Children's | Introduction | Comment

King Arthur And His Knights Of The Round Table

Apr 21, 2025

The legends of King Arthur - the most revered hero of British Mythology - have been retold many times, but Roger Lancelyn Green's version has become a classic since its first publication in 1953. Using as his sources not only Malory's MORTE D'ARTHUR but other chronicles, poems and romances, he has made each adventure of Arthur's knights part of an...

Winter Holiday

Apr 21, 2025

'You know what it's like. Dark at teatime and sleeping indoors: nothing ever happens in the winter holidays. Or so Nancy thinks. Then the lake ices over completely and the Swallows and Amazons, along with Dick and Dorothea -- 'the D's' -- plan a race to find the North Pole. How will they reach it if they can't sail? By...

The Sleeping Beauty

Apr 21, 2025

This most romantic of fairy tales is found in many versions, and the story of the beautiful girl who falls into a long sleep, to be awakened by a lover, has been interpreted by some as an allegory of the spring revival of the earth after a long winter. Charles Seddon Evans, a schoolmaster turned publisher, retold the story specially...

The Story of the Treasure Seekers

Apr 21, 2025

When their father's business fails, the six Bastable children decide to restore the family fortunes. But although they think of many ingenious ways to do so, their well meant efforts are either more fun than profitable, or lead to trouble... ...

Cinderella

Apr 21, 2025

This most beloved of all fairy tales is told in many versions and found in many different cultures - from the Italian CENERANTOLA to the Russian CHERNUSHKA For this edition, first published in 1919, Charles Sedon Evans, a schoolmaster turned publisher, used the features of the tale as told by Charles Perrault - the pumpkin coach the mice horses, the...

The Jungle Book

Apr 21, 2025

Among the best loved of all classics for children are the tales of Mowgli, the boy who learned the law of the jungle as he grew up among a pack of wolves in India's Seeonee Hills. First published in 1894, the book imagines a child living and flourishing in a community of animals - an idea that perhaps had its...

The Armourer's House

Apr 21, 2025

If only she'd been born a boy, Tamsyn would never have been sent away to Uncle Gideon's - the armourer's - house when her grandmother died. She could have stayed by the wild sea that she loved with her Uncle Martin, the ship merchant. But instead, she is bound for busy, bustling Tudor London, and the armourer's house, far from...

Friedrich

Apr 21, 2025

Friedrich and his best friend were growing up in Germany in the early 1930s. At first, Friedrich seemed to be the more fortunate, but when Hitler came to power, things began to change. Friedrich was expelled from school and became an orphan when his mother died and his father was arrested and deported. This is a terrifying story of the...

The Runton Werewolf And The Big Match

Apr 21, 2025

By day twelve-year-old Alan Cunningham's a normal school boy. But at night his 'gronk' factor kicks in - and suddenly, he's not exactly your average kind of guy. . . . Now that poor Alan's finally got to grips with the fact that he's a Gronk (a nice, friendly werewolf), a group of mad scientists is after him - to...

Little Women And Good Wives

Apr 21, 2025

Written in six weeks, and at first thought by its editor to be 'dull', this story of an American family - four sisters and their mother living through the months while father is away in the Civil War - has a universal and enduring appeal. The reason is clear. Louisa Alcott based her story on her own experience of family...

Space Race

Apr 21, 2025

Five...four...three...two...one. Lift-off! What can Lizzie do when big-headed Jake challenges her to a race in space? She's GOT to beat him. But Jake has a super-duper, deluxe new spaceship that runs on special fuel... Zoom to Pluto and back with this super space story from award-winning author, Malorie Blackman. ...

Anne Of Green Gables

Apr 21, 2025

The appeal of this Canadian classic children's book is seemingly everlasting - for it is a story of an individual making good by her own efforts, an orphaned girl sent to live with an elderly brother and sister who really want a boy to help on the farm. First published in 1908, the book was written by a scoolteacher who'd...

The Secret Garden

Apr 21, 2025

This story of two spoilt and lonely children, whose happiness is regained as they bring to life a neglected garden, has become the best-loved of all Mrs. Burnett's books, but it did not acquire universal popularity until long after its first publication in 1911 Although set in Yorkshire, it was inspired by the rose garden at Great Maytham Hall in...

Cockatoos

Apr 21, 2025

Brother in the Land

Apr 21, 2025

An 'After-the-Bomb' story told by teenage Danny, one of the survivors - one of the unlucky ones. Set in Shipley, an ordinary town in the north of England, this is a powerful portrayal of a world that has broken down. Danny not only has to cope in a world of lawlessness and gang warfare, but he has to protect and...