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Mary Mapes Dodge created an instant bestseller with Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates. She wanted the book to be partly a book of travels and partly a domestic story. It is a tale written for children that adults also find interesting and uplifting. Dodge writes as if she is sending a series of letters from Holland to children in America, and her you-are-there perspective is aided by a nice attention to detail and vivid imagery. The Brinkers are a poor but stoic family under a dark cloud - Raff, the man of the house, fell from the dikes while reinforcing them during a bad storm, and for ten years he has been in a vegetative state. With no steady income, the family's lot is grinding poverty. Despite their unfortunate circumstances, Hans and Gretel are cheerful children, yet always attentive to the needs of their mother and their present-but-not-really-there father. Their social standing is very low, but they both attract firm friends, even among the gentry, for their honesty, industry, and good-heartedness. Then a glorious skating race is proposed for the town of Broek, with the prize a pair of silver skates for both the winning boy ...

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Children

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Mary Godolphin was the pseudonym of Lucy Aikin who undertook translating great literature into single-syllable words so that young readers could enjoy plots that were considerably more interesting than, say, the McGuffey readers of the 1880's or the Dick and Jane primers of the 1950s (still around today as decodable readers in elementary schools). She produced this volume based on Daniel Defoe's most famous work, considered by many to be the first English novel (1719). She also rendered Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Wyss' Swiss Family Robinson, which she translated as well....

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Children

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The Rocket Book can be listened to while viewing a beautiful facscimile edition at the International Children's Digital Libarary (ICDL): http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SaveBook?bookid=newrock_00150085&lang=English http://childrenslibrary.org/ The Rocket Book begins when the son of a building superintendent sets a match to a rocket he discovered in the basement. Suddenly, the rocket blasts its way up through apartment after apartment in a high-rise, disrupting and transforming the humdrum goings-on of twenty families till it is finally stopped cold by something in the attic. An elliptical hole is punched in each of the book's pages and illustrations to signify where the rocket passed through every apartment! As in all of Newell's books, the verse on the verso-page provides commentary on the recto-page illustration. This book and Newell’s The Slant Book pioneered the “special format” children’s literature of today, such as pop-up books or cutout books like Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Newell’s books from 80 years ago have been reprinted, since Newell has undergone a resurgence in popularity much as Dr. Seuss’s books...

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Children

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Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do ... .. and from that moment onward we drift with Alice into another world. When she sees a White Rabbit as it runs through the tall grass (looking worriedly at the watch it takes from its waist-coat pocket), she runs after it and drops into a strange dream. The world is full of chatty animals, from a rather stand-offish hookah-smoking caterpillar to the friendly Cheshire Cat which only sometimes goes to the bother of having a body. And everyone seems to be ordering her about ... or telling her to recite poetry! ... and all those verses that she once knew so well seem strangely distorted.In this book and in Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll affectionately brought together many of the wonderful stories he told to Alice and her sisters on long summer boating trips....

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Children

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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)...

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Children

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The classic Aesop's Fables have been translated to every language for hundreds of years. The fables, told in the form of allegories, give us universal, worldly advice. The use of animals and ancient gods makes the lessons unbiased and impartial. Short and smart, these fables entertain and enrich our lives. In this volume you will find 30 of the 300 fables we offer you in Spanish. Las clásicas Fábulas de Esopo han sido traducidas a todos idiomas por cientos de años. Las fábulas, en forma de alegorias, nos dan consejos en una forma universal. El uso de animales y dioses antiguos hace que las lecciones sean imparcial. Cortitas y sabias, cada fábula nos entretiene y enriquese nuestras vidas. En este volúmen encontrará 30 de las 300 fábulas que le ofrecemos en Español....

