First published in 1653, Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler" is a classic and much-loved treatise on the art of fishing. Immediately popular after its publication, "The Compleat Angler" was reprinted and updated numerous times by Walton. Written as a conversation between the fictional characters of the experienced angler Piscator and his student Viator, which was changed to a hunter named Venator in later editions, the treatise is part an instructional...

Harvey Cheyne is the over-indulged son of a millionaire. When he falls overboard from an ocean liner he is rescued by a Portuguese fisherman and, initially against his will, joins the crew of the We're Here for a summer. Through the medium of an exciting adventure story, Captains Courageous (1897) deals with a boy who, like Mowgli in The Jungle Book, is thrown into an entirely alien environment. The supersitious, magical world of the sea and the tough,...

"Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales brings together an unforgettable group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, pilgrims who came from all ranks of society, from the crusading Knight and burly Miller to the worldly Monk and the famously lusty Wife of Bath. Their tales are as various as the tellers, including romance, bawdy comedy, beast fable, learned debate, parable, and Eastern adventure. The resulting collection gives us a set of characters so vivid...

After a cyclone transports her to the land of Oz, Dorothy must seek out the great wizard in order to return to Kansas.

Following three slaves and their experiences in and out of slavery, Stowe's novel deals with the effects of slavery on both blacks and whites in the antebellum, or pre-Civil War, South. Uncle Tom's Cabin can be seen in four uneven parts: Part I consisting of chapters one through nine, about the slave Eliza and her escape to freedom; Part II consisting of chapters ten through twenty-nine, about Uncle Tom and his relationship with Little Eva on the...

This classic story of the March family women and their lives in New England during the Civil War has remained enduringly popular since its publication in 1868. Poor, argumentative, loving, and optimistic, the March sisters struggle to supplement their family's meager income and realize their own dreams. This highly autobiographical novel shows us women who are strong-minded and independent in their determination to control their own destiny. The introduction...

In an enchanted forest outside Athens, four young lovers stumble into a world where nothing is as it seems. Fairies quarrel, mischief reigns, and a mischievous sprite named Puck delights in turning order into chaos. As spells are cast and hearts are tangled, dreams and reality blur in a night of comedy, confusion, and unexpected love. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a sparkling comedy of romance and imagination. Filled with magic, mistaken...

In tracing the parish boy's progress, Dickens did not write a topical satire on the workhouse system and the role of the 1834 New Poor Law in fostering criminality, he created a story about the survival of good, and the exploitation of violence.

"'Arms and the man I sing of Troy ... ' So begins one of the greatest works of literature in any language. Written by the Roman poet Virgil more than two thousand years ago, the story of Aeneas' seven year journey from the ruins of Troy to Italy, where he becomes the founding ancestor of Rome, is a narrative on an epic scale: Aeneas and his companions contend not only with human enemies but with the whim of the gods. His destiny preordained by Jupiter,...

The escapades of four animal friends who live along a river in the English countryside--Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger.