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The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History
by Edward Robb EllisIn swift, witty chapters that flawlessly capture the pace and character of New York City, acclaimed diarist Edward Robb Ellis presents his masterpiece: a thorough, and thoroughly readable, history of America's largest metropolis. Ellis narrates some of the most significant events of the past three hundred years and more--the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's fatal duel, the formation of the League of Nations, the Great Depression--from the perspective of the city that experienced, and influenced, them all. Throughout, he infuses his account with the strange and delightful anecdotes that a less charming tour guide might omit, from the story of the city's first, block-long subway to that of the blizzard of 1888 that turned Macy's into one big slumber party. Playful yet authoritative, comprehensive yet intimate, The Epic of New York City confirms the words of its own epigraph, spoken by Oswald Spengler: "World history is city history," particularly when that city is the Big Apple.
J. S. Bach (Dover Books on Music #1)
by Albert Schweitzer Ernest Newman C. M. WidorA fantastic little book about Bach and the musical climate before and during his life, with a look at his continuing influence in music. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
The King's Fifth
by Scott O'DellIn this deeply affecting novel Scott O'Dell envelops the reader in the heroic world of the conquistadors-a world that is at once somber and many-colored. Though they may have been ruthless, these steel-helmeted young men of Spain lived their lives on the very edge of eternity with style and uncommon courage.<P><P> Newbery Honor book
The Mystery of the Blue Pelican (Robin Kane #1)
by Eileen HillThirteen-year-old Robin Kane and her friends are excited to meet a movie star and be extras in her next movie. But excitement turns to fear when Robin's favorite horse, Nugget, disappears. She and her friends must find out who stole him, and what a blue pelican has to do with it. Picture descriptions added.
Ransom (Laurel-Leaf Books)
by Lois DuncanEdgar Award finalist: When the strange new bus driver passes the last stop, the five teens on board know something&’s wrong: &“[A] gripping thriller.&” —Publishers Weekly Valley Gardens is the last stop on the bus route after school. The neighborhood is known for its wealthy families, perhaps the richest in town. Marianne, Bruce, Glenn, Dexter, and Jesse live in Valley Gardens, and have no trouble guiding the new bus driver to the last stop of the day—but the strange substitute driver keeps driving. Soon the five teenagers are hostages deep in the mountains. Their kidnappers demand stacks of money from their families, even though most of the students aren&’t as well off as the abductors assume. Without hope of raising the ransom money, the five teens must find a way out or face terrifying consequences. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Duncan including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s personal collection.
Up a Road Slowly
by Irene HuntAfter her mother's death, Julie goes to live with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher, where she experiences many emotions and changes as she grows from seven to eighteen.<P><P> Newbery Medal winner
The Black Pearl
by Scott O'DellFrom the depths of a cave in the Vermilion Sea, Ramon Salazar has wrested a black pearl so lustrous and captivating that his father, an expert pearl dealer, is certain Ramon has found the legendary Pearl of Heaven. Such a treasure is sure to bring great joy to the villagers of their tiny coastal town, and even greater renown to the Salazar name. No diver, not even the swaggering Gaspar Ruiz, has ever found a pearl like this!<P><P> But is there a price to pay for a prize so great? When a terrible tragedy strikes the village, old Luzon’s warning about El Diablo returns to haunt Ramon. If El Diablo actually exists, it will take all Ramon’s courage to face the winged creature waiting for him offshore.<P> Newbery Honor book
Cave Of Danger
by Bryce WaltonMat hopes to improve his family's financial troubles by discovering a new cave that no one else knows about. He thinks that charging the public for tours will bring his family the money they need. Getting lost in a cave gives Mat a different outlook on life, and teaches him things he never knew about himself.
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray BradburyRay Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of 20th century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.<P><P> Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.<P> Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn't live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.<P> When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.<P> Hugo Award winner.
