Adrian Praetzellis
My First Summer in the Sierra
The journal of nature-lover John Muir who spent the summer of 1869 walking California’s Sierra Nevada range. From French Bar to Mono Lake an…
The Curious Quest
A sweet, simple tale of how friendship and honesty triumph over money. The protagonist’s pun of a name—Ernest Bliss—foreshadows the plot in …
Mr. Midshipman Easy
One of the first novel-length pieces of nautical fiction, MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1836) is a funny and easygoing account of the adventures of J…
The Thirty-nine Steps
Richard Hannay’s boredom is soon relieved when the resourceful engineer is caught up in a web of secret codes, spies, and murder on the eve …
Kim
Kim is a fabulous adventure story set in India during the former British Empire. It tells the story of a street-wise but (in typical Kipling…
The History of Mr. Polly
A funny and touching account of the imaginative Mr. Polly who, bored and trapped in his conventional life, makes a U-turn –- and changes eve…
The Wind in the Willows (version 3)
The classic story of how Rat, Mole, and the other river-bankers saved Toad from his excesses. This book has it all: excitement, sentiment, d…
The Big Bow Mystery
It's a cold and foggy night in London. A man is horribly murdered in his bedroom, the door locked and bolted on the inside. Scotland Yard is…
Siddhartha
Siddhartha is one of the great philosophical novels. Profoundly insightful, it is also a beautifully written story that begins as Siddhartha…
Treasure Island (version 2)
A mysterious map, pirates, and pieces of eