A comprehensive collection of tales edited by the American essayist, editor, critic, and lecturer. American culture is indebted to him for helping to spread, by his lectures as well as his writings, a love of good reading in the United States.

For two hundred years, Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling has been a childhood favorite all over the world. Now Robert Ingpen brings his spectacular adaptation to new generations of readers. Born bigger and different than the other hatchlings, the ugly duckling is ridiculed by his brothers and sisters, rejected by the other ducks, and eventually shunned by his own mother. The little bird leaves his home, embarking on a brave journey through hecklers, hunters, and cruel seasons-only to discover that the beauty he was seeking was inside him all along. A beautifully told and brilliantly illustrated edition of this classic, essential story every child should embrace.

When Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 186S, it set critics awry: here was a book for children written for the pure pleasure of reading. It has since become one of the most famous children's books ever, translated into many different languages, performed as a play, and made into a popular Disney animated film.

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, is part of the Barnes&Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes&Noble Classics: All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes&Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature’s most beloved “bad guys,” Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys—and girls—and grownups. Its unforgettable characters include: young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook . . .and the next a dangerous pirate leader!The unexpected and complex relationship that develops between Silver and Jim helps transform what seems at first to be a simple, rip-roaring adventure story into a deeply moving study of a boy’s growth into manhood, as he learns hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and honor—and the uncertain meaning of good and evil.Angus Fletcher is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, City University of New York, and is the author of Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode, Colors of the Mind, and A New Theory for American Poetry, among other books.

"One of th' gardens is locked up. No one has been in it for ten years." When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds it full of mysterious secrets. There are nearly one hundred rooms, most of which are locked, and the house is filled with creepy old portraits and suits of armor. Mary rarely sees her uncle, and perhaps most unsettling of all is that at night she hears the sound of someone crying down one of the long corridors. The gardens surrounding the odd property are Mary's escape and she explores every inch of them—all except for the mysterious walled-in, locked garden. Then one day, Mary discovers a key. Could it open the door to the garden?

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott’s masterpiece of Children’s literature, is the story of the March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Living in a small Massachusetts town, the girls and Mrs. March must make do while Mr. March is away serving as an Army Chaplain during the Civil War. At the story’s center lies Jo who, as she approaches adulthood, must reconcile her duties to her family with her desire to become a successful writer. The many appendices in this Broadview edition include materials on the early women’s movement, the novel’s composition, and Alcott’s literary influences.

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title—offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.This edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes includes a Foreword, Biographical Note, and Afterword by R. L. Fisher.

MOST of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual - he is a combina tion of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of archi tecture.

"Wuthering Heights" seems bafflingly unlike other novels yet constantly speaks to popular imagination. This edition for students and teachers engages with some of the key issues in contemporary critical theory.

Uncle Tom felt more unhappy than ever. He had hoped at least to have a little room which he could keep clean and tidy. But this hole he did not even have to himself. He had to share it with five or six others.