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books tagged “school”
books tagged “school”
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The Acharniansby AristophanesISBN 0140442871 (0-14-044287-1)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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Alice's Adventures In Wonderlandby Lewis Carroll, John TennielISBN 014036675X (0-14-036675-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland'Book summary:Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll's putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among a multitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplace creatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be "curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral or sense.
For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, and branches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; the masterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter [via]
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found Thereby Lewis Carroll, John TennielISBN 0140383514 (0-14-038351-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There'Book summary:That Alice. When she's not traipsing after a rabbit into Wonderland, she's gallivanting off into the topsy-turvy world behind the drawing-room looking glass. In Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll's masterful and zany sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she makes more eccentric acquaintances, including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Queen, and a somewhat grumpy Humpty Dumpty. Through a giant and elaborate chess game, Alice explores this odd country, where one must eat dry biscuits to quench thirst, and run like the wind to stay in one place. As in life, Alice must stay on her toes to learn the rules of this game. Through the Looking Glass immediately took its rightful place beside its partner on the shelf of eternal classics. And luckily for generations of enraptured children, Carroll was again able to persuade John Tenniel to create the fantastic woodblock engravings that have become so indelibly associated with the Alice stories. For almost 130 years, Alice's curious adventures have amused, perplexed, and delighted readers, young and old. This gorgeous, deluxe boxed set of both volumes contains engravings from Tenniel's original woodblocks that were discovered in a London bank in 1985, and reproduced for the first time here. "'What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures?'" What indeed? (All ages) [via]
More editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There:
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There: ISBN 0140433171 (0-14-043317-1)
Softcover, Penguin USA - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There: ISBN 015202199X (0-15-202199-X)
Hardcover, Harcourt Childrens Books - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There: ISBN 0140383514 (0-14-038351-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There: ISBN 0140433171 (0-14-043317-1)
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Anne of Avonleaby L.M. MontgomeryISBN 0140367985 (0-14-036798-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Anne of Avonlea'Book summary:Anne Shirley, the redheaded girl of Green Gables returns.
Anne is home from Queen's. Now sixteen and a teacher, it is time to settle down and stay out of trouble. But trouble and Anne Shirley always seem to find each other.
Dolly, Anne's Jersey cow, is always getting in to Mr. Harrison's field. Mr. Harrision, a "crank" according to Rachel Lynde, was upset. So when Anne saw Dolly one day in his field Anne sold her on the spot. But when she arrived home there was Dolly. Anne had just sold Mr. Harrision's Jersey. Just the start of another quiet day for Anne.
Mark Twain described Anne as "the most moving and delightful child of fiction since the immortal Alice." The "Anne" books have been best sellers since 1908. [via]
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Anne of the Islandby L.M. MontgomeryISBN 0140367772 (0-14-036777-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Anne of the Island'Book summary:This is the third book about red-haired Anne Shirley. As her childhood friends get married and move away, Anne too leaves Prince Edward Island for Redmond College in Kingsport. Though Priscilla Grant and Gilbert Blythe are fellow-students, she at first feels lonely and provincial. But Anne soon makes new friends, one of whom is rich, handsome Roy Gardner, whose attentions to Anne make Gilbert very jealous. [via]
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The Awakening and Selected Storiesby Kate Chopin, Sandra M. GilbertISBN 0142437328 (0-14-243732-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Awakening and Selected Stories'Book summary:The Awakening shocked turn-of-the-century readers and reviewers with its treatment of sex and suicide. In a departure from literary convention, Kate Chopin failed to condemn her heroine's desire for an affair with the son of a Louisiana resort owner, whom she meets on vacation. The power of sensuality, the delusion of ecstatic love, and the solitude that accompanies the trappings of middle- and upper-class convention are the themes of this now-classic novel. The book was influenced by French writers ranging from Flaubert to Maupassant, and can be seen as a precursor of the impressionistic, mood-driven novels of Virginia Woolf and Djuna Barnes. Variously called "vulgar, " "unhealthily introspective, " and "morbid, " the book was neglected for several decades, not least because it was written by a "regional" woman writer. This edition also includes selected stories from Kate Chopin's Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, and an introduction and notes by Nina Baym. [via]
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Cannery Rowby John SteinbeckISBN 014200068X (0-14-200068-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cannery Row'Book summary:Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henry the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Floods bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love. Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values.[via]First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it isboth the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survivecreating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibleshuman warmth, camaraderie, and love.
