Through giving and receiving love, even a commonplace stuffed animal can become real in the eyes of a child. This recording, read by a mother and daughter, is dedicated to Barbara Bear, who is real.
The Marvelous Land of Oz is the second of the Oz books. It follows the adventures of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Tip. The Emerald City has been taken over by the Army of Revolt, and our adventurous friends need the help of Glinda the Good to return it to its rightful ruler.
First published in 1908, this is a book of "beautiful legends and fairy tales of Japan" that were collected, translated and retold by the author, Yei Theodora Ozaki, who states: "...in telling them I have also found that they were still unknown to the vast majority, and this has encouraged me to write them for the children of the West." In part, the project was the result of a suggestion made by her friend Andrew Lang, another collector of fairy stories, who printed his stories in the many Colored Fairy Books.
Written in 1921, this is the final book in L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. Set during World War I, it shows the courage and endurance of the sisters, mothers and wives (and brothers and fathers) left to tend the home front. The main focus of the book is on Anne and Gilbert’s youngest daughter, Rilla.
This story follows the lives of four sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Set in the tumultuous days of the American Civil war, readers grow to love the four sisters as they grow and mature into young women. This book has characters any girl can relate to because each of the four March sisters has a unique and different personality. A story that the young and old have enjoyed for years, this book truly is a classic.
George MacDonald's fairy stories and fantasy have inspired a number of writers including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and of this popular fairy story, which as you might suspect concerns a little princess plotted against by a race of goblins, G.K. Chesterton said that it "made a difference to my whole existence."
A dragon who flies out of a magical book; one whose purr quiets a fussy baby; another who eats an entire pack of tame hunting-hippopotomuses: These eight dragon tales are filled with the imaginative wit of children's author Edith Nesbit.
Little Men (published 1871) is considered the second book of the Little Women trilogy written by Louisa May Alcott. (The book Good Wives (1869) was originally the sequel to the novel Little Women (1868), however those two novels are now usually published as a single volume.) The final book of the trilogy is Jo's Boys (1886).
Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at the Plumfield Estate School that she runs with her husband. The mischievous kids, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they become proper gentlemen and ladies. We also get cameo appearances of almost all the characters found in the previous books, almost all of them happy and well.
Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at the Plumfield Estate School that she runs with her husband, Professor Bhaer. The mischievous children, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they become proper gentlemen and ladies. We also get cameo appearances of almost all the characters found in the previous books, almost all of them happy and well. Meg's older two children, Demi and Daisy, also attend the school and so do Mr. Bhaer's German nephews Franz and Emil.
Little Men is the sequel to Louisa May Alcott's bestselling book Little Women. It opens as Jo March and her husband Fritz Bhaer begin a school for boys, called Plumfield. The book follows the escapades of the Plumfield boys and the children of Jo, Amy and Meg as mischief, laughter and love fill the school.
This is the handwritten book that Carroll wrote for private use before being urged to develop it later into Alice in Wonderland. It was generously illustrated by Carrol and meant to entertain his family and friends. When a sick child in a hospital enjoyed it so much, the mother wrote him saying it had distracted her for a bit from her pain and led eventually to Carroll expanding the story.
Rainbow Valley, the seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series explores the world of Anne & Gilbert’s six children along with the exploits of the Merediths, the children of the town’s new minister. With no mother and an absent-minded father, the Meredith children are not being properly brought up. This leads to their many adventures causing the ladies of the town to gossip, risking their father's job. These kind-hearted, but misguided children fumble their way through bringing themselves up, and learn about life and love along the way
Little Lord Fauntleroy is a sentimental children's novel by American (English-born) author Frances Hodgson Burnett, serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1885. It was a runaway hit for the magazine and was separately published in 1886. The book was a commercial success for its author, and its illustrations by Reginal Birch set fashion trends. Little Lord Fauntleroy also set a precedent in copyright law in 1888 when its author won a lawsuit over the rights to theatrical adaptations of the work.
In mid-1880s Brooklyn, New York, Cedric Errol lives with his Mother (never named, known only as Mrs Errol or "dearest") in genteel poverty after his Father Captain Errol dies. They receive a visit from Havisham, an English lawyer with a message from Cedric's grandfather, Lord Dorincourt. Cedric is now Lord Fauntleroy and heir to the Earldom and a vast estate. The Earl wants Cedric to live with him and learn to be an English aristocrat. He offers Mrs Errol a house and income but refuses to meet or have anything to do with her.
The crusty Earl is impressed by the appearance and intelligence of his young American grandson, and charmed by his innocent nature. He admits that Cedric, who has befriended and cared for the poor and needy on the Earl's estate, will be a better Earl than he was.
A pretender to Cedric's inheritance appears, but the claim is investigated and disproved with the assistance of Cedric's loyal American friends. The Earl is reconciled to his son's American widow.