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Children, Animals

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ENGLISH: Heart (Italian: Cuore) was a children's novel written by Italian author Edmondo De Amicis. It is set during the Italian unification, and includes several patriotic themes. It was issued by Treves on October 17, 1886, the first day of school in Italy, and rose to immediate success. The novel is written in a diary form as told by Enrico Bottini, a 10-year old primary school student in Italy with an upper class background who is surrounded by classmates of working class origin. The entire chronological setting corresponds to the third-grade season. Enrico's parents and older siblings sometimes correspond with Enrico through the means of his diary: his teacher assigns him with homework dealing with stories of children throughout the Italian states, who should serve as role models - the stories are then given in full as Enrico is supposed to have written them. Most topics revolve around moral values, and the predilect ones include helping those in need, love for family and friends, and patriotism. ITALIAN: Cuore è un romanzo scritto nel 1886 da Edmondo de Amicis, pubblicato nel 1888. Fu un grande successo, tanto che de Amicis di...

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Children

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Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was an English author and poet, born in India, and best known today for his children’s books, including The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, and Puck of Pook’s Hill; his novel, Kim; his poems, including “Mandalay”, “Gunga Din”, and “If—”; and his many short stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King” and the collections Life’s Handicap, The Day’s Work, and Plain Tales from the Hills. He is regarded as a major “innovator in the art of the short story”; his children’s books are enduring classics of children’s literature; and his best work speaks to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. Dan and Una met Puck last summer, in Puck of Pook’s Hill. This summer, they meet him again - and several individuals from different periods in history, who, while generally not famous themselves, tell their tales of meeting Queen Elizabeth, Francis Drake, George Washington, and other well-known historical figures. Sadly, Dan and Una forget these encounters as soon as they are over, but the reader can enjoy them for years to come! (Sum...

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Children

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In dit vierde van zes boeken over Dik Trom, krijgt Dik een nieuw buurmeisje die blind is. Ook bezoekt hij het circus, ofwel zoals ze vroeger zeiden: het Paardenspel. Andere boeken uit deze serie op /newcatalog/search_advanced.php?title=Dik+Trom&author=&cat=&genre=&status=all&type=&language=Dutch&date=&reader=&bc=&mc=&action=Search...

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Children

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The classic Aesop's Fables have been translated to every language for hundreds of years. The fables, told in the form of allegories, give us universal, worldly advice. The use of animals and ancient gods makes the lessons unbiased and impartial. Short and smart, these fables entertain and enrich our lives. In this volume you will find 30 of the 300 fables we offer you in Spanish. Las clásicas Fábulas de Esopo han sido traducidas a todos idiomas por cientos de años. Las fábulas, en forma de alegorias, nos dan consejos en una forma universal. El uso de animales y dioses antiguos hace que las lecciones sean imparcial. Cortitas y sabias, cada fábula nos entretiene y enriquese nuestras vidas. En este volúmen encontrará 30 de las 300 fábulas que le ofrecemos en Español....

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Children, Animals, Fairy tales

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In this DIRECTORY you'll see just what you never ought to be; and so, it should direct your way to Good Behavior, every day. The children of whose faults I tell are known by other names, as well, so see that you aren't in this group of Naughty Ones. Don't be a Goop! (The author's introduction)...

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Children, Short stories, Poetry

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A second helping of Alphabet Books! This collection has a wide-ranging variety of short books, and not only for younger readers, but also for young and not so young adults. Opening with a book based on the colorful language of London's street vendors, this collection winds its way through a book of tongue-twisters, two primers of nonsense poetry by the inimitable Edward Lear, and early readers from 19th century England. For older readers, there is the biting, sardonic humor of Hilaire Belloc's satirical alphabet verses. There is even a Baseball ABC, a recording which will be released in time for the World Series playoffs! Soup's on! (Summary by Denny Sayers)...

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Children, Instruction, Poetry

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The poems and stories in this collection were selected with the reader’s grandchildren in mind. “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphant Annie,” both by James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier Poet were favorites of the reader when she was a child on a farm in Indiana. Other favorites were picked up along the way as she read to her own daughter and to her students, while other gems were discovered while looking for poems and stories to include in this collection. It is hoped that this collection will bless the hearts of many children and parents alike as they listen together....