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Cat and Mouseby Gunter GrassISBN 0156028220 (0-15-602822-0)
Softcover, Harcourt
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Charles Dickensby John LucasISBN 0140772529 (0-14-077252-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Charles Dickens'Book summary:This study of five major novels by Dickens looks at the tensions between the "private" and "public" aspect of his work. [via]
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The Color Purpleby Alice WalkerISBN 0156028352 (0-15-602835-2)
Softcover, Harcourt
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Color Purple'Book summary:Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self. [via]
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The Confusion of Young Torlessby Robert Musil, J. M. Coetzee, Shaun WhitesideISBN 0142180009 (0-14-218000-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Confusion of Young Torless'Book summary:Like his contemporary and rival Sigmund Freud, Robert Musil boldly explored the dark, irrational undercurrents of humanity. The Confusions of Young Törless, published in 1906 while he was a student, uncovers the bullying, snobbery, and vicious homoerotic violence at an elite boys academy. Unsparingly honest in its depiction of the author's tangled feelings about his mother, other women, and male bonding, it also vividly illustrates the crisis of a whole society, where the breakdown of traditional values and the cult of pitiless masculine strength were soon to lead to the cataclysm of the First World War and the rise of fascism. A century later, Musil's first novel still retains its shocking, prophetic power.[via]More editions of The Confusion of Young Torless:
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Critique of Pure Reasonby Kant, Max Muller, Marcus WeigeltISBN 0140447474 (0-14-044747-4)
Softcover, Penguin Classics
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Critique of Pure Reason'Book summary:The masterpiece of the father of modern philosophy[via]
A seminal text of modern philosophy, Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781) made history by bringing together two opposing schools of thought: rationalism, which grounds all our knowledge in reason, and empiricism, which traces all our knowledge to experience. Published here in a lucid reworking of Max Müller's classic translation, the Critique is a profound investigation into the nature of human reason, establishing its truth, falsities, illusions, and reality.More editions of Critique of Pure Reason:
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Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hydeby Robert Louis StevensonISBN 014600177X (0-14-600177-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Ethan Fromeby Edith Wharton, Elizabeth AmmonsISBN 0142437808 (0-14-243780-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ethan Frome'Book summary:Ethan works his unproductive farm, and struggles to maintain an existence with his suspicious and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena's cousin enters their household as a "hired girl", Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent. [via]
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Far from the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy, Rosemarie Morgan, Shannon Lee RussellISBN 0141439653 (0-14-143965-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Far from the Madding Crowd'Book summary:This tale of love -- from reckless fervor to selfless constancy -- is firmly rooted in the rich rural byways that Hardy knew so well. Bathsheba Everdene, determined to run the farm that has always belonged to her family, is loved by three men: the local farmer Boldwood, a solid, yet passionate squire; Gabriel Oak, a quiet, devoted shepherd; and fascinating, ruthless Sergeant Troy. In this powerful, dramatic story Bathsheba, capricious and willful, comes to comprehend the true nature of generosity, humility, and, ultimately, love.
This brand-new edition of Far from the Madding Crowd includes all of the material that was censored from Hardy's original 1874 manuscript and is the complete book that the author never saw published. [via]
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Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Gardenby Frances Hodgson Burnett, Robin LawrieISBN 0140366660 (0-14-036666-0)
Softcover, Puffin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden'Book summary:Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
More editions of Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden:
- Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden: ISBN 0142437050 (0-14-243705-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden: ISBN 0141182180 (0-14-118218-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden: ISBN 0141309318 (0-14-130931-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden: ISBN 0140366660 (0-14-036666-0)
Softcover, Puffin
- Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden: ISBN 0142437050 (0-14-243705-0)
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A Good Man Is Hard to Find: And Other Storiesby Flannery O'Connor, Laura M. ZaidmanISBN 0155074709 (0-15-507470-9)
Softcover, Heinle & Heinle Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find: And Other Stories'Book summary:The collection that established OConnors reputation as one of the american masters of the short story. The volume contains the celebrated title story, a tale of the murderous fugitive The Misfit, as well as The Displaced Person and eight other stories.[via]More editions of A Good Man Is Hard to Find: And Other Stories:
Green Wilmaby Tedd ArnoldISBN 0140563628 (0-14-056362-8)
Softcover, Puffin
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Hundred Dressesby Eleanor Estes, Louis SlobodkinISBN 0152052607 (0-15-205260-7)
Softcover, Harcourt Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hundred Dresses'Book summary:Wanda Petronski lives way up in shabby Boggins Heights, and she doesn't have any friends. Every day she wears a faded blue dress, which wouldn't be too much of a problem if she didn't tell her schoolmates that she had a hundred dresses at home--all silk, all colors, and velvet, too. This lie--albeit understandable in light of her dress-obsessed circle--precipitates peals of laughter from her peers, and she never hears the end of it. One day, after Wanda has been absent from school for a few days, the teacher receives a note from Wanda's father, a Polish immigrant: "Dear teacher: My Wanda will not come to your school any more. Jake also. Now we move away to big city. No more holler Polack. No more ask why funny name. Plenty of funny names in the big city. Yours truly, Jan Petronski."
