Classic Childrens Literature

Rilla Blythe, youngest daughter of Anne, is almost 15 in 1914. As her brothers and friends prepare to go off to battle, the irrepressible Rilla realizes that she will be changed forever and the world will never be the same.

In Wild Things, Vanity Fair contributing editor Bruce Handy revisits the classics of every American childhood, from fairy tales to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and explores the back stories of their creators, using context and biography to understand how some of the most insightful, creative, and witty authors and illustrators of their times created their often deeply personal masterpieces.

The Enormous Crocodile decides that he wants a nice juicy child for lunch, horrifying the other animals in the jungle—his friend, the Notsobig One; Humpy-Rumpy, the hippopotamus; Trunky, the elephant; Muggle-Wump, the monkey; and the Roly-Poly Bird. Despite his secret plans and clever tricks, what the boastful crocodile doesn't know is that the brave jungle animals have plans of their own for him!

The young boy Peter, together with his friend the bird, manages to catch a hungry wolf who has come to his garden, looking for food and chasing all the animals, including a duck whom he manages to swallow. After the wolf has been caught with a lasso, hunters arrive, intending to shoot him. Instead, Peter proposes to bring him to the zoo, and the hunters, Peter, his grandfather, and the animals form a procession to deliver the wolf.

More than anything else in the world, Emily Byrd Starr wants to be a writer. When Emily's stern and proper Aunt Elizabeth finally consents to send her away to high school, the budding author is overjoyed...until she learns of her aunt's conditions. Emily must live with her even sterner and more proper Aunt Ruth, and she has to give up writing stories for the duration of her schooling. Still, to climb one step higher on the Alpine Path to success, Emily agrees. Follow Emily and her friends Ilse, Teddy, and Perry as they head off to school in Shrewsbury.

In a great green room, tucked away in bed, is a little bunny. "Goodnight room, goodnight moon." And to all the familiar things in the softly lit room—to the picture of the three little bears sitting on chairs, to the clocks and his socks, to the mittens and the kittens, to everything one by one—the little bunny says goodnight.

Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog find excitement and adventure wherever they go in Enid Blyton's most popular series. In book five, the Famous Five go on a caravan holiday. When they stumble across a circus troupe, the gang are thrilled. But some of the circus people have more sinister plans than just clowning around....

Ten stories featuring the inimitable Winnie the Pooh, including "Pooh Goes Visiting" and "Piglet Meets a Heffalump".

Moni, the goat boy, was a very cheerful young man who loved his job and his flock with all his heart. When young Paula first encounter's Moni's jubilant nature and happy song, she is captivated by his joy and becomes his friend. Moni spends each day up in the mountains with the goats and has a particularly special attachment to a kid named Maggerli. One day, Moni runs into a boy from another village who has discovered a beautiful diamond cross and the boy tells Moni that if he keeps his secret about the gross, he will buy Maggerli for Moni to save her from death.

A peaceful holiday in the Welsh mountains should be on the cards for Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Jack, but they, once again, manage to land themselves in another dangerous adventure. Wolves, rumbling mountains and mysterious strangers are the order of this holiday.

This collection of bedtime stories for children includes the following stories: The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Rapunzel, Jabberwocky, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Ugly Duckling, and The Little Mermaid.

Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant testing in his basement. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, really. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they...meet...some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plantlike tendencies. In fact he is becoming distinctly weedy - and seedy. Is it just part of their father's "harmless" experiment? Or has the basement turned into another little shop of horrors?

Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert decide to adopt a young boy to help on the farm. All of Avonlea is shocked and surprised when Anne Shirley arrives and takes the little community by storm. The first of the series written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables is the heartwarming tale of how imagination and love transform the hardest of hearts and stiffest of spines.

If you haven't met a Moomin yet, you're in for the most magical fun! The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Tove Jansson's endearing classic, Finn Family Moomintroll, read with warmth (and some lively character voices) by the comedian Hugh Dennis.Moomintroll is cheerful and chubby and lives in the magical Moominvalley with his mother, Moominmamma, his father, Moominpappa and all of their friends. Throughout the winter the Moomins hibernate, but before they go to sleep they fill their tummies full of pineneedles. In spring they wake up, ready for their fun-filled summer adventures. This is the story in which Moomintroll finds a big hat - a magical Hobgoblin hat, no less…

Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Jack are going for a night flight on Bill's plane and soon find themselves flying into a truly amazing adventure. What has happened to Bill? Who are the two strange pilots, and what is the secret treasure hidden somewhere in the lonely valley the children have landed in?

Enid Blyton's much-loved classic series, packed full of adventure and mystery. A river cruise through ancient desert lands will be an adventure in itself, think Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Jack. An adventure it certainly is, especially when Bill disappears and the children, along with Kiki the parrot, are trapped beneath a forgotten temple where no one has set foot for 7,000 years.

Good Wives continues the story of the Little Women, the March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, as they approach womanhood. Meg longs to begin her new life with John Brook, though they can never be rich; Jo returns to devote herself to literature, and to Beth, whose illness has left her weak but whose serenity shines through the household; and Amy has gone to Aunt March, bribed with the offer of drawing lessons.

Mitchell Moinian tried to do some homework. But he kept jumping up and going to his bedroom window to peer down at the car. A street light made the chrome bumpers sparkle and the sleek blue body glow. Mitchell couldn't resist. He had to sit in the car. Mitchell had no idea how scary this ride was going to be.

A brand-new title from Michael Bond chronicling new and exciting adventures of Paddington Bear!
Somehow Paddington always finds himself in extraordinary situations, so it is no surprise when he appears on a popular TV cooking show, finds himself on a stage giving one of his hard stares to a hypnotist, and performing some precarious tricks at Mr. Gruber’s birthday party. For nearly 60 years, Paddington has enchanted readers around the world with his numerous misadventures and earnest good intentions.

On Prince Edward Island, aging siblings Mathew and Marilla Cuthbert decide to adopt a boy to help with chores around the farm. But when Mathew arrives at the train platform, the only living creature in sight, legs dangling from the piles of shingles where she sits, is a freckled, green-eyed, redheaded little girl. Mathew senses immediately that life at Green Gables is going to be very different. And how right he is.