"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway once declared. First published in 1885, the book has delighted millions of readers, while simultaneously riling contemporary sensibilities, and is still banned in many schools and libraries. Now, Michael Patrick Hearn, author of the best-selling The Annotated Wizard of Oz, thoroughly reexamines the 116-year heritage of that archetypal American boy, Huck Finn, and follows his adventures along every bend of the mighty Mississippi River. Hearn's copious annotations draw on primary sources...

For more than one hundred years, the stories from The Jungle Book have enchanted readers, both young and old, with their important moral lessons and engaging narratives. By anthropomorphizing the animal characters in the storiesin a vein similar to Aesopfamed writer Rudyard Kipling provides readers with parables that teach family and community values while simultaneously entertaining and inspiring. Consequently, these stories have stood the test of time, have been published in a variety of editions and publications, and continue to be reprinted today.
This collection of stories...