Maddie, a girl who had stood by while Wanda was taunted about her dresses, feels sick inside: "True, she had not enjoyed listening to Peggy ask Wanda how many dresses she had in her closet, but she had said nothing.... She was a coward.... She had helped to make someone so unhappy that she had had to move away from town." Repentant, Maddie and her friend Peggy head up to Boggins Heights to see if the Petronskis are still there. When they discover the house is empty, Maddie despairs: "Nothing would ever seem good to her again, because just when she was about to enjoy something--like going for a hike with Peggy to look for bayberries or sliding down Barley Hill--she'd bump right smack into the thought that she had made Wanda Petronski move away." Ouch. This gentle Newbery Honor Book convincingly captures the deeply felt moral dilemmas of childhood, equally poignant for the teased or the tormentor. Louis Slobodkin, illustrator of the 1944 Caldecott Medalist Many Moons, brings his wispy, evocative, color-washed sketches to Eleanor Estes's time-proven classic about kindness, compassion, and standing up for what's right. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson [via]
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The Last Days of Socratesby Plato, Hugh TredennickISBN 0140449280 (0-14-044928-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Last Days of Socrates'Book summary:The Last Days of Socrates, written by legendary author Plato, is widely considered to be one of the greatest classic texts of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, The Last Days of Socrates is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Plato is highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, The Last Days of Socrates would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library. [via]
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Le Morte D'Arthurby Janet Cowen, Thomas MaloryISBN 014043044X (0-14-043044-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Le Morte D'Arthur'Book summary:An immortal story of love, adventure, chivalry, treachery and death. Edited and first published by William Caxton in 1485, Le Morte D'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's unique and splendid version of the Arthurian legend. Mordred's treason, the knightly exploits of Tristan, Lancelot's fatally divided loyalties and his love for Guenever, the quest for the Holy Grail; all the elements are there woven into a wonderful completeness by the magic of his prose style. The result is not only one of the most readable accounts of the knights of the Round Table but also one of the most moving. As the story advances towards the inevitable tragedy of Arthur's death the effect is cumulative, rising with an impending sense of doom and tragedy towards its shattering finale. [via]
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Le Morte D'Arthurby Thomas MaloryISBN 0140430431 (0-14-043043-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderlandby Lewis Carroll, Barry MoserISBN 0151042306 (0-15-104230-6)
Hardcover, Harcourt
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Life on the Mississippiby Mark TwainISBN 0140390502 (0-14-039050-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Life on the Mississippi'Book summary:This is Mark Twain's description of life on the Mississippi River, with observations and anecdotes about the culture and society along the river valley. It includes character sketches, historical facts, information and reminiscences of Twain's boyhood and experiences as a steam-boat pilot. Part travel book, part autobiography, and part social commentary, "Life on the Mississippi" is a memoir of the cub pilot's apprenticeship, a record of Twain's return to the river and to Hannibal as an adult, a meditation on the harsh vagaries of nature, and a study of the varied and sometimes violent activities engaged in by those who live on the river's shores. [via]
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Little Menby Louisa May AlcottISBN 0140367136 (0-14-036713-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Little Men'Book summary:This is the third book about the March family and their friends. With two sons of her own, and twelve rescued orphan boys filling the informal school at Plumfield, Jo March (now Jo Bhaer) couldn't be happier. But despite the warm and affectionate help of the whole March family, boys have a habit of getting into scrapes and there are plenty of troubles and adventures ahead. [via]
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A Little Princessby U. C. Knoepflmacher, Frances Hodgson BurnettISBN 0142437018 (0-14-243701-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Little Princess'Book summary:Sara Crewe, an exceptionally intelligent and imaginative student at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, is devastated when her adored, indulgent father dies. Now penniless and banished to a room in the attic, Sara is demeaned, abused, and forced to work as a servant. How this resourceful girl's fortunes change again is at the center of A Little Princess, one of the best-loved stories in all of children's literature.[via]
This unique and fully annotated edition appends excerpts from Frances Hodgson Burnett's original 1888 novella Sara Crewe and the stage play that preceded the novel, as well as an early story, "Behind the White Brick," allowing readers to see how A Little Princess evolved. In his delightful introduction, U. C. Knoepflmacher considers the fairy-tale allusions and literary touchstones that place the book among the major works of Victorian literature, and shows it to be an exceptionally rich and resonant novel.More editions of A Little Princess:
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Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!by Nancy CarlsonISBN 0140568387 (0-14-056838-7)
Softcover, Puffin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!'Book summary:The first day of kindergarten is finally here, and Henry can't wait to paint pictures, sing songs, and practice counting. When he gets to school, though, he's not so sure he's ready for kindergarten. But before long Henry discovers that the only thing he's not ready for is how much fun he's going to have at school! This gently humorous, encouraging story will give children about to enter kindergarten an extra boost of confidence.[via]
"Perfect for parents to share with their children, and the endearing Henry will offer reassurance to even the most hesitant prekindergartners."
