Classic English Literature For Teens

Once upon a... time there was a marvellous land of Snergs. Miss Watkyns, a teacher who loved children, lived there. Just over the river lived Golithos, a not so friendly giant, who also loved children – with a lot of salt! He had a friend called Mother Meldrum, the wickedest witch that ever lived. When Sylvia and Joe run away for a big adventure their lives are in deadly peril when they fall into the clutches of these two evil characters.

To protect those she loves from herself, Jax will leave them all behind. She'll risk everything in a desperate search for answers. Jax Pherson fled the darkest of covens and from her own father's evil. For a brief moment, her courage was rewarded. She found everything she'd ever wanted. A normal life. An amazing boyfriend. An envy-worthy best friend. But her past put them all in danger, forcing a confrontation with the dark covens. In a life-and-death battle to save those she loved from the covens, Jax gained staggering power.

Machiavelli cut his political teeth during the Renaissance, a time of intense hatred between Italian city states. Machiavelli was a man of action, a devout patriot. He wrote The Prince to describe how a leader could unite Italy and put a stop to the senseless conflict. This edition includes an addenda and Machiavelli's biography of Castruccio Castracani: his archetypal prince.

This novel tells the story of Catherine Sloper, the plain, obedient daughter of the widowed, well-to-do Dr. August Sloper of Washington Square. When a handsome, reckless man-about-town proposes to Catherine, her father forbids the marriage because he believes the man to be after Catherine's fortune and future inheritance. The conflict between father, daughter, and suitor provokes consequences in the lives of all three that make this story one of James's most piercingly memorable.

Much like Lin-Manuel Miranda did in Hamilton, the New York Times best-selling author David Elliott turns a classic on its head in form and approach, updating the timeless story of Theseus and the Minotaur for a new generation. A rough, rowdy, and darkly comedic young adult retelling in verse, Bull will have listeners reevaluating one of mythology's most infamous monsters.

Little Women is a novel by the short story writer and novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), who was also an abolitionist and a feminist. Little Women was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869 and is still a popular children's novel. The setting is an imaginary household based on her own residence in Massachusetts, while the characters are modeled on the author and her sisters. The story takes place during the Civil War. The narrative chronicles the lives of the four March sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy - from childhood to motherhood.

Elaine "The Mink" LaCroix has just cat-burglared into a temple in Japan and reaches for the Eye of Buddha - a blazing green emerald as big as a man's fist - when she slumps to the ground. A white bony hand strips the glowing silver ring from her finger. Half a world away, Merlin opens his eyes and whispers, "It is not to be, little Mink", then drifts to the sleep of the enchanted.

In a post-apocalyptic world ruled by a Governor who is both feared and worshipped, Willow is a 17-year-old girl who is trying to get through her last year of studies. But when her father dies, she experiences strange dreams that change everything about how she looks at the world and at herself. Haunted by the tragedy, Willow pushes herself beyond anything she could have imagined she was capable of. It's only when she catches the attention of some of the Governor's informants that her world is turned upside-down.

Based on Kipling's own adolescent experiences, Stalky and Co. is a cunning story of mischievous 19th century British schoolboys attempting scholastic mutiny. The faculty and headmaster of a boys' private school repeatedly pursue a trio of poetic pranksters, "Stalky", "Beetle", and "Turkey", as they wage war on fellow students and the "establishment" with unwavering energy and creativity.

Penny’s father is a newspaper owner being sued for libel in his home base of New York. He sends her on a western ski vacation in order to avoid the legalities, but she manages to gain entrance to a room with a mysterious Green Door, an entrance to an illegal fur importation racket from Canada. The culprits turn out to be those pursuing the libel situation back east. She is threatened with possible death, but not only solves the fur racket but winds up scooping a rival reporter.

While taking a break from his latest painting, an artist casually stands at his window, looking at the street below. Much to his horror he sees a hideously disfigured man, a man whose features draw a repulsive shudder - the artist recognizes him from a nightmare foretelling his own death.

Siblings Alexina and Stephen are down on their luck this year and resign themselves to not having a Christmas dinner. But when their wealthy, gourmand uncle James invites himself to their house for Christmas, the pair scramble to lay out a sumptuous feast, including his favorite, Mince pie. But 10 minutes before the turkey is done, an unforeseeable disaster occurs that threatens to ruin everything.

Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew want to adopt an orphan, to help on the farm at Green Gables. They ask for a boy, but they get Anne, who has red hair and freckles, and who talks and talks and talks.They didn’t want a girl, but how can they send a child back, like an unwanted parcel? So Anne stays, and begins a new life in the sleepy, quiet village of Avonlea in Canada.

Azrael's a wingless angel, and if that wasn't bad enough, she's the only one with a functioning conscience. Her bi-color eyes mark her as a moral hybrid, and when she breaks her enslavement to Manor Saffron by making a deal with a demon, she doesn't expect to become Queen. She'll have to survive her new royal magic, convince a legion of angels she's worth fighting for, and find the breach in her Faustian deal, or risk a new master with horns.

This CliffsNotes study guide on Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, critical commentaries, and expanded glossaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work.

Young Cedric Errol lives in poverty in New York with his mother. When his father, who was disinherited for marrying an American, dies, Cedric is summoned to his grandfather's English estate. While the crotchety old Earl planned to transform the boy into a docile, traditional lording, it is Little Lord Fauntleroy who does the converting.

Travelling to the Ice Kingdom, along with her bodyguard Dylan - who continues to be bound to her - to where the holder of her magic dwells. The War of Faerie amplifies and her only chance to save it will be to resist the enchantments of the Ice King, one of the ancient rulers of Faerie. But he has his own agenda and will do anything to stop her from making it to the Summer Kingdom, with her family, to claim back her throne.

Volume nine of the Tom Swift series pits our hero Tom Swift against his arch rival Andy Foger in an airplane race for a prize of $10,000. A lot of money back in 1910. Andy has developed an even nastier bag of tricks in this volume. Our hero not only builds the world’s fastest monoplane in his garage, but saves his father's life by flying a world-class surgeon in the monoplane to his father's aid. Every chapter of this book is a cliffhanger, leaving the listener in anticipation of the next exciting chapter.

The Gambler brilliantly captures the strangely powerful compulsion to bet that Dostoevsky, himself a compulsive gambler, knew so well. The hero rides an emotional roller coaster between exhilaration and despair, and secondary characters such as the grandmother, who throws much of her fortune away at the gaming tables, are unforgettable.

The CliffsNotes study guide on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, and critical commentaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work.