Mark Twain's classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of a teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious. Though some of the situations in Huckleberry Finn are funny in themselves (the cockeyed Shakespeare production in Chapter 21 leaps instantly to mind), this book's humor is found mostly in Huck's unique worldview and his way of expressing himself.

Although April 2, Andersen's birthday, is celebrated as International Children's Book Day, the beloved Dane and author of more than 138 fairytales, wrote with a depth and sentiment that far exceeded mere bedtime stories.

Sing a song o' sixpence, a handful of rye, Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie; When the pie was opened the birds began to sing, Was not that a dainty dish to set before the King? If you have never heard the legend of Gilligren and the King's pie, you will scarcely understand the above verse; so I will tell you the whole story…

Born in 1800, William Holmes McGuffey had a remarkable ability to memorize, and could commit to mind entire books of the Bible. After becoming a teacher at the age of 14, classroom size was just one of several challenges faced by McGuffey.

First published by brothers Wilhelm & Jacob Grimm in 1812 as a collection of retold Germanic folk stories, this collection of such well-known fairytales as Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty transports listeners to a realm where “Once upon a time” often ends up “happily ever after”

Born in 1800, William Holmes McGuffey had a remarkable ability to memorize, and could commit to mind entire books of the Bible. After becoming a teacher at the age of 14, classroom size was just one of several challenges faced by McGuffey.

“…a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection…and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people…interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment…”Written near the end of his second term as president, “Washington’s Farewell Address,” is more than the empty jargon of a politician – it is nothing short of the heartfelt concern of a gentle leader for his people’s continuing welfare.

In A Tramp Abroad, the ever adventurous Mark Twain brings his wit and creativity to his travels in Europe. Twain takes fictional liberty, turning his travels into an entertaining journey as he visits many of the countries of Central Europe. Listeners are sure to be delighted and humored as they enjoy what is considered by many to be one of Mark Twain's best works.

Born in 1628, Parisian Charles Perrault was aptly credited as being the “father” of a then-new literary genre: the fairy tale. Often drawing from his own surroundings (the Chateau Ussé was the model for Sleeping Beauty, while the Marquis of the Château d'Oiron inspired the delightful Puss-in-Boots), Perrault originally penned the tales as moral stories for his own three children.

Mother Goose's melodies belong to the children, and no addition or change should be made except by those who are in such close sympathy with the child-heart that they may act with the child's authority.This present edition of "Mother Goose" preserves the best of the verses which became so popular in England and America as to first demand their publication. It is the only truly classic edition that has been published in modern times.Not all the favorites among the nursery rhymes are here, only those that first helped to make the fame of the fictitious but no less worthy patron of childhood. May her fame and her melodies be lovingly preserved to give joy and inspiration to many future generations of little children. -Eulalie Osgood Grover (1915)

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. Thus reads the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson – author of the Declaration of Independence, third president of the United States, and a statesman who voiced the hopes of the new America with a passion unique to any other person of his era. As public official, historian and philosopher, he served his country for over five decades, shaping American history.

Huckleberry Finn may be the greater book, but Tom Sawyer has always been more widely read. Moreover, it is a book that can be enjoyed equally by both children and adults. Twain, who called it a "hymn" to boyhood.

These classic sketches from Twain are no longer than 10 minutes, but all show his quick witted humor in response to the events of the day. Preface Political Economy The Jumping Frog Journalism In Tennessee The Story Of The Bad Little Boy The Story Of The Good Little Boy A Couple Of Poems Niagara Answers To Correspondants To Raise Poultry Experience Of The McWilliamses With Membranous Croup My First Literary Venture How The Author Was Sold In Newark The Office Bore The Facts In The Case Of The Great Beef Contract The Case Of George Fisher Disgraceful Persecution Of A Boy The Judges 'Spirited Woman' Some Learned Fables, For Good Old Boys And Girls My Late Senatorial Secretaryship A Fashion Item A Fine Old Man The Killing Of Julius Caesar 'Localized' The Widow's Protest A Medival Romance Petition Concerning Copyright Lionizing Murderers A New Crime A Curious Dream A True Story The Siamese Twins Speech At The Scottish Banquet In London A Ghost Story The Capitoline Venus Speech On Accident Insurance How I Edited An Agricultural Paper The Petrified Man The Undertaker's Chat Aurelia's Unfortunate Young Man About Barbers Party Cries' In Ireland The Facts Concerning The Recent Resignation History Repeats Itself The Late Benjamin Franklin First Interview With Artemus Ward Cannibalism In The Cars The Scriptural Panoramist Curing a Cold A Curious Pleasure Excursion Running For Governor A Mysterious Visit

Born in 1800, William Holmes McGuffey had a remarkable ability to memorize, and could commit to mind entire books of the Bible. After becoming a teacher at the age of 14, classroom size was just one of several challenges faced by McGuffey.