Classics

Beginning in 1847, Henry David Thoreau made three trips to the mostly unexplored Maine woods. Along the way he recorded his observations on the wildlife (flora and fauna), the weather, terrain, and on the nature of the people he met along the way, including loggers, rivermen, and his Abnaki guides. In Thoreau's Maine Woods, photographer Dan Tobyne captures the essence of the Maine Thoreau discovered and described in his book. The combination of short excerpts with stunning imagery carries Thoreau's work to a higher level, presenting it in both glowing words and pictures.

Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curacao. War has always been a game to him, and he's eager to glimpse it firsthand--until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed. When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother's warning about black people: "They are different, and they live differently." But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip's head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.
Also available on audio. Timothy of the Cay is the sequel.

Shipwrecked on an island, young Alec Ramsay and a dangerous stallion must rely on each other to survive. Once rescued and back in New York, Alec, with the help of a retired trainer, try to get the half-wild horse ready to compete on the track.

Also available as an award-winning video.

Journeys to the end of the world, fantastic creatures, and epic battles between good and evil -- what more could any reader ask for in one book? The book that has it all is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written in 1949 by Clive Staples Lewis. But Lewis did not stop there. Six more books followed, and together they became known as The Chronicles of Narnia.

For the past fifty years, The Chronicles of Narnia have transcended the fantasy genre to become part of the canon of classic literature. Each of the seven books is a masterpiece, drawing the reader into a land where magic meets reality, and the result is a fictional world whose scope has fascinated generations.

"In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river...
This is the way the world ends--
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."

Nevil Shute placed this quote from T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" on the title page of his chilling bestselling 1957 novel about life and death in Australia after a nuclear war in the northern hemisphere. The novel focuses on the crew of an American ship stranded in Australia after all of the northern hemisphere has destroyed itself in nuclear war. Radiation slowly travels south with the winds, and we meet memorable characters who try to grab what enjoyment life can offer before the inevitable end comes. Stanley Kramer's 1959 film starring Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck was very faithful to the book. This title is also available as a recorded book.

The bad boy of riverboating days on the Mississippi has a great time living like a pirate, witnesses a murder, gets a fortune, and attends his own funeral.