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Lying: A Metaphorical Memoirby Lauren SlaterISBN 014200006X (0-14-200006-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Lysistrataby Aristophanes, Alan H. SommersteinISBN 0146001664 (0-14-600166-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lysistrata'Book summary:Aristophanes' great anti-war drama, with comedic overtones, glorifies the power of fertility in the face of destruction. Plays for Performance Series. [via]
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Mansfield Parkby Jane Austen, Kathryn SutherlandISBN 0141439807 (0-14-143980-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mansfield Park'Book summary:Though Jane Austen was writing at a time when Gothic potboilers such as Ann Ward Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto were all the rage, she never got carried away by romance in her own novels. In Austen's ordered world, the passions that ruled Gothic fiction would be horridly out of place; marriage was, first and foremost, a contract, the bedrock of polite society. Certain rules applied to who was eligible and who was not, how one courted and married and what one expected afterwards. To flout these rules was to tear at the basic fabric of society, and the consequences could be terrible. Each of the six novels she completed in her lifetime are, in effect, comic cautionary tales that end happily for those characters who play by the rules and badly for those who don't. In Mansfield Park, for example, Austen gives us Fanny Price, a poor young woman who has grown up in her wealthy relatives' household without ever being accepted as an equal. The only one who has truly been kind to Fanny is Edmund Bertram, the younger of the family's two sons.
Into this Cinderella existence comes Henry Crawford and his sister, Mary, who are visiting relatives in the neighborhood. Soon Mansfield Park is given over to all kinds of gaiety, including a daring interlude spent dabbling in theatricals. Young Edmund is smitten with Mary, and Henry Crawford woos Fanny. Yet these two charming, gifted, and attractive siblings gradually reveal themselves to be lacking in one essential Austenian quality: principle. Without good principles to temper passion, the results can be disastrous, and indeed, Mansfield Park is rife with adultery, betrayal, social ruin, and ruptured friendships. But this is a comedy, after all, so there is also a requisite happy ending and plenty of Austen's patented gentle satire along the way. Describing the switch in Edmund's affections from Mary to Fanny, she writes: "I purposely abstain from dates on this occasion, that everyone may be at liberty to fix their own, aware that the cure of unconquerable passions, and the transfer of unchanging attachments, must vary much as to time in different people." What does not vary is the pleasure with which new generations come to Jane Austen. --Alix Wilber [via]
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The Metamorphosesby OvidISBN 0140440585 (0-14-044058-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Metamorphoses'Book summary:The first English translation of one of the supreme masterpieces of Latin literature, "Golding's Metamorphoses" (1567) decisively influenced Shakespeare, Spenser and the character of English Renaissance writing. Ovid's deliciously witty and poignant epic starts with the creation of the world and brings together a series of ingeniously linked myths and legends in which men and women are transformed, often by love - into flowers, trees, stones and stars. This robustly vernacular version adds a Christian moral framework, clarifies obscurities and gives an English flavour to the rustic settings, thus making readily available to later writers a treasure-trove of comic, eerie and erotic tales. [via]
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Metamorphosesby Peter Forbes, David Raeburn, Denis FeeneyISBN 014044789X (0-14-044789-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Metamorphoses'Book summary:[via]Ovids sensuous and witty poem brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformationoften as a result of love or lustwhere men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but light-hearted, dramatic and yet playful, the Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes.
