The calamities that befall the hapless creatures of Aesop’s Fables! The fox can’t reach his grapes, then gets attacked by biting flies and loses his tail in a trap. And things don’t go much better for the hare, who is chased relentlessly by a hound, barely escaping with his life—only to be beaten in a race by a lowly tortoise. Misfortune turns to mayhem when a wolf is killed by his sweetheart’s father, a sheepdog preys on his own flock, and the mouse and his friend the frog are eaten by a hawk. On the brighter side, a tiny ant saves her new friend the dove from a hunter’s arrow, a...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass is a cherished collection of stories featuring the titular character, Alice, and her misadventures through the curious and fantastical lands of Wonderland. As little Alice goes deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, she meets an assortment of oddball characters, like the eccentric March Hare, the whimsical Mad Hatter, and the enigmatic Cheshire Cat, who will all become familiar faces within this strange world. If Alice is to navigate the dangerous yet fascinating landscape of Wonderland, she must learn who is friend and who is foe,...

Mrs. Darling dozes in the nursery as her children sleep. Suddenly, the window bursts open, and Peter Pan, the boy who refuses to grow up, flies in. Seeing a grown-up in the room, he gnashes his perfect set of pearly baby teeth at her. The children’s nurse, Nana, a Newfoundland dog, gallops in and chases the boy out the window, slamming it shut with her paws. Peter escapes just in time, but his shadow is not so lucky. Now it is trapped in the nursery, and everyone knows he will come back for it. When he does, Wendy, John, and Michael will begin the greatest adventure any siblings have ever...

In Call of the Wild, Buck lives as a pampered house dog in California. He eats well, sleeps when he wants, and is treated with affection by his owners—that is, until he is abducted by thieves and pressed into service as a sled dog for the Klondike Gold Rush. Mistreated by a succession of abusive owners, Buck comes to realize that the key to survival is channeling the instinctive wildness of his heritage, hitherto buried deep beneath the veneer of civilized life. White Fang tells the story of prospector Weedon Scott and White Fang, the dog he rescues from a cruel dog-fighter. Though the...

What a study in contrasts is the friendship between Henry Jekyll and his boon companion, Edward Hyde. Where Jekyll is a handsome and respected man of science, Hyde is a surly and brutish misanthrope. Nevertheless, Jekyll has allowed Hyde free access to his home and laboratory and, surprisingly, made him the sole beneficiary of his will. Given the closeness of their bond, it seems peculiar that no one has ever seen the two men together in public. And yet they share a remarkable chemistry . . . First published in 1886, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Robert Louis Stevenson’s...

Young Jim Hawkins has no reason to suspect that Billy Bones, the pensioner who has taken up residence in his father’s inn, is anything other than an aging former mariner. But when violent altercations with visitors to the inn leave Billy on death’s doorstep, Jim discovers that they all are members of the crew of the notorious pirate Captain Flint, and that Billy has a map that shows the whereabouts of Flint’s buried treasure. . .  First serialized in a children’s magazine between 1881 and 1882 as a coming-of-age story for young readers, Treasure Island has transcended its time and...

Twenty-five-year-old Anthony Patch appears to have it all: a Harvard education, an apartment in New York City, memberships at all of the best clubs, and a generous trust fund to draw from. Sure, his grandfather is not happy with Anthony’s lack of initiative and feckless lifestyle, but can Anthony be blamed knowing that, as an orphan, he is destined to be the sole heir to his grandfather’s immense fortune?   When Anthony is introduced by friends to the beautiful Gloria Gilbert, whose hedonism rivals his own, he is so smitten that he proposes marriage. Gloria accepts—and so begins the...

For most children, reading the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm is an essential experience; but when these stories were first collected, fairy tales were considered entertainment for adults as well. This edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales brings together the best-known fairy and folk tales set down by the Brothers Grimm, including “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Frog-Prince,” and “Rumpelstiltskin,” in a package aimed at readers returning to the beloved stories of their youth.   

Only yesterday, Gregor Samsa was a meek salesman, browbeaten by his unappreciative employer and depended on fiercely by his ungrateful family. This morning, Gregor awakens to discover that, overnight, he has been transformed into a monstrous insect. As Gregor frantically tries to conceal his predicament, neither his family nor his unsympathetic employer accept that a terrible metamorphosis has upended his existence. Is Gregor’s condition only temporary? Will he eventually revert back to the person he was and resume his normal life? Or might he have to accept that his transformation is only...

When Charles Marlow travels to Africa to serve as steamboat pilot for an ivory-trading company, he learns he is to rendezvous with Kurtz, a trading-post agent held in high regard. But the deeper Marlow penetrates into the jungle, the grimmer the assessments of Kurtz become. Described by Conrad himself as “something quite on another plane than an anecdote of a man who went mad in the Centre of Africa,” Heart of Darkness has long been regarded as a powerful appraisal of the fragility of civilization and the consequences of imperialism. This collection includes another five of Conrad’s...