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Children, Fiction, Poetry

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Deep in the heart of every parent is the wish, the desire, to have other adults tell us, in an unsolicited way, just how very polite one’s child is! This perhaps was even more the case in 1903, when Gelett Burgess produced his second book on the Goops. With entertaining cartoons - cariacatures of misbehaving children - he described many different breaches of tact and good manners. Burgess wrote several books of poetry on the Goops, each poem describing some significant way in which an unthoughtful or unkind child could offend polite society and often offering the hope that the listener would never behave that way. Ahem! Well, perhaps very few people have succeeded in not acting Goop-like at some point in their lives, but read along with Burgess as he attempts to define, in a humorous fashion, exactly what the differences between “Good” and “Goop” are! (Summary by Mark F. Smith)...

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Children, Comedy, Poetry

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What would you do if you discovered a dragon living in a cave on a hill above your home? Make friends, read poetry together? It turns out that not all dragons are intent on pillaging the countryside. Some might actually enjoy peace, quiet, and the occasional banquet. The Boy of this story knows how to handle dragons, and life is good… until a knight in shining armor arrives in town to exterminate his friend! It doesn’t matter that it’s a “good” dragon — rules are rules, you know! (Summary by Mark)...

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Children, Adventure, Fantasy

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The sweetest songs the world has ever heard are the lullabies that have been crooned above its cradles. The music of Beethoven and Mozart, of Mendelssohn and Schumann may perish, but so long as mothers sing their babies to sleep the melody of cradle lullabies will remain. Of all English and American writers the one who sang most often and most exquisitely these cradle songs was Eugene Field, the children's poet. His verses not only have charm as poetry, but a distinct song quality and a naive fancy that is both childlike and appealing. That they were written out of Eugene Field's deep and genuine love of children and out of his sympathetic understanding of their wondering minds is evident from the fact that his lullabies have taken a high and what seems to be a permanent place in the world's classic literature of childhood. (Excerpted by Becky Miller from the Introduction by Edwin Osgood Grover to “Cradle Lullabies” by Eugene Field, published in 1909)...

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Children, Poetry

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volunteers bring you 19 recordings of The Ghosts' High Noon by W. S. Gilbert. This was the Weekly Poetry HALLOWE'EN project for October 24th, 2010.

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Poetry, Children, Fantasy, Horror/Ghost stories, Humor, Myths/Legends

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Clover is the fourth book in the popular What Katy Did series. After Katy's wedding, the focus shifts to her little sister Clover. Their brother Phil encounters serious illness in the winter, and Dr. Carr sends him with Clover to the mountains of Colorado. Clarence Page, their naughty cousin from the other books, lives nearby. He is a rancher now with an attractive English partner, Geoff Templestowe, whom Clover falls for....

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Children, Fiction, Romance

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volunteers bring you 12 recordings of A New Arrival by George W. Cable. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for May 17th, 2010. The New Arrival is a valuable poem because it expresses the joy of a young father over his new baby. If girls should be educated to be good mothers, so should boys be taught that fatherhood is the highest and holiest joy and right of man. The child is educator to the man. He teaches him how to take responsibility, how to give unbiased judgments, and how to be fatherly like Our Father who is in Heaven. (1844-.) (introduction to 'A New Arrival' from Poems Every Child Should Know by Mary E. Burt ed.)...

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Children, Humor, Poetry

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A mysterious map, pirates, and pieces of eight! When young Jim Hawkins finds a map to pirates’ gold he starts on an adventure that takes him from his English village to a desert island with the murderous Black Dog, half-mad Ben Gunn, and (of course) Long John Silver. Arr Jim lad! R.L. Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Scotland and travelled extensively in California and the south Pacific. (Summary by Adrian Praetzellis)...

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Adventure, Children, Sea stories