Family Classics

Excerpts from the classic medieval poem, performed in the original language with English translation, original music, and commentary.

J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy is a memoir about his life growing up in Ohio as the child of a working-class family with roots in Appalachia. Vance uses his experiences in a dysfunctional family to talk about the problems with what he calls hillbilly culture. He says that hillbilly culture is mired in laziness, drug use, and learned helplessness. Hillbillies claim to be committed to hard work, but Vance believes they actually refuse to work at available jobs, miring them in poverty.

Very much in the style of L. Frank Baum ( The Wizard of Oz), this story shows that Harry Potter was not the first remarkably popular world hit in junior literature. A Kidnapped Santa Claus, a fun fantasy, is actually a continuation of the first novel Baum wrote in this vein, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. In it, he charts his hero's life from a foundling in the forest to becoming all children's favorite uncle. This story, though, has the advantage of brevity.

This is the audiobook version of the book. The print book has two versions. One version is marked with Pinyin and the other without Pinyin. Please select the version that best suits your need.

Little Clara, her brother Fritz, the giving of presents, the Nutcracker soldier, and toys that come to life all form the basis of the story which Tchaikovsky brought to life in one of his finest scores.