Flambards (Flambards #1)
by K. M. PeytonChristina, a young orphan sent to live with her cousins and uncle at decaying country estate Flambards, comes into herself amid the world-changing events preceding World War I. Her cruel and alcoholic wheelchair-bound uncle lives vicariously though the adventures of his son, Mark, immersed in their shared love of hunting, hounds, horses and leisure. Mark's gentle brother William, equally passionate about design, building and flying the new technology of airplanes, is as despised by his father as Mark is loved. Christina grows up torn between both cousins by her love of William's personality and Mark's passion for horses and the fox-hunt. Recommended for grades 7 - 9
The Last Of The Mohicans (Abridged and Adapted)
by James Fenimore Cooper John M. HurdyWith its high-interest adaptations of classic literature and plays, this series inspires reading success and further exploration for all students. These classics are skillfully adapted into concise, softcover books of 80-136 pages. Each retains the integrity and tone of the original book. Interest Level: 5-12 Reading Level: 3-4
Mossy Trotter (Vmc Ser. #2110)
by Elizabeth Taylor'It's always a treat to read Elizabeth Taylor. Mossy Trotter is a real gem. A delightfully mischievous boy living in those long-ago halcyon days when children played out all day, roaming commons, scavenging on rubbish tips and stamping in newly-laid tar' JACQUELINE WILSON'We - that is, Herbert and I - want you, Mossy, to be our page-boy,' Miss Silkin said, staring hard at Mossy again, as if she were trying to imagine him dressed up, and with his hair combed.Mossy went very red, and nearly choked on a piece of cake, and Selwyn laughed, and went on laughing, as if he had just heard the funniest joke of all his life. They both knew what being a page-boy meant. One of the boys at school - one of the very youngest ones - had had to be one, wearing velvet trousers and a frilled blouse.'When Mossy moves to the country, life is full of delights - trees to climb, woods to explore and, best of all, the marvellous dump to rummage through. But every now and then his happiness is disturbed - chiefly by his mother's meddling friend, Miss Silkin. And a dreaded event casts a shadow over even the sunniest of days - being a page-boy at her wedding. In her only children's book, Elizabeth Taylor perfectly captures the temptations, confusion and terrors of a mischievous boy, and just how illogical, frustrating and inconsistent adults are!
Prisoner of the Indies
by Geoffrey HouseholdAn exciting historical children's story from the acclaimed author of ROGUE MALE.The exciting sixteenth-century story of the Englishman Miles Phillips and his fifteen-year journey to New Spain, where he encounters a tropical paradise, good food, and the Inquisition...
Smith: The Story of a Pickpocket
by Leon GarfieldA Carnegie Medal Honor BookTwelve-year-old Smith is a denizen of the mean streets of eighteenth-century London, living hand to mouth by virtue of wit and pluck. One day he trails an old gentleman with a bulging pocket, deftly picks it, and as footsteps ring out from the alley by which he had planned to make his escape, finds himself in a tough spot. Taking refuge in a doorway, he sees two men emerge to murder the man who was his mark. They rifle the dead man's pockets and finding them empty, depart in a rage. Smith, terrified, flees the scene of the crime. What has he stolen that is worth the life of a man?Smith is a gripping, engrossing, and utterly diverting tale of high adventure related by a writer whose scintillating style is matched only by the dazzle of his plotting. In the words of Lloyd Alexander, "Garfield is unmatched for sheer exciting storytelling. The reader simply can't stop reading him."
Space Hostages
by Nicholas FiskA crazed and dying Flight Lieutenant, nine village children, a top-secret spacecraft - all of them out of control and adrift in space! Someone must take charge. But who?Brylo has the brains, but not the personality, so it is the powerful young bully Tony who sets himself up as Captain - and steers the ship and its cargo of children towards new and horrifying dangers...
Spaceship to Saturn
by Hugh WaltersWhen the famous astronauts Chris Godfrey and his team are scheduled for a trip to Saturn, they are at first shocked to learn that they will be put into "deep freeze", a process called hypothermia, in order to make the long voyage possible. As on another voyage, the telepathic twins are enlisted for the project. Also frozen, they manage to avert disaster by sending warning signals even during their deep sleep. Extreme danger develops when Saturn's rings exert more gravitation than anticipated - pulling the spaceship into what seems certain destruction...
