Another collection of poems and short stories by Laura Richards. Yes, these are all short and mostly all delightfully innocent and sweet. Some have a moral for little children, and some are just funny or poignant or educational, but all are a peek into the way of life of a century ago when children lived a slower and possibly happier life and kids loved to be read a story at bedtime. No cell phones or TV, just a loving connection between parent and child. So if you want to see what it was like to listen to a story or a poem from a simpler time, just pick one from the great variety here, turn down the lamp and settle down to enjoy the warm glow of good old fashioned story tellin'.
When Portia Blake and her family came back to Gone-Away Lake, it was to move into an old house locked up tightly for nearly half a century. Next to discovering Gone-Away the summer before, nothing so exciting had ever happened to Portia and her cousin Julian. Then began an enchanted summer of exploration and discovery, as the old house slowly revealed its surprises and its treasures.
This is the sequel to the book, Gone-Away Lake, by Elizabeth Enright.
Polly Pepper loves to tell stories, but there just isn't enough room in the other books to include her stories! So, since "the author has received from mothers and other persons interested in the Pepper Family, so many requests for the Stories told by Polly Pepper ... this initial volume of Polly’s earlier stories has been prepared in obedience to these requests" (from the Preface). So curl up at Polly's feet, in front of the warm fire, and enjoy the Stories Polly Pepper Told to the Five Little Peppers in the Little Brown House!
“When Captain Carey went on his long journey into the unknown and uncharted land, the rest of the Careys tried in vain for a few months to be still a family, and did not succeed at all. They clung as closely to one another as ever they could, but there was always a gap in the circle where father had been….. The only thing to do was to remember father's pride and justify it, to recall his care for mother and take his place so far as might be; the only thing for all, as the months went on, was to be what mother called the three Bs -- brave, bright, and busy."
From the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, this book tells the story of a widow and her four children, forced to leave their home due to financial difficulties, and move to the “Yellow House” in turn of the century Beulah, Maine. The Disney movie “Summer Magic” starring Hayley Mills was loosely based on this book.
Pixie is older, her world becomes wider. The stories of her sister Bridgie and her brother Jack emerge, and also that of an intriguing neighbor, Miss Sylvia Trevor.
With affectionate humor, Mr. Walpole tells the story of Jeremy and his two sisters, Helen and Mary Cole, who grow up in Polchester, a quiet English Cathedral town. There is the Jampot, who is the nurse ; Hamlet, the stray dog ; Uncle Samuel, who paints pictures and is altogether 'queer’; of course, Mr. and Mrs. Cole, and Aunt Amy. Mr. Walpole has given his narrative a rare double appeal, for it not only recreates for the adult the illusion of his own happiest youth, but it unfolds for the child-reader a genuine and moving experience with real people and pleasant things. No child will fail to love the birthday in the Cole household, the joyous departure for the sea and the country in the long vacation. ( Joseph Hergesheimer, Hugh Walpole: An Appreciation, 1919, p 38 and david wales)
In book 9 of the Bobbsey Twins series, the twins and their family visit New York City. Adventure awaits around every corner as the twins explore the big city.
Short funny stories for children that not only are fun to read and listen to, but have neat rhymes in each story. So if you like a bit of poetry thrown in amid the prose, these are for you.
A continuation of the adventures of Mary Ware, the chum of the Little Colonel and the heroine of the tenth volume in the "Little Colonel" series. Mary Ware goes to Texas where during a winter with her mother and Jack in San Antonio and the hill country she has new and varied experiences which are entertainingly set down for the enjoyment of young readers. (Book Review Digest 1911)
In this charming girl's book we meet again the four chums of Dandelion Cottage. Their friendship knit closer than ever by their summer at playing house, the girls enlarge their activity by mothering a pretty little Indian baby.
"Those who have read Dandelion Cottage will need no urge to follow further. . . . A lovable group of four children, happily not perfect, but full of girlish plans and pranks and a delightful sense of humor."
"Imagination is like a sail, as Mr. Joyce had said that evening; but sails are good and useful things sometimes, and carry their owners over deep waters and dark waves, which else might dampen, and drench, and drown." Twelve year old Isabella Bright is endowed with just such an imagination and spends her time amusing herself and her friends with stories. Will her imagination be called upon to help her navigate tempestuous seas?
The setting is a small English village in the 19th century. When her niece shows up on her doorstep unexpectedly, a quiet spinster finds her life turned upside down.
