Narrated by the crew member Ishmael, this epic whaling adventure follows the crew of the Pequod as its captain, Ahab, descends deeper and deeper into madness on his quest to find and kill the white whale that maimed him. Beyond the surface of ship life, whaling, and the hunt for the elusive Moby Dick are allegorical references to life - and even the universe - in this masterpiece by Herman Melville. Regarded as the Great American Novel, Moby Dick...

A sanitorium in the Swiss Alps reflects the societal ills of pre-twentieth-century Europe, and a young marine engineer rises from his life of anonymity to become a pivotal character in a story about how a human's environment affects self identity. In this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps, a community devoted exclusively to sickness, as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years before 1914 was already exhibiting...

An abridged version of the Louisa May Alcott novel that follows the adventures of Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer as they try to make their school for boys a happy, comfortable, and stimulating place.

Zoo animals from polar bear to walrus make their distinctive sounds for each other, while children imitate the sounds for the zookeeper. Includes note to parents and teachers, and related activities.

In a moment of fright, Sylvester the donkeyjj asks his magic pebble to turn him into a rock but then can not hold the pebble to wish himself back to normal again.

"Filled with lively humor, compassion, and intimacy." -Alice Hoffman, The New York Times Book Review "When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy." With that opening sentence we enter the childhood world of one of the most appealing young heroines in contemporary fiction. Her courage, her humor, and her wisdom are unforgettable as she tells her own story with stunning honesty and insight. An Oprah Book Club selection, this powerful...

A hill with "millions and billions and trillions of cats" and how they ate each other up until there was only one cat left.

Casablanca: easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you're wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo, whose only hope is Rick Blaine, a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one - especially Victor's wife Ilsa, the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo's transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more - personal happiness or countless lives...

Narcissus and Goldmund is the story of a passionate yet uneasy friendship between two men of opposite character. Narcissus, an ascetic instructor at a cloister school, has devoted himself solely to scholarly and spiritual pursuits. One of his students is the sensual, restless Goldmund, who is immediately drawn to his teacher's fierce intellect and sense of discipline. When Narcissus persuades the young student that he is not meant for a life of self-denial,...

A young boy living in the Florida backwoods is forced to decide the fate of a fawn he has lovingly raised as a pet.