- Includes introduction, a preface to each book, explanatory notes, and an index of people, gods, and places
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The Metamorphoses of Ovidby Allen MandelbaumISBN 0156001268 (0-15-600126-8)
Softcover, Harcourt
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Metamorphoses of Ovid'Book summary:Publius Ovidius Naso, whom we know as Ovid, was already established as a writer when The Metamorphoses was published in A.D. 8, when he was 52 years old. It had taken him a decade to compose his great poem, during which time he published little, but the Roman world was still abuzz with excitement over his richly erotic Art of Love. So, unfortunately, was the court of Augustus Caesar, and the emperor banished the poet to what is now Romania. Augustus may have taken exception to the poet's turn to the impolite realm of the body--or he may have objected to a rumored affair between Ovid and the emperor's nymphomaniacal daughter Julia, who figures so prominently in Robert Graves's Claudius novels. The poet who had declared Rome to be his only home could have found no worse punishment than exile, but no amount of pleading could sway Augustus, and Ovid died on the shores of the Black Sea a decade later. Full of veiled political and historical references, The Metamorphoses lived on to become a permanent fixture in the canon of European literature. In Allen Mandelbaum's hands, it lives on for a new generation. [via]
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The Metamorphoses of Ovid: A New Verse Translationby Ovid, Allen MandelbaumISBN 0151705291 (0-15-170529-1)
Hardcover, Harcourt
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Metamorphoses of Ovid: A New Verse Translation'Book summary:Publius Ovidius Naso, whom we know as Ovid, was already established as a writer when The Metamorphoses was published in A.D. 8, when he was 52 years old. It had taken him a decade to compose his great poem, during which time he published little, but the Roman world was still abuzz with excitement over his richly erotic Art of Love. So, unfortunately, was the court of Augustus Caesar, and the emperor banished the poet to what is now Romania. Augustus may have taken exception to the poet's turn to the impolite realm of the body--or he may have objected to a rumored affair between Ovid and the emperor's nymphomaniacal daughter Julia, who figures so prominently in Robert Graves's Claudius novels. The poet who had declared Rome to be his only home could have found no worse punishment than exile, but no amount of pleading could sway Augustus, and Ovid died on the shores of the Black Sea a decade later. Full of veiled political and historical references, The Metamorphoses lived on to become a permanent fixture in the canon of European literature. In Allen Mandelbaum's hands, it lives on for a new generation. [via]
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Middlemarchby George Eliot, Rosemary AshtonISBN 0141439548 (0-14-143954-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Middlemarch'Book summary:In a panoramic sweep of the years leading up to the First Reform Bill of 1832, George Eliot explores nearly every subject of concern to modern life: art, religion, science, politics, self, society, human relationships. Among her characters are some of the most remarkable portraits in English literature: Dorothea Brooke, the heroine, idealistic but naive; Rosamund Vincy, beautiful and egoistic; Edward Casaubon, the dry-as-dust scholar; Tertius Lydgate, the brilliant but morally flawed physician; the passionate artist, Will Ladislaw; and Fred Vincy and Mary Garth, childhood sweethearts whose charming courtship is one of the many humorous elements in the novel's comic vein. [via]
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Minerva Louise at Schoolby Janet Morgan StoekeISBN 0140562877 (0-14-056287-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Minerva Louise at School'Book summary:Out for an early morning walk, Minerva Louise the hen sees a big, fancy "barn" with a flag out front and brightly decorated windows. She just has to explore the "stalls" with "milking stools," the "pigpen," and (most important for a hen) the "nesting boxes." Young children--who know a school when they see one--will delight in the intrepid hen's third birdbrained adventure.
"Delightful...Minerva Louise's goofy perceptions and enterprising spirit are sure to tickle preschoolers." --Kirkus Reviews
* A Picture Puffin
* Full-color illustrations
* 24 pages
* 10 x 8
* Ages 2-6 [via]More editions of Minerva Louise at School:
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Miss Smith's Incredible Storybookby Michael GarlandISBN 0142402826 (0-14-240282-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook'Book summary:[via]When Zack meets his second-grade teacher, Miss Smith, he can tell right away that her class will be different. But he has no idea just how different it will be! Miss Smith has a knack for telling tales when she reads from her incredible book, the stories literally spring to life! Then one day Miss Smith is late for school. The principal takes over and things get out of hand. The classroom is swarming with storybook characters from princesses to pirates to the three little pigs? All it takes is one spectacular teacher.
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The Monk: A Longman Cultural Editionby Matthew Lewis, Christopher MacLachlanISBN 0140436030 (0-14-043603-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Monk: A Longman Cultural Edition'Book summary:[via]Few could sustain the glance of his eye, at once fiery and penetrating
Savaged by critics for its supposed profanity and obscenity, and bought in large numbers by readers eager to see whether it lived up to its lurid reputation, The Monk became a succès de scandale when it was published in 1796 not least because its author was a member of parliament and only twenty years old. It recounts the diabolical decline of Ambrosio, a Capuchin superior, who succumbs first to temptations offered by a young girl who has entered his monastery disguised as a boy, and continues his descent with increasingly depraved acts of sorcery, murder, incest and torture. Combining sensationalism with acute psychological insight, this masterpiece of Gothic fiction is a powerful exploration of how violent and erotic impulses can break through the barriers of social and moral restraint.
This edition is based on the first edition of 1796, which appeared before Lewiss revisions to avoid charges of blasphemy. In his introduction, Christopher MacLachlan discusses the novels place within the Gothic genre, and its themes of sexual desire and the abuse of power.