Lloyd Sherman, the "Little Colonel", is a girl of eleven whose mother invites three other girls to spend a month with Lloyd in her beautiful home in Kentucky. The children come from very different homes, but fall into the new ways very readily. The account of their escapades will amuse young readers. A bit of disobedience on the part of one spoilt girl leads to something of a tragedy, in which Betty, the nicest of the children, is the sufferer.
This series for girls from the early 1900’s, begun in “The Little Colonel”, and continued in “The Gate of the Giant Scissors” and “Two Little Knights of Kentucky”, is picked up again in this volume, with the return of several of the characters from those books.
Mary Louise is a girl who lives with her mother and grandfather. Ever since she was small, every little while they have had to pack up and move. Why? What is the secret about her grandfather?
Book 5 of the story of Mildred Keith by Martha Finley. We join Mildred as she settles into home life as wife and mother. We also see the rest of the Keith children begin to make starts of their own - some near to home, and others far away and perhaps lost forever. The Dinsmore cousins continue to be part of the story as well.
Teddy is a little boy who cares about his father's button more than anything in the world. He wants to be in the Queen's army when he grows up, but his pastor tells him how he can be a soldier in God's army while he is still young. Teddy has many ups and downs as he tries to be a good soldier for his Captain, Jesus Christ.
Courage follows the story of Courage, a young 12-year-old orphaned girl, who adapts to to meeting and living with new people. She lives up to her name . . . but, what becomes of her in the end?
This is the touching and endearing story of Little Meg and her trials and difficulties as she does her best to look after 'her children' after their mother dies.
Father is away at sea and is expected every day, but when father's ship comes in he is not aboard! With the help of her new friend and neighbour Kitty, she finds out that he was 'took bad' on the other side of the world, who knows when or if he will ever make it back. Meanwhile, Little Meg must take care of Robby and baby. There are better days and worse days. There is the wonderful trip to Temple Gardens and the difficult process of pawning away their best clothes so Meg can buy food and coal. But through everything, Meg's simple childlike faith in God carries her through as each of her prayers are faithfully answered and a happy ending comes in sight! (fiddlesticks)
Little Prudy’s Sister Suzy is the second book in the Little Prudy series. It follows three sisters, aged 3 to 8, through the Christmas break and the following months as they get into all kinds of situations.
The Feland family go on a holiday in Switzerland. While there, their impulsive younger daughter gets into a scrape that teaches the whole family a lesson in love and faith. Summary by Devorah Allen.
Christie is all alone in the world after his mother dies. He lives in a boarding house and every night creeps up the attic stairs to hear an old barrel organ play. One night while he is listening, the organ stops and Christie hears a thump. What has happened? What should Christie do?
Find out about the life of Edith, a little English child living at the turn of the last century. This is a fictionalised account of her daily life and also relates special events including visits to Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens and many other delightful parts of the country. The story is simply-told and highly suitable for all ages. This recording is dedicated to the Distributed Proofreaders who created the Project Gutenberg text -- thankyou!
This delightful little book is another in the "Our Little Cousin" series that offered American children insight into what their young counterparts in other lands were like; the games they played and the life they lived.
Bunny Brown and his little sister, Sue, have been having adventures and fun, and getting into scrapes, since the early 1900s. From Chapter One: "Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were at Camp Rest-a-While with their father and their mother. They had come from their home in Bellemere to live for a while in the forest, on the shore of Lake Wanda, where they were all enjoying the life in the open air. They had journeyed to the woods in an automobile, carrying two tents which were set up under the trees. One tent was used to sleep in and the other for a dining room. There was also a place to cook..." This is Volume 6 of the Bunny Brown series.
This book contains racial prejudices that were once commonplace. They are retained, as originally written in this recording, because to do otherwise would be to deny they existed.
In this latest and most delightful book Mary's desire to visit "The Locusts," the old home of the "Little Colonel," is gratified, and the environment of green fields and spreading trees and all the charm and freshness of the beautiful Kentucky country itself throughout the entire story. In the end will Mary's "Knight Come Riding"?
This is the last book in the "Little Colonel Series", and the third featuring Mary Ware.
A charming children's story following the trials and tribulations of the simple life of Marie-Celeste as she endears herself to everyone whose life she touches. With her parents, she moves to Windsor Castle to live with her orphaned cousin and learns about Queen Victoria, her life, home and family as well as other aspects of English life, sharing her knowledge and innocent insight in a delightful way.
Philomene Isolde is a good little girl, but has been very lonely since the death of her mother. Playing make-believe in the garden, Philomene is surprised when she meets a little man in a green suit who invites her to Fairyland.