Story of Philosophy: The Lives And Opinions Of The Great Philosophers
by Will DurantA brilliant and concise account of the lives and ideas of the great philosophers -- Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spencer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Croce, Russell, Santayana, James and Dewey -- The Story of Philosophy is one of the great books of our time. Few write for the nonspecialist as well as Will Durant, and this book is a splendid example of his eminently readable scholarship. Durant's insight and wit never cease to dazzle; The Story of Philosophy is a key book for any reader who wishes to survey the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.yle. The Story of Philosophy opens vistas of intellectual adventure and growth to those who hunger for the total perspective that is philosophy. Within its pages, Durant seeks the wisest and most indestructible answers from the world's greatest philosophers to the persistent and fundamental questions about first and last things.
The Switherby Pilgrims: A Tale of the Australian Bush
by Eleanor SpenceMiss Arabella Braithewaite of Switherby knows there is no future for the ten orphans—a remarkable mix of genteel and working class children—she has gathered together in these years of England’s grim factory growth in the early 1820s. Her plan, quite outrageous in the eyes of most, is to take the children to Australia to take up a land grant. Thus, one day the townsfolk gather to watch a line of departing “pilgrims” led by the fearless “Missabella.” On a new continent, and after a daunting ocean voyage, the challenges begin. To the orphans it becomes a life-giving adventure, even when serious unexpected threats must be overcome. Australian author Eleanor Spence, writing with keen personal insight, sketches each child and adult’s engagement with the new land and its people and with one another. From their courage we glimpse the futures of this unlikely band beginning to emerge with hope and personal dignity.
Beowulf
by Robert NyeHe comes out of the darkness, moving in on his victims in deadly silence. When he leaves, a trail of blood is all that remains. He is a monster, Grendel, and all who know of him live in fear. Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, knows something must be done to stop Grendel. But who will guard the great hall he has built, where so many men have lost their lives to the monster while keeping watch? Only one man dares to stand up to Grendel's fury --Beowulf.From the Paperback edition.
Greensleeves
by Eloise Jarvis McgrawGreensleeves is a 310 page romantic coming-of-age novel for teens and adults first published in 1968 and written by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, author of the Newbery Honor novels The Moor Child, The Golden Goblet, and Moccasin Trail. During the summer before she begins college, the clever and independent-minded Shannon Lightley, the first person narrator, persuades her uncle to let her go on an adventure in which she plays the role of a spy in order to expose what she suspects is a conspiracy to fraudulently exploit a cryptically worded will. In the process, she becomes romantically involved with a mysterious young man who has a generous heart, who is as brilliant as she is, and who has scholarly ambitions equal to hers. At the end, she must make a decision about her future, to follow love or to pursue freedom and the promise of life.
The Mohole Mystery
by Hugh WaltersAfter their expedition to Saturn, Chris Godfrey and his friends were given the longest spell of leave they had ever had. Every day they expected to hear about their next assignment from Sir George Benson, Director of the United Nations Exploration Agency, but when they tried to get in touch with him they found it was impossible. Clearly something strange was going on.When Sir George finally reappeared he had a startling proposition for them. A new kind of expedition was to be launched, not into space but into the depths of the earth. The astronauts were about to become 'subterranuts'. Or rather one of them was, for only one man could enter the capsule which was to carry him down the Mohole, the borehole which had been drilled twenty-one miles into the earth, to end in a huge underground cavern...
Snow Goose
by Paul GallicoA beloved Children's classic. On the desolate Essex marshes, a young girl, Fritha, comes to seek help from Philip Rhayader, a recluse who lives in an abandoned lighthouse. She carries in her arms a wounded snow goose that has been storm-tossed across the Atlantic from Canada. Fritha is frightened of Rhayader, but he is gentler than his appearance suggests and nurses the goose back to health. Over the following months and years, Fritha visits the lighthouse when the snow goose is there. And every summer, when it flies away, Thayader is left alone once more. The Snow Goose is set in the years running up to the evacuation of Dunkirk in the Second World War. Originally published in 1940 in the Saturday Evening Post, it was brought out in book form the following year by Knopf, Michael Joseph and M&S simultaneously. It won the prestigious O Henry prize that same year and has been continually in print ever since. The Snow Goose has inspired a number of musical scores and albums, has been made into two feature films and moved generations of readers. Beautifully written, with a powerful ending, The Snow Goose is Gallico's masterpiece.
Theater (Merit Badge Series)
by Boy Scouts of AmericaBook about the importance in the elements of theater: writing, acting, costumes, makeup, etc.