Classic Nature

Five tales which range from the jungles of India to the frozen emptiness of the North... In all of them, Kipling's extraordinary powers of description and ability to identify with human aspiration and animal survival are vividly shown. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi must battle with Nag, the cobra, in his territory; Toomai has a unique glimpse of the elephant world, Kotick, the White Seal, searches for sanctuary, while Kotuko has to find food for his starving Eskimo village. Above all, Kipling's love of life in all its variety shines through.

As he was composing what was to become his most enduring and popular book, E. B. White was obeying that oft-repeated maxim: "Write what you know." Helpless pigs, silly geese, clever spiders, greedy rats - White knew all of these characters in the barns and stables where he spent his favorite hours. In The Story of Charlotte's Web, Michael Sims shows how White solved what critic Clifton Fadiman once called "the standing problem of the juvenile-fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole."

In the early years of our country, a poor school teacher, Justin Morgan, receives a horse and her tiny colt in payment for some work. He wishes he had been given money instead. Hoping that he might sell both horses for a fair price, he asks his student, Joel, to break in the colt. To his surprise, young Joel soon discovers that this small, brown creature has special abilities: "Bub" can pull more than a team of oxen, and he can run faster than a racehorse.

Ten-year-old Jerry Pye wants a dog more than anything. He has a puppy picked out, but someone else wants him, too. Jerry and his sister must hurry to earn enough money to buy him. When they get Ginger home, strange things start to happen. A sneaky stranger in a yellow hat starts following them everywhere. When their precious Ginger disappears on Thanksgiving Day, they start looking for the man in the yellow hat. If they find him, they'll probably find their pup.

Step into the exquisite miniature world of the mice of Brambly Hedge in this beautiful new edition of the classic picture book. Bad weather is on the way and the autumn stores are still not gathered in! Quickly, all the mice of Brambly Hedge set to work to finish the harvesting before the rain begins. Primrose, Lord Woodmouse's daughter, meant to help, but somehow she daydreamed her way over the cornfield and into the Chestnut Woods, and before she knew it, she was lost.

How did Christopher Robin meet his beloved bear? Did Pooh and his friends see any of London before they moved to the Hundred Acre Wood? These questions and more are explored in this charming new collection of stories. Each tale features a gentle adventure set in London or the countryside, and they include iconic locations such as Harrods, London Zoo, and the Natural History Museum.

Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint - Abel, for short - is a rich and silly mouse. He spends most of his days just having fun, going to picnics with his wife, playing croquet with friends, and dancing at parties. Unlike most other mice, Abel has never had to work for anything. All that changes one blustery fall day when his wife’s scarf flutters away in a gust of wind. Abel races off to rescue it and is swept away in a rainstorm. When the storm is over, Abel finds himself washed up a deserted island.

Black Beauty is the classic horse story, a beautiful and touching tale told by the title character himself. Set in Victorian London, it follows Beauty's life and changing fortunes as he moves from owner to owner. As the horse encounters new experiences and new friends who reveal their own histories, the story quietly paints a fascinating portrait of how animals were treated during that era.

En 1845, l'écrivain et philosophe Henry David Thoreau, se retire seul pour deux ans et deux mois, en pleine nature dans une cabane de sa confection. De cette expérience, il concevra un récit introspectif au fil des saisons qui deviendra un grand classique de la littérature américaine. "Je gagnai les bois parce que je voulais vivre suivant mûre réflexion, n'affronter que les actes essentiels de la vie, et voir si je ne pourrais apprendre ce qu'elle avait à enseigner, non pas, quand je viendrais à mourir, découvrir que je n'avais pas vécu." (Henry David Thoreau)

Another great audiobook classic from the world’s most prolific and prestigious new company, Icon Audio Arts. Presented by actor-author Geoffrey Giuliano, here is an exciting "listen while you learn" audio production which promises to entertain, enlighten, and enliven the listener. Icon productions offer a daring, fresh perspective on the hundreds of perennial favorite tales which have inspired generations and imbued a deep love of literature and art in millions over time. Welcome to the wonderful, unparalleled world of Icon Audio Arts.

Each year along the Eastern seacoast, the wild ponies of Assateague Island are driven across a narrow strip of ocean to Chincoteague. There the shaggy, untamed ponies are sold. When young Paul and Maureen Beebe rescue a drowning newborn foal, they take her home to nearby Pony Farm. Now the foal has grown into their free-spirited pony, Misty, and has been the subject of a popular children's book.

Mrs. Mallard was sure that the pond in the Boston Public Gardens would be a perfect place for her and her eight ducklings to live. The problem was how to get them there through the busy streets of Boston. But with a little help from the Boston police, Mrs. Mallard and Jack, Kack, Lack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack arrive safely at their new home. This brilliant, amusingly observed tale of mallards on the move has won the hearts of generations.

A little bunny keeps running away from his mother in this imaginary game of hide-and-seek. Children will be profoundly comforted by this lovingly steadfast mother who finds her child every time. The Runaway Bunny, first published in 1942 and never out of print, has indeed become a classic. Generations have fallen in love with the gentle magic of its reassuring words.

Brave little Rikki Tikki Tavi is a mongoose who finds himself the target of the deadly cobra Naga. Can the courageous little critter protect himself and the family he loves from the fearsome bite of the cobra?

Summer vacation means one thing - more time for Emily Elizabeth to play with Clifford! Until this summer, that is. Emily Elizabeth's family is going far away, so far that Clifford can't come. Or can he? Follow along as Clifford sniffs, swims, and tiptoes to find Emily Elizabeth - just in the nick of time!

An American classic with a refrain that millions of kids love to chant: Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats. Wanda Gág's enchanting tale of the very old man who went off in search of the prettiest cat in the world for his wife and returned instead with millions to choose from has become an American classic, widely recognized as the first modern picture book. First published in 1928, it was a recipient of the 1929 Newbery Honor Award and has gone on to sell over a million copies.

With 50 million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time. While forthrightly teaching animal welfare, it also teaches how to treat people with kindness, sympathy, and respect. The story is narrated in the first "person" as an autobiographical memoir told by a horse named Black Beauty—including his carefree days as a colt on an English farm, his later difficult life pulling cabs in London, and his happy retirement in the country.

The Bees is Carol Ann Duffy's first collection of poems as Poet Laureate. In it she uses her full poetic range: there are drinking songs, love poems, poems of political anger; there are elegies, too, for beloved friends and - most movingly - the poet's own mother. Woven and weaving through the book is its presiding spirit: the bee.

A moving musical score helps bring to life this unforgettable story from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

"The Three Little Pigs" is a very funny and famous fairytale featuring anthropomorphic pigs who build three houses of different materials. The story begins with the title characters being sent out into the world by their mother, to "seek out their fortune". The first little pig builds a house of straw, but a wolf blows it down and eats him. The second pig builds a house of furze sticks, which the wolf also blows down and eats him. Each exchange between wolf and pig features ringing proverbial phrases, namely: "Little pig, little Pig, let me come in." "No, no, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin." "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in." The third pig builds a house of bricks. This little pig is very smart, and the end is a big surprise for everyone.