Kidnapped was published in 1886 amid one of the most productive periods of Robert Louis Stevenson's career. Although it was immediately met with popular success and critical acclaim, the novel was derided for decades as a story for children before being recognized as a major work of English literature. Set in the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising of 1745, and full of a rich blend of English and Scots, Kidnapped is a powerful work with strong Scottish...

Published in 1850, David Copperfield is Charles Dickens' eighth novel and the one that most closely follows the author's own life. A coming of age story, it describes David's life from childhood with a difficult stepfather, his schooling, his entry into the workforce, his courtship and marriage(s) and his eventual success as an author. Filled with colorful characters like Wilkins Micawber and Betsey Trotwood, and unforgettable villains like Uriah...

Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Elizabethan theater with William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This bewitching comedy whisks you away into a whirlwind of love, fantasy, and magic. Follow the complicated loves of four young lovers lost in a mysterious forest, where mischievous fairies play tricks on them. Amidst misunderstandings, confusions, and magical spells, this summer night promises twists as amusing as they are surprising. Meanwhile,...

Orphaned as a teen, Carol Milford grew up in a city in Minnesota. Already a compassionate person, Carol's time studying in college and grad school exposed her to diverse, radical ideas and lifestyles, which she learned to either accept or tolerate. After college, Carol earns a position as a librarian in the state capital city, yet finds the work to be unsatisfying. This is why she agrees when her new husband, a doctor named Will, asks if they can...

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is publishing a monthly series of e-only essays to correspond with Katherine Paterson's two-year term as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The subjects of the essays include: writing and literature for young people, the wonder and imagination found within great books, common questions novice writers ask, and Katherine's own personal experiences throughout her historic career.

One of George Bernard Shaw's best-known plays, Pygmalion is based on ancient Greek mythology. Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era British playwrights. Shaw's updated and revised version of this ancient Greek legend was first presented in England in 1914. Poking fun of the antiquated British class system, it introduces Henry Higgins, a professor...

A young man returns from abroad to claim his inheritance - but he never arrives and is presumed to have drowned in the Thames. Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, a warmhearted, working-class couple, are the next heirs in line, and their generosity is tested when their windfall opens the door to a vast gallery of scoundrels, strivers, and social climbers. Charles Dickens's genius for observing and characterizing people from every walk of life sparkles in this, his...

"This nonfiction reader compares and contrasts 16 ferocious reptiles. Readers will learn about each animal's anatomy, behavior, and more. Then compare and contrast the battling animals before finally discovering the winner!"--

In the last of his World War I adventures, Richard Hannay undertakes his most dangerous assignment yet When England calls, Richard Hannay answers. Not yet forty and already a brigadier general, he has led the charge into some of the fiercest fighting of World War I: Loos, the Somme, Arras. There is no telling how far up the ranks he might climb if only the Foreign Office would stop taking him off the front lines for cloak and dagger work. Adding insult...

The Financier (1912) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser. The first installment of Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire, The Financier has endured as a classic of naturalist fiction and remains a powerful example of social critique over a century after its publication. Followed by The Titan (1914) and The Stoic (1947), The Financier captures the greed at the heart of the Gilded Age, a time when tycoons rose with total impunity to take over swaths of American industry....