Classic English Literature For Teens

A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900s, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity.

Fifteen-year-old Laura lives apart from her family for the first time, teaching school in a claim shanty 12 miles from home. She is very homesick but keeps at it so that she can help pay for her sister Mary's tuition at the college for the blind. During school vacations Laura has fun with her singing lessons, going on sleigh rides, and, best of all, helping Almanzo Wilder drive his new buggy. Friendship soon turns to love for Laura and Almanzo in the romantic conclusion of this Little House book.

Johnny had been Mr. Lapham's star pupil, a clever, industrious apprentice silversmith. But when Johnny seriously burns his hand in a furnace, he finds himself crippled and with no means of taking care of himself. Soon, trouble reaches Johnny's life in a new way. Swept along in the tide of events leading to the Boston Tea Party and the first skirmishes of Lexington and Concord, Johnny finds a job as message-carrier for the Sons of Liberty. As young and old men alike make sacrifices for a new country, Johnny prepares to take his own stand in the cause for freedom.

Mary Lennox didn’t think about death until the day it knocked politely on her bedroom door and invited itself in. When a terrible accident leaves her orphaned at 15, she is sent to the wilderness of the Georgian Bay to live with an uncle she's never met. At first the impassive, calculating girl believes this new manor will be just like the one she left in Toronto: cold, isolating, and anything but cheerful, where staff is treated as staff and never like family.

Travelers visit many strange places. They see very many wonderful things. When they return home they tell wonderful stories about what they have seen. Thus begins Jonathan Swift’s immortal Lemuel Gulliver in his witty masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels.

In rural North Carolina, in 1951, despite parental reassurances, a typhoid shot hurt. It hurt even more when the children saw who would be administering the shot: Miss Winnie, a large, dictatorial nurse who had been "especially built by the nursing school so she would never blow away in a hard wind".

Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on the porch and a pet monkey named Mr. Nilsson. Whether Pippi's scrubbing her floors, doing arithmetic or stirring things up at a fancy tea party, her flair for the outrageous always seems to lead to another adventure.

A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see, standing before him, the most extraordinary little fellow. "Please," asks the stranger, "draw me a sheep." And the pilot realizes that when life's events are too difficult to understand, there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries. He pulls out pencil and paper... And thus begins this wise and enchanting fable that, in teaching the secret of what is really important in life, has changed forever the world for its readers.

Pollyanna, an expert at her favorite "Glad Game" of always looking at the bright side in her numerous trials, is one of the most popular and enduring characters in all of children's literature.

The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization.

Margaret Simon, almost 12, has just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she’s anxious to fit in with her new friends. When she’s asked to join a secret club, she jumps at the chance. But when the girls start talking about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret starts to wonder if she’s normal. There are some things about growing up that are hard for her to talk about, even with her friends. Lucky for Margaret, she’s got someone else to confide in...someone who always listens.

The epic tale of Julius Caesar’s rule over Rome. Brutus and Cassius, friends and supporters of Julius Caesar, brood and worry over his increasing ambitions. Caesar’s pursuit of power leads the two men to worry that Caesar will crown himself Emperor, which would ruin Rome’s Republic of the people. Behind closed doors, Cassius and Brutus begin to concoct a scheme that will irrevocably alter the fate of the Roman empire.

The epic tale of Macbeth. Macbeth and Banquo are Scottish generals returning home from a victorious war campaign. Their journey is interrupted when three strange witches come upon them and predict their futures. They claim that Macbeth will one day become King of Scotland! Macbeth is stirred by the prophesy.

Having assumed the identity of a young D’Artagnan, Greg Rich is beginning to get the hang of things in 1615 Paris. But he hasn’t figured out how to get home yet. Or how to defeat the dangerous Michel Dinicoeur, who has made it his mission to destroy Greg, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. When Dinicoeur escapes the Bastille and flees to Spain, the Musketeers charge after him, only to be ambushed. Someone is anticipating their every move. Could there be a traitor in their midst?

For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone. Originally published over a half-century ago, the twelve books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike – by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome’s unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative; virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old.

When their teacher, Mrs. Jewls, leaves to have her baby, the kids go through a series of substitutes, each one a little stranger than the last.

Greg Rich should feel invincible. After all, he’s traveled through time, become one of the legendary Musketeers, and - most recently - prevented the Spanish army from attacking Paris. Instead, he and his friends are languishing in prison, having fallen into a trap set by Milady and the prince of Condé. But Greg didn’t come to the 17th century to sit in a jail cell and await execution. He, Aramis, Athos, and Porthos need to get to King Louis, who is in immediate danger of being overthrown by the scheming prince.

First published in monthly parts from March 1852 to September 1853, this novel follows the fortunes of three pedestrian characters; Esther Summerson, Ada Clare, and Richard Carstone. The story they tell embondies Dickens' merciless indictment of the Court of Chancery and its bungling, morally corrupt handling of the endless case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, giving the novel its scope and meaning.

In the late 19th century, a cylinder crashes down near London. When George investigates, a Martian activates an evil machine and begins destroying everything in its path! George must find a way to survive a War of the Worlds.

Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. When Briseis’ aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined - it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world.