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Northanger Abbeyby Jane Austen, Marilyn ButlerISBN 0141439793 (0-14-143979-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Northanger Abbey'Book summary:Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.
Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber [via]
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On the Roadby Jack Kerouac, Ann ChartersISBN 0142437255 (0-14-243725-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Road'Book summary:On The Road, the most famous of Jack Kerouac's works, is not only the soul of the Beat movement and literature, but one of the most important novels of the century. Like nearly all of Kerouac's writing, On The Road is thinly fictionalized autobiography, filled with a cast made of Kerouac's real life friends, lovers, and fellow travelers. Narrated by Sal Paradise, one of Kerouac's alter-egos, On the Road is a cross-country bohemian odyssey that not only influenced writing in the years since its 1957 publication but penetrated into the deepest levels of American thought and culture. [via]
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A Passage to India: Library Editionby E. M. ForsterISBN 0151711410 (0-15-171141-0)
Hardcover, Harcourt
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Passage to India: Library Edition'Book summary:What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can an Englishman and an Indian be friends?
"It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz, early in the novel.
"They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was in another part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.
Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr. Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed. If Aziz's friend, Hamidullah, believed it impossible, the British representatives of the Raj were equally discouraging."He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than Turton!
"I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike."
"Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die," said Mrs. Callendar.
Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr. Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open-minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexually assaulting her, then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed.
"How if he went to heaven?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle but crooked smile.
"He can go where he likes as long as he doesn't come near me. They give me the creeps."Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber [via]
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The Pilgrim's Progressby John Bunyan, Roger SharrockISBN 0140430040 (0-14-043004-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Pilgrim's Progress'Book summary:The great religious allegory of Christian's journey, through the Slough of Despond to the Celestial City, in search of the truth. [via]
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Richard IIby William Shakespeare, Stanley WellsISBN 0140707190 (0-14-070719-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Richard II'Book summary:One of Shakespeare's finest history plays, Richard II deals with one of the most sensitive and politically explosive issues of its day--the rights and wrongs of deposing a legitimately appointed king. Forerunner to the two parts of Henry IV, the play deals with the abdication of King Richard II in 1399, the subsequent succession of Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV, and Richard's death in the spring of 1400. But the play has been celebrated above and beyond its stature as historical drama. Richard II begins with a portrait of Richard as a pompous, arrogant and self-regarding sovereign, with little sense of his people or his political responsibilities. As he consistently miscalculates in his attempts to destroy Bolingbroke, and watches his own power wane, he becomes a far more appealing, Hamlet-like figure, more interested in "talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs", and "sad stories of the death of kings". Richard's speeches become increasingly lyrical and poetic as his supporters desert him, until he finally takes on the stature of the pilloried Christ in the climax of the play, the deposition scene, one of the most politically risky scenes in all of Shakespeare. The play remains most famous for John of Gaunt's "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle" speech, but historians believe that the play was also performed in the streets of London in 1601 in support of the Earl of Essex's attempt to depose Elizabeth I. Whilst the plot failed, it showed the power of the theatre of the time, and the politically controversial nature of Shakespeare's play. --Jerry Brotton [via]
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Saint Iggyby K. L. GoingISBN 0152057951 (0-15-205795-1)
Hardcover, Harcourt Childrens Books
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Saint Joanby Bernard Shaw, Dan H. LaurenceISBN 0140450238 (0-14-045023-8)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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Saint Joanby Stanley Weintraub, Bernard ShawISBN 0140437916 (0-14-043791-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Secret Gardenby Frances Hodgson Burnett, Janet Allison Brown, Graham RustISBN 0141312017 (0-14-131201-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Sense And Sensibilityby Jane Austen, Linda JenningsISBN 0140378502 (0-14-037850-2)
Softcover, Puffin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sense And Sensibility'Book summary:Though not the first novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion. Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she "loves him tenderly," she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister:
Oh! Mama, how spiritless, how tame was Edward's manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister most severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat. To hear those beautiful lines which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!
Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr. Willoughby, a new neighbor. So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous. Then Willoughby abandons her; meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart. How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel. Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired; a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure. --Alix Wilber [via]More editions of Sense And Sensibility:
- Sense And Sensibility: ISBN 0141439661 (0-14-143966-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - Sense And Sensibility: ISBN 0140430474 (0-14-043047-4)
Softcover, Penguin USA - Sense And Sensibility: ISBN 0140434259 (0-14-043425-9)
Softcover, Penguin USA - Sense And Sensibility: ISBN 0140378502 (0-14-037850-2)
Softcover, Puffin
- Sense And Sensibility: ISBN 0141439661 (0-14-143966-1)
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Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloeby David Carroll, George EliotISBN 0141439750 (0-14-143975-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe'Book summary:Driven out of the religious community to which he belongs on a false charge of theft, Silas Marner takes refuge in the village of Raveloe. He is a lonely man, whose only comfort is his gold. One night his gold is stolen and he is left with nothing, until a small child wanders into his cottage. [via]
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Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloeby George EliotISBN 014043030X (0-14-043030-X)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe'Book summary:This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. [via]
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Sleeping Freshmen Never Lieby David LubarISBN 0142407801 (0-14-240780-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Songs of Innocence and Experienceby William BlakeISBN 0146000935 (0-14-600093-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Special Topics in Calamity Physicsby Marisha PesslISBN 0143112120 (0-14-311212-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics'Book summary:?Dazzling,? (People) ?Exuberant,? (Vogue) ?marvelously entertaining,? (The Dallas Morning News) Marisha Pessl?s mesmerizing debut has critics raving and heralds the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of this ?cracking good read?4 is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway school, she finds some?a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel?with ?visual aids? drawn by the author?that has won over readers of all ages. [via]
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The Story of Englishby Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeilISBN 0142002313 (0-14-200231-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Story of English'Book summary:[via]Now revised, The Story of English is the first book to tell the whole story of the English language. Originally paired with a major PBS miniseries, this book presents a stimulating and comprehensive record of spoken and written Englishfrom its Anglo-Saxon origins some two thousand years ago to the present day, when English is the dominant language of commerce and culture with more than one billion English speakers around the world. From Cockney, Scouse, and Scots to Gulla, Singlish, Franglais, and the latest African American slang, this sweeping history of the English language is the essential introduction for anyone who wants to know more about our common tongue.
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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydeby Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert MighallISBN 0141439734 (0-14-143973-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'Book summary:Robert Louis Stevenson originally wrote "Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde" as a "chilling shocker." He then burned the draft and, upon his wife's advice, rewrote it as the darkly complex tale it is today. Stark, skillfully woven, this fascinating novel explores the curious turnings of human character through the strange case of Dr. Jekyll, a kindly scientist who by night takes on his stunted evil self, Mr. Hyde. Anticipating modern psychology, "Jekyll And Hyde" is a brilliantly original study of man's dual nature -- as well as an immortal tale of suspense and terror. Published in 1866, "Jekyll And Hyde" was an instant success and brought Stevenson his first taste of fame. Though sometimes dismissed as a mere mystery story, the book has evoked much literary admirations. Vladimir Nabokov likened it to "Madame Bovary" and "Dead Souls" as "a fable that lies nearer to poetry than to ordinary prose fiction." [via]
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Today Was a Terrible Dayby Patricia Reilly Giff, Susanna NattiISBN 0140504532 (0-14-050453-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Tom Brown's Schooldaysby Thomas HughesISBN 0140350225 (0-14-035022-5)
Softcover, Viking Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'Book summary:Recounts a young English schoolboy's adventures at Rugby in the early nineteenth century. [via]
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The Tragedy of King Richard the Secondby William Shakespeare, Matthew Wilson BlackISBN 0140714065 (0-14-071406-5)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Tragedy of King Richard the Second'Book summary:One of Shakespeare's finest history plays, Richard II deals with one of the most sensitive and politically explosive issues of its day--the rights and wrongs of deposing a legitimately appointed king. Forerunner to the two parts of Henry IV, the play deals with the abdication of King Richard II in 1399, the subsequent succession of Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV, and Richard's death in the spring of 1400. But the play has been celebrated above and beyond its stature as historical drama. Richard II begins with a portrait of Richard as a pompous, arrogant and self-regarding sovereign, with little sense of his people or his political responsibilities. As he consistently miscalculates in his attempts to destroy Bolingbroke, and watches his own power wane, he becomes a far more appealing, Hamlet-like figure, more interested in "talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs", and "sad stories of the death of kings". Richard's speeches become increasingly lyrical and poetic as his supporters desert him, until he finally takes on the stature of the pilloried Christ in the climax of the play, the deposition scene, one of the most politically risky scenes in all of Shakespeare. The play remains most famous for John of Gaunt's "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle" speech, but historians believe that the play was also performed in the streets of London in 1601 in support of the Earl of Essex's attempt to depose Elizabeth I. Whilst the plot failed, it showed the power of the theatre of the time, and the politically controversial nature of Shakespeare's play. --Jerry Brotton [via]
