The Little Bookroom: Eleanor Farjeon's Short Stories For Children Chosen By Herself (Puffin Classics)

Children's Books

Ardizzone, Edward

FARJEON, Eleanor

Literature & Fiction

Puffin Classics

Rilla of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Rilla of Ingleside (Puffin Classics)

Montgomery, L.

Classics

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Puffin Modern Classics)

Roald, Dahl

THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION (A selection of finest children's classics that have stood the best of time and still delight children to this day)

UNKNOWN

It was the time of the French Revolution — a time of great change and great danger. It was a time when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. Against this tumultuous historical backdrop, Dickens' great story of unsurpassed adventure and courage unfolds. Unjustly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, Dr. Alexandre Manette is reunited with his daughter, Lucie, and safely transported from France to England. It would seem that they could take up the threads of their lives in peace. As fate would have it though, the pair are summoned to the Old Bailey to testify against a young Frenchman — Charles Darnay — falsely accused of treason. Strangely enough, Darnay bears an uncanny resemblance to another man in the courtroom, the dissolute lawyer's clerk Sydney Carton. It is a coincidence that saves Darnay from certain doom more than once. Brilliantly plotted, the novel is rich in drama, romance, and heroics that culminate in a daring prison escape in the shadow of the guillotine. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, those days in which your English Literature professor ordered you to read “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens. You were immediately confounded by the perplexity of the story and confused by the language of the times. In your despair, you struggled, endeavored and persevered to reach the conclusion of the classic novel. Having satisfactorily completed the requirements of that difficult semester, you vowed to never again read classic English literature. As the years accumulated, you garnered wisdom and spirituality as you aged and you gathered far greater literary acumen. Your mind was transformed and you began to yearn for the great stories that could only be told by the true masters. Anon, you found yourself immersed in the incredible classic writings of Charles Dickens. For no one could so completely transport you to the mean filthy streets of Oliver Twist’s London or the horror and dread of The Reign of Terror in that unfortunate tale of London and Paris in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three. No other writer could place you so deeply into the mind of a tyrannical boss such as Ebenezer Scrooge or imbue the viciousness of a violent revolutionary the likes of Madame Defarge. Contemporary writers only wish they had the amazing ability to create magnificent unlikely heroes and fantastic characters whose flame of eternal hope burned against an all consuming darkness.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

DICKENS., CHARLES

The Secret Garden

Ages 5-7. Not just abridged but retold, this colorfully illustrated, large-format book has a text that's longer than most picture books but considerably shorter than Burnett's beloved novel. McClintock's sensitive illustrations, apparently ink drawings with watercolor washes, will certainly appeal to readers and book buyers of all ages. The period settings and costumes have a charm all their own, and the detailed pictures clearly portray Sara's transformation from privileged child to pauper and back again. Some scenes and dialogue here did not appear in the original book, but they serve to move the plot along more swiftly. The story loses a great deal of subtlety in theme and character development (as well as plot and setting) in its adaptation to picture-book format. Those who love the original will advise children to wait until they're old enough to read it. But children or parents who want a picture-book version will find this a very pretty one. Carolyn Phelan Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Review 'Bright, beautiful and enchanting ... ' --New York Times 'A Little Princess exquisitely re-creates the ephemeral world of childhood, an enchanted kingdom where everything, even make-believe, seems possible ...' --Washington Post About the Author Frances Hodgson Burnett was a born storyteller. Even as a young child, her greatest pleasure was in making up stories and acting them out, using her dolls as characters. She wrote over forty books, including the classic A Little Princess, also illustrated by Tasha Tudor.

A Little Princess

frances-hodgson-burnett

Literary

Treasure Island

STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS

Action & Adventure

The Wizard of Oz

L.Frank Baum

Just So Stories

Rudyard, Kipling

Humor & Satire

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