Classics Library

When Black Beauty is trained to carry a rider on his back, or to pull a carriage behind him, he finds it hard at first. But he is lucky - his first home is a good one, where his owners are kind people, who would never be cruel to a horse. But in the 19th century many people were cruel to their horses, whipping them and beating them, and using them like machines until they dropped dead. Black Beauty soon finds this out, and as he describes his life, he has many terrible stories to tell.

Penguin Classics presents William Makepeace Thackeray adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by Robert Hardy’s Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? Or, having it, is satisfied? No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the class ladder.

"Send Us a Boy, We'll Send You a Cowboy!" is the slogan of the Box Canyon Boys Camp. But for the nail biters, thumb suckers, and teeth grinders, the cast-away offspring of parents who are busy traveling, being divorced, remarrying, and garnering fortunes, it's just another place to face rejection. Until Cotton.

Tommy is four years old, and he loves visiting the home of his grandmother, Nana Downstairs, and his great-grandmother, Nana Upstairs. But one day Tommy's mother tells him Nana Upstairs won't be there anymore, and Tommy must struggle with saying good-bye to someone he loves. This classic story will continue to win the hearts of listeners of all ages.

This follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories features familiar Seussian faces and places - including Horton the Elephant, Marco, Mulberry Street, and a Grinch - as well as an introduction by renowned Seuss scholar Charles D. Cohen. Seuss fans will learn more about Horton’s integrity, Marco’s amazing imagination, a narrowly avoided disaster on Mullbery Street, and a devious Grinch.

Jessie Bollier often played his fife to earn a few pennies down by the New Orleans docks. One afternoon a sailor asked him to pipe a tune, and that evening Jessie was kidnapped and dumped aboard The Moonlight, a slave ship, where a hateful duty awaited him. He was to play music so the slaves could "dance" to keep their muscles strong, their bodies profitable. Jessie was sickened by the thought of taking part in the business of trading rum and tobacco for blacks and then selling the ones who survived the frightful sea voyage from Africa.

Sick and tired of feeling shackled to the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob is longing for a change. Deciding to throw in the spatula and live among the jellyfish, SpongeBob embarks on a new life of freedom - but will it be worth it? Join SpongeBob as he sets out for the open sea.

The Trustees of the Pooh Properties have commissioned four authors to write in the timeless style of A.A. Milne to create a quartet of charming new adventures for Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, and their friends. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall: take a trip back to the Hundred Acre Wood with a collection of tales sure to delight year-round. Listeners of all ages will love rediscovering old friends and making new ones in this essential new volume of Pooh stories.

No man had ever penetrated the Great Thorn Forest until Tarzan of the Apes crashed his plane behind it on his solo flight. Within he finds a beautiful country. But in it lives the Alali, strange Stone Age giants whose women regard all men as less than slaves. And beyond the Alali lies the country of the Ant Men - little people only 18 inches tall. There, in Trohanadalmakus, Tarzan is an honored guest, until he is captured by the warriors of Veltopismakus in one of the Ant Men’s wars. But unknown to the ape-man, they have plans for him.

A collection of short stories from such favorites as Wilkie Collins, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rudyard Kipling are joined by others written anonymously in this anthology which will have you scratching your head and listening just a bit longer to discover the key to the mysteries.

When Tarzan of the Apes frees a man being tortured by cruel bandits, he is surprised to learn that the stranger comes from no race or country the ape-man knows. He is from the fabled land of Onthar, where lie two ancient cities unknown to the outside world. One is Athne, city of ivory; the other is Cathne, city of gold and evil. There great prides of trained lions are used to hunt down men and wage eternal war. And there Tarzan meets the beautiful queen Nemone, who is determined to have Tarzan as her king...or feed him to the lions!

Cruel slave traders have invaded the jungle domain of Tarzan of the Apes. Now they head toward a fabled empire of riches that no outsider has ever seen, intent on looting its great treasures. And toward the same legendary land stumbles the lost James Blake, an American whom Tarzan has vowed to rescue. Following them, the ape-man comes upon the lost Valley of the Sepulcher, where Knights Templar still fight to resume their holy crusade to free Jerusalem.

Betrayed by a band of international conspirators, Tarzan is drugged and left to die in the jungle. But then a quirk of fate delivers him into the hands of the frightful priests of Opar, the last bastion of lost Atlantis. La, High Priestess of the Flaming God, spares his life once again, driven by her hopeless love for the ape-man, only to find her act rewarded by the betrayal of her own people. To save her, Tarzan flees with La into the legendary Valley of Diamonds, while Jad-bal-ja, his faithful golden lion, follows. Ahead lies a land where sentient gorillas rule over servile humans.

It is hay-making time on the Wookey farm. Two brothers are building the haystack, but thinking about other things – about young women, and love. There are angry words, and then a fight between the brothers. But the work goes on, visitors come and go, and the long hot summer day slowly turns to evening. Then the sun goes down, covering the world with a carpet of darkness. From the hedges around the hayfield comes the rich, sweet smell of wild flowers, and the hay will make a fine, soft bed.

There's no glass slipper in this fairy tale - just a damsel in distress, a bag of cash, and a whole lot of dead bodies. Reporter Ted Lindsay is trying to forget his ex-wife, and New York City's tough streets are just what the doctor ordered. They're also filled with alluring women, but only one catches Ted's eye. Cinderella Sims is not only beautiful, she's on the run and she needs Ted's help. She's got a bag full of cash and some very angry people staking out her apartment.

Struggling folksinger Ellen Cameron can't believe her luck. Not only is the State Department sponsoring her trip to West Berlin, but her agent has arranged for her to tour Ireland. It's just the break she needs. And better yet, she's meeting the friendliest and most interesting people on her trip, from a kind priest on the plane to a handsome American studying abroad.

Albert Platt is a rotten man. Bred in the rough parts of Brooklyn, he made his name as a killer and has built a fortune from gambling, loan sharking, and the other pastimes of a standard thug. His latest gambit? Buying banks, robbing them, and collecting the insurance. He's a hard man, and no one ever stood in his way until he brushed up against Eddie Manso. Manso is no ordinary veteran.

This is the first complete English-language translation of a classic of Yiddish literature, one of the great comic novels of the 20th century. The Zelmenyaners describes the travails of a Jewish family in Minsk that is torn asunder by the new Soviet reality. Four generations are depicted in riveting and often uproarious detail as they face the profound changes brought on by the demands of the Soviet regime and its collectivist, radical secularism.

In 17th century England, a terrible accident forces orphaned Philip Marsham to flee London in fear for his life. Bred to the sea, he signs on with the Rose of Devon, a dark frigate bound for the quiet shores of Newfoundland.Philip's bold spirit and knowledge of the sea soon win him his captain's regard. But when the Rose of Devon is seized in mid-ocean by a devious group of men plucked from a floating wreck, Phlip is forced to accompany these "gentlemen of fortune" on their murderous expeditions. Like it or not, Philip Marsham is now a pirate - with only the hangman awaiting his return to England.With its bloody battles, brutal buccaneers, and bold, spirited hero, this rousing tale will enthrall all listeners in search of seafaring adventure.

"The moment I first met you, I noticed your pride, your sense of superiority, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others. You are the last man in the world whom I could ever be persuaded to marry," said Elizabeth Bennet. And so Elizabeth rejects the proud Mr Darcy. Can nothing overcome her prejudice against him? This famous novel by Jane Austen is full of wise and humorous observation of the people and manners of her times.