The Earl had intended to teach his grandson how to be an aristocrat; however, Cedric inadvertently teaches his grand-father that an aristocrat should practice compassion and social justice towards persons who are dependent on him. The Earl becomes the kind and good man Cedric always innocently believed him to be. Cedric is reunited with his mother, who comes to live in the ancestral castle with them. "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is the first children's novel written by English–American playwright and author Frances Hodgson Burnett.
The purpose of The Junior Classics is to provide, in ten volumes containing about five thousand pages, a classified collection of tales, stories, and poems, both ancient and modern, suitable for boys and girls of from six to sixteen years of age.
Finding a Psammead (sand-fairy) to grant any wish your heart desires seems like the beginning of endless delights, but as Cyril, Anthea, Robert and Jane soon discover, being beautiful, wealthy and popular can have surprising pitfalls! When it comes to wishing they had wings, lived in a besieged castle or to fight Red Indians in the English countryside, the results of their wishes lead to hilarious narrow escapes and (usually) being sent to bed.
"Five Children and It" is the first of the three "Psammead" books by Edith Nesbit, introducing the irascible sand fairy who uses the children's wishes to teach them lessons about life. This dramatised reading brings the four children and their friend vividly to life!
The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for which purpose his words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote: therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided. (from the Author's Preface)
Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero; a courteous, pious and swashbuckling outlaw of the mediæval era who, in modern versions of the legend, is famous for robbing the rich to feed the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. He operates with his "seven score" (140 strong) group of fellow outlawed yeomen – named the Merry Men. He and his band are usually associated with Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire.
The Victorian era generated its own distinct versions of Robin Hood. The traditional tales were often adapted for children, most notably in Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. These versions firmly stamp Robin as a staunch philanthropist, a man who takes from the rich to give to the poor.
Just William is the first book of hilarious short stories about 11-year-old William Brown -- eternally scruffy and frowning. William's family, his elder sister Ethel and brother Robert, placid mother and stern father, and never-ending supply of elderly aunts, cannot understand him. William just likes DOING things, that's all! It's not his fault he likes DOING things, is it?
This book is a fine collection of Indian fairy tales, some are folklore, some are from the Jataka tales, and some from panchatantra.
William is a mischievous eleven year old who is puzzled by the adult world, which is no less puzzled by him. The humor is gentle and pleasing. The series of books is better known in the United Kingdom than in the U.S.
The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales for my Children by Charles Kingsley is a collection of three Greek mythology stories: Perseus, The Argonauts, and Theseus. The author had a great fondness for Greek fairy tales and believed the adventures of the characters would inspire children to achieve higher goals with integrity.
The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew tells the story of how the Peppers live, learn, and play in their little brown house. They are poor, and Mamsie must work constantly to keep the wolf from the door but they do it with gaiety and spirit that would not be expected.
The Peppers make due with whatever they have and the elder children try to make things special for the younger. Though tragedies often befall them, they bear it as best they are able and make the most of the good. (From Wikipedia)
The Five Little Peppers series was created by Margaret Sidney covering the life of five children with the surname Pepper. The Pepper children were very poor, and their widowed mother was left to raise them by herself. In order of age (descending), the children's names were Ben (Ebaniezer), Polly (Mary), Joel, Davie, and Phronsie. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew is the first book in the series.
Plenty of princesses have been cursed by wicked witches, but the curse placed on this princess by her evil aunt is an unusual one: it removes all the princess's gravity. What can break the curse before the princess floats away? Perhaps the best thing for her would be to fall in love, but how a person with no gravity can fall in anything is just the problem.
The story of a Princess named Irene, and her adventure with a boy named Curdie Peterson. Princess Irene meets her grandmother, and Irene wants her nurse, Lootie, to know that her grandmother is so sweet and kind. But Lootie doesn't believe there is a grandmother. One day, while it was getting very late outdoors, Lootie and the Princess loose their way, and cannot remember which way was back home. But then Curdie, the merry miner-boy, want's to save the princess from the evil goblins, and so he makes sure that they cannot get to her. The Princess then wants Curdie to meet her grandmother, but somehow, Curdie cannot see Irene's grandmother, and so he becomes angry with Irene. Much later in the story, the goblins devise an evil plan, to try and merry their prince Harelip to the Princess Irene! And now Curdie knows he must save Irene, even though he was angry with her. So after talking with his parents, Curdie goes out to save the Princess Irene from the horrible goblins. But does Curdie save the Princess? And do the goblins marry their prince Harelip to the Princess Irene? This fascinating story will tell it itself in this wonderful dramatic reading!
The Phoenix and the Carpet is a fantasy novel for children, written in 1904 by E. Nesbit. It is the second in a trilogy of novels that began with Five Children and It (1902), and follows the adventures of the same five protagonists – Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and the Lamb. Their mother buys the children a new carpet to replace the one from the nursery that was destroyed in an unfortunate fire accident. Through a series of exciting events, the children find an egg in the carpet which cracks into a talking Phoenix. The Phoenix explains that the carpet is a magical one that will grant them three wishes per day.
