"In Tales of Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb wished to bring the plays to life in a form which would encourage young readers to enjoy Shakespeare"--Cover p. [4].

"Meek little Mole, wilful Ratty, Badger the perennial bachelor, and petulant, boastful Toad: over one hundred years since their first appearance in 1908, they've become emblematic archetypes of eccentricity, folly and friendship. And their misadventures - in gypsy caravans, stolen sports cars, and their beloved Wild Wood - continue to capture readers' imaginations and warm their hearts long after they grow up. Begun as a series of letters from Kenneth...

Disappointed when a gift he wished for all year seems quite puny on Christmas morning, young Roland wishes for bigger and bigger gifts before learning a valuable lesson about being careful what you wish for.

A band of mischievous monkeys steals every one of a peddler's caps while he takes a nap under a tree.

"For over a century throughout Japan and beyond, children and concepts of childhood have been appropriated as tools for decidedly unchildlike purposes: to validate, moralize, humanize, and naturalize war, and to sentimentalize peace. Playing War argues that modern conceptions of war insist on and exploit a specific and static notion of the child: that the child, though the embodiment of vulnerability and innocence, nonetheless possesses an inherent...

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy are responsible for keeping a home while their father is off to war. At the same time, they must come to terms with their individual personalities?and make the transition from girlhood to womanhood. It can all be quite a challenge. But the March sisters, however different, are nurtured by their wise and beloved Marmee, bound by their love for...

"Life seems "picture perfect" for Army veteran Pauline Parril--a solid career, a loving (though slightly absent) husband and two adorable young children. Perfect that is, until the usual Friday meeting at the office ends with a termination letter. And so it begins... In an uproarious female comedy of just how one event can change the course of... well everything, The Perils of Pauline follows an every-woman's arduous march forward through the trials...

Knowing how to read and write is not enough for Louis, a voiceless Trumpeter Swan; his determination to learn to play a stolen trumpet takes him far from his wilderness home.

Having lost his mother and his hearing in a short time, twelve-year-old Ben leaves his Minnesota home in 1977 to seek the father he never knew in New York City, and meets there Rose, who is also longing for something missing from her life. Ben's story is told in words; Rose's in pictures.

Eight-year-old Henry and nine-year-old Chin love to read about heroes in popular "penny dreadful" novels, until they both witness real courage while trying to survive the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.