A short sweet, yet sad, Christmas story about forgiveness, but especially about loving others for who they are and not for who we want them to be.
This series of Tuck Me In Tales and Slumber Town Tales of animal stories for children from three to eight years, tells of the adventures of the four-footed creatures of Pleasant Valley in an amusing way, which delights small two-footed human beings. This books focuses on Muley Cow, the Green family farmyard cow.
If you don't like Christmas stories, don't read this one!
And if you don't like dogs I don't know just what to advise you to do!
For I warn you perfectly frankly that I am distinctly pro-dog and distinctly pro-Christmas, and would like to bring to this little story whatever whiff of fir-balsam I can cajole from the make-believe forest in my typewriter, and every glitter of tinsel, smudge of toy candle, crackle of wrapping paper, that my particular brand of brain and ink can conjure up on a single keyboard! And very large-sized dogs shall romp through every page! And the mercury shiver perpetually in the vicinity of zero! And every foot of earth be crusty-brown and bare with no white snow at all till the very last moment when you'd just about given up hope! And all the heart of the story is very,—oh very young!
For purposes of propriety and general historical authenticity there are of course parents in the story. And one or two other oldish persons. But they all go away just as early in the narrative as I can manage it.—Are obliged to go away!
Yet lest you find in this general combination of circumstances some sinister threat of audacity, let me conventionalize the story at once by opening it at that most conventional of all conventional Christmas-story hours,—the Twilight of Christmas Eve."
In this delightful story ”The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation” by Annie Fellows Johnston the Little Colonel, Lloyd Sherman. together with her friends Betty, Kitty and Allison are starting the schoolyear at a new school, Warwick Hall, a Boardingschool for girls in Washington. They find it a wonderful and stimulating place, make many new friends and have many experiences and also adventures there. But Lloyd comes down with high fever shortly before Christmas, and while home on Christmas Vacation she almost breaks down, and the doctor says she must not go back to school but stay at home to regain her health.
Lloyd is very, very disappointed at first but by and by finds that Lloydsboro Valley holds so much of interest and interesting people which she really didn't know or had noted before. During her forced Vacation she learns to see herself and people in a new light. She sets out to to help and to cheer people up, with some strange results to herself sometimes, but she is also the instrument of changing the life for some. When Spring comes her health is fully restored and she is turning sixteen, and at her Birthday a very astonishing letter arrives, and there it ends with the scene set for another story.
Dawn (also known in England as "Keith’s Dark Tower"), was published in 1919, and is set during World War I. Keith Burton is going blind. It is hard for him and his family. Most of the book deals with their ways - right and wrong - of dealing with the situation. At the end, Keith finds pride in helping blind solders.
Eleanor H. Porter was a writer of many popular children’s books and novels, including the Pollyanna and Miss Billy series, as well as Just David, Oh, Money! Money! and more.
Two young children, recently arrived back in England from India, discover their aunt's old gardener, and together they explore the beautiful hope of springtime, Easter, and eternal life.
There were two storms: one within and one without. The windmiller's wife was starting to be very unhappy, and the rain was pouring down as fast as her tears. So her husband brought Jan, a neglected child, for her to care for. This book is about his growing up, being a favourite but still an outcast, and discovering himself. Rudyard Kipling claimed to know this book almost by heart, and it is hoped you would like it too. Like any good children's book, it is perfect for both children and adults. Summary by Stav Nisser.
This is the 11th in the original series of books about the Bobbseys -- two sets of twins in one family, solving mysteries and having adventures. Bert and Nan are 12, Flossie and Freddie are six. There is a father who works, a mother who stays home, a cook, a handyman, and an assortment of animals.
After her father, Hugh Blair, falls ill from exhaustion as editor of the town newspaper, The Rolfe Herald, and leaves for a rest cure in the southwest, his plucky teenage daughter, Helen, takes over along with brother Tom. Good-natured Depression-era tale for young adults.
Despite the title, the Rover Brothers spend several chapters -- over half the book -- back East, against arch-nemeses Josiah Crabtree and the Baxter family. Formulaic fun was dated even by the 1940's when Orson Welles satirized it on the radio.
In the previous book in this series, Lloyd was the maid of honor, but now it will be the Little Colonel's turn to be the bride. But who will be the groom? Will it be one of our old friends from previous books such as Malcolm MacIntyre, Rob Moore, Alex Shelby, Phil Tremont, or Jack Ware . . .or perhaps a new Knight that comes riding!