This is an Alice in Wonderland-like story by German classical author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is taken from his Autobiography "Dichtung und Wahrheit" and recounts a story which Goethe says to have made up for the amusement of his friends.
To the millions of children and grown-ups who have loved a Rag Doll, the author dedicated these stories. Now listen as eight voices read to you Raggedy Ann's exciting adventures, as gentle and charming today, as they were when first published in 1918.
Find out what is written on her candy heart, what was the gift the fairies brought, and all about Raggedy Ann's new sisters.
Ozma of Oz was the third title in the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. In this book Dorothy is shipwrecked and lands on the shores of a fairy country that adjoins Oz, the land of Ev. There she meets Tiktok, a wind-up mechanical man; a talking chicken, Billina; and Ozma, the girl ruler of Oz who is leading a quest to rescue the royal family of Ev from their captivity by the Nome King. Dorothy is also reunited with her old friends, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. Together the adventurers travel to the Nome King’s underground kingdom and have many exciting adventures before returning to Oz, and for Dorothy, eventual return to her family in the “civilized” world.
In the sequal to The Story Girl Sara Stanley returns to join the King children in publishing their own local magazine to entertain the town of Carlisle.
Philip and Lucy discover that the city Philip has built using toys, books and household objects, has come alive. This is the account of their incredible adventures in those magical lands, where they meet characters from books and history, mythical beasts, and many other nice (and not so nice) people and creatures.
As with all Edith Nesbit's tales, The Magic City has generous helpings of humour, imagination and interesting ideas, as well as the over-arching story of how a boy and girl who have unwillingly become step-brother and sister eventually learn to like each other.
A story that works on many levels and will be equally enjoyed by adults and children.
Three monkey brothers, Thumb, Thimble, and Nod, are Mulla-mulgars or royal monkeys. As she dies, their mother gives them the enchanted Wonderstone for protection, and tells them to follow their father. They embark on a journey of fantastical adventure to find their father, who left years earlier in search of the kingdom of his brother, the Prince of the Valleys of Tishnar, promising to return for them after he had found the way.
The Little Duke by Charlotte M. Yonge is historical fiction based on the the life of Richard, Duke of Normandy. He assumes the title of Duke at only 8 years of age, after his father is murdered. The story first appeared in her magazine, The Monthly Packet, as a serial.
More William is the second William collection in the much acclaimed Just William series by Richmal Crompton. It is a sequel to the book Just William. The book was first published in 1922,
The second of Crompton's series of 39 books about William Brown, our cheeky 11 year-old protagonist. A hero to some, a dastardly villain to others, this book is structured round a year in his life. Starting with William waking up on Christmas morning and ending with him going to sleep the following Christmas Eve, there are the usual round of misadventures, misunderstanding and general mayhem in between. When a boy like William wakes up under a motto that says "A Busy Day Is A Happy Day" alongside a copy of "Things A Boy Can Do", the chaos is just around the corner. Includes the very first William short story - "Rice Mould". Often dismissed as childrens literature, the first few books of William stories were probably aimed more at an adult audience. They resonate with a distinctly English humour, but there are obvious echoes from 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Huckleberry Finn'.
This wonderful children’s short story tells all about the youth, manhood and old age of Santa Claus and how he became immortal.
We have always loved stories. people have always entertained each other by telling tales around the campfire; traveling storytellers were huge crowd-pullers. Many of these stories were passed down through the generations, largely unchanged. "The stories made by the people, and told before evening fires, or in public places and at the gates of inns in the Orient, belong to the ages when books were few and knowledge limited, or to people whose fancy was not hampered by familiarity with or care for facts; they are the creations, as they were the amusement, of men and women who were children in knowledge, but were thinking deeply and often wisely of what life meant to them, and were eager to know and hear more about themselves, their fellows, and the world. In the earlier folk-stories one finds a childlike simplicity and readiness to believe in the marvellous; and these qualities are found also in the French peasant's version of the career of Napoleon. " (from the Introduction).
Very Short Stories And Verses For Children is a children's book by Lucy Clifford compiling stories and poems informing the little ones about important morals across many traits; hard work, love, friendship, honesty, and loyalty.
This is the story of seven incorrigible children living near Sydney in the 1880’s with their military-man father, and a stepmother who is scarcely older than the oldest child of the family. A favourite amongst generations of children for over a century, this story tells of the cheeky exploits of Meg, Pip, Judy, Bunty, Nell, Baby, and The General (who is the real baby of the family), as well as providing a fascinating insight into Australian family life in a bygone era.
What Katy Did is a children's book written by Susan Coolidge, the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey. It follows the adventures of Katy Carr and her family, growing up in America in the 1860s. Katy is a tall untidy tomboy, forever getting into scrapes but wishing to be beautiful and beloved. When a terrible accident makes her an invalid, her illness and recovery gradually teach her to be as good and kind as she has always wanted.