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The Tragedy of Richard the Secondby William Shakespeare, Frances E. DolanISBN 0140714820 (0-14-071482-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Tragedy of Richard the Second'Book summary:One of Shakespeare's finest history plays, Richard II deals with one of the most sensitive and politically explosive issues of its day--the rights and wrongs of deposing a legitimately appointed king. Forerunner to the two parts of Henry IV, the play deals with the abdication of King Richard II in 1399, the subsequent succession of Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV, and Richard's death in the spring of 1400. But the play has been celebrated above and beyond its stature as historical drama. Richard II begins with a portrait of Richard as a pompous, arrogant and self-regarding sovereign, with little sense of his people or his political responsibilities. As he consistently miscalculates in his attempts to destroy Bolingbroke, and watches his own power wane, he becomes a far more appealing, Hamlet-like figure, more interested in "talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs", and "sad stories of the death of kings". Richard's speeches become increasingly lyrical and poetic as his supporters desert him, until he finally takes on the stature of the pilloried Christ in the climax of the play, the deposition scene, one of the most politically risky scenes in all of Shakespeare. The play remains most famous for John of Gaunt's "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle" speech, but historians believe that the play was also performed in the streets of London in 1601 in support of the Earl of Essex's attempt to depose Elizabeth I. Whilst the plot failed, it showed the power of the theatre of the time, and the politically controversial nature of Shakespeare's play. --Jerry Brotton [via]
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Twelfth Nightby William Shakespeare, Jonathan CreweISBN 0140714898 (0-14-071489-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will'Book summary:One of Shakespeare's finest comedies, Twelfth Night, was written at the same time as Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida, and while it shares their fascination with sex, death and confused identities, its exuberant comedy and linguistic inventiveness rises above the introspection of these plays. Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are separated in a storm that washes them both up at different points on the shores of Illyria. Believing each other to be dead, both attempt to survive by using their wits. Viola cross-dresses and enters the service of the lovesick Orsino, in love with Olivia, an heiress in mourning for the loss of her brother. Orsino's saucy young page Cesario (Viola) soon falls in love with "his" master, who tells "him", "all is semblative a woman's part". Unfortunately, while Viola falls in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with her alter ego, Cesario, while also being pursued at the same time by her pompous servant Malvolio. Olivia's house is also turned upside down by the antics of her drunker uncle, Sir Toby Belch, and the whole crazy situation reaches boiling point when Sebastian reappears.
Despite the madcap plot, Twelfth Night remains one of Shakespeare's most complex and inventive comedies, fascinated with questions of cross-dressing, gender confusion, language and inversion, as well as retaining a darker edge to some of its laughter. --Jerry Brotton [via]
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Walden and Civil Disobedienceby Henry David Thoreau, Michael MeyerISBN 0140390448 (0-14-039044-8)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Walden and Civil Disobedience'Book summary:'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.' Disdainful of America's growing commercialism and industrialism, Henry David Thoreau left Concord, Massachusetts, in 1845 to live in solitude in the woods by Walden Pond. Walden, the classic account of his stay there, conveys at once a naturalist's wonder at the commonplace and a Transcendentalist's yearning for spiritual truth and self-reliance. But even as Thoreau disentangled himself from worldly matters, his solitary musings were often disturbed by his social conscience. 'Civil Disobedience', expressing his antislavery and antiwar sentiments, has influenced nonviolent resistance movements worldwide. Michael Meyer's introduction points out that Walden is not so much an autobiographical study as a 'shining example' of Transcendental individualism. So, too, 'Civil Disobedience' is less a call to political activism than a statement of Thoreau's insistence on living a life of principle. [via]
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The Witchesby Roald Dahl, Quentin BlakeISBN 0141301104 (0-14-130110-4)
Softcover, Puffin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Witches'Book summary:"This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches." So begins one of Roald Dahl's best books ever, and, ironically, it is such a great story because the premise is perfectly plausible from the outset. When the narrator's parents die in a car crash on page two (contrast this terribly real demise with that of James's parents who are devoured by an escaped rhinoceros in James and the Giant Peach), he is taken in by his cigar-smoking Norwegian grandmother, who has learned a storyteller's respect for witches and is wise to their ways.
The bond between the boy and his grandmother becomes the centerpiece of the tale--a partnership of love and understanding that survives even the boy's unfortunate transformation into a mouse. And once the two have teamed up to outwitch the witches, the boy's declaration that he's glad he's a mouse because he will now live only as long as his grandmother is far more poignant than eerie.
Of course, there's adventure here along with Dahl's trademark cleverness and sense of the grotesque. Dahl also communicates some essential truths to children: if they smoke cigars, they'll never catch cold, and, most importantly, they should never bathe, because a clean child is far, far easier for a witch to smell than a dirty one. (Ages 7 to 10, or read aloud to younger children) [via]
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Wizard of Earthseaby Ursula K. Le GuinISBN 0140304770 (0-14-030477-0)
Hardcover, Penguin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wizard of Earthsea'Book summary:Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow. [via]
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