One soft summer evening, when Woodville was crowned with the glory and beauty of the joyous season, three strangers presented themselves before the Grant family, and asked for counsel and assistance. The party consisted of two boys and a girl, and they belonged to that people which the traditions of the past have made the "despised race;" but the girl was whiter and fairer than many a proud belle who would have scorned her in any other capacity than that of a servant; and one of the boys was very nearly white, while the other was as black as ebony undefiled. They were fugitives and wanderers from the far south-west; and the story which they told to Mr. Grant and his happy family will form the substance of this volume.
The Bobbsey Twins are back at school after summer vacation, but Danny Rugg, the school bully, is up to mischief again--and this time he's trying to pin it onto Bert. Bert gets accused of freezing a giant snowball to the school steps, and all the evidence seems to point against him. Christmas is coming too, and the Bobbsey Twins are busy planning for their trip to Snow Lodge--where a lost treasure, a restored friendship, and exciting adventures await.
This book follows the adventures of Bunny Brown, a 6-year old lively little boy, and his Sister Sue, a happy 5-year old little girl. You will enjoy learning of their adorable antics and delightful chatter. The Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue series were published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate from 1916-1930.
In this third volume of the “Bobbsey Twin Series”, the twins – Nan and Bert and Freddie and Flossie – go with their family to visit relatives at the seashore. Excitement and adventure are sure to abound!
Elsie and her family travel to Nantucket Island to spend the summer. The Raymond children and others learn important lessons. After a delightful summer, they journey on to Lansdale, Ohio to visit Aunt Wealthy.
At breakfast, Mr. Graham drops the bombshell that his niece -- Joan, Jane or Janet, he's not sure which, will be arriving from the west to live with his large family. The news is met with mixed emotions - horror from his wife, resentment from the eldest two daughters and amusement from the eldest son. What will this stranger be like? How will she fit in with her cousins?
Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue were featured in a series of 20 books for young children published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate from 1916-1930. In this adventure, first published in 1920, Bunny and Sue lose a valuable possession belonging to their mother. They have many adventures and misadventures during a family boating vacation to Christmas Tree Cove.
Little Rosanna Horton was a very poor little girl. When I tell you more about her, you will think that was a very odd thing to say.
She lived in one of the most beautiful homes in Louisville, a city full of beautiful homes. And Rosanna's was one of the loveliest. It was a great, rambling house of red brick with wide porches in the front and on either side. On the right of the house was a wonderful garden. It covered half a square, and was surrounded by a high stone wall. No one could look in to see what she was doing. That was rather nice, but of course no one could look out either to see what they were doing on the brick sidewalk, and that does not seem so nice. There were children all along the street: little girls playing dolls on front doorsteps and other little girls walking in happy groups or skipping rope. Boys on bicycles circled everywhere and shouted to each other. They made a short cut through one of the poor sections of the city. Here it was the same: children everywhere, all having the best sort of time. They were not so well dressed, that was all the difference. They had the same carefree look in their eyes. Rosanna gazed out wistfully, longingly.
And now you surely guess why Rosanna, with her beautiful home, her pony and her playhouse, her lovely garden, and her room full of pretty things, still was so very, very poor.
Rosanna did not have a single friend.
Toby Tyler tells the story of a ten year-old orphan who runs away from a foster home to join the traveling circus only to discover his new employer is a cruel taskmaster. The difference between the romance of the circus from the outside and the reality as seen from the inside is graphically depicted. Toby's friend, Mr. Stubbs the chimpanzee, reinforces the consequences of what happens when one follows one's natural instincts rather than one's intellect and conscience, a central theme of the novel.
Rosalie is the daughter of a traveling theater master and is envied by many young girls as she appears to live a life full of glamour, glitz, and glory. But beneath the happy smiling face is a hurting heart, a deep sorrow for her dying mother, and a wretched life. Follow Rosalie as she learns of the Good Shepherd who loves and cares for her, and begins to trust Him for daily strength.
Brave, adventurous and loyal, recently-orphaned Ruth Fielding is sent to live with her estranged Uncle Jabez at the Red Mill in Cheslow, New York. A new town means making new friends, and the teenage Ruth quickly befriends the children of a wealthy merchant. But as the relationship between her and her uncle becomes strained and she attempts to become friends with a very disagreeable girl, will Ruth's cheery disposition be enough to get her through?
This is the first of the Ruth Fielding series, with follows Ruth and her friends from adolescence into early adulthood.
Sisters Margaret and Frances wait for their younger brother Edward to go for a nap before embarking on the adventure of trying to stand on the heads of their shadows. Daddy sees them and encourages them to chase further adventures of childhood, little suspecting where they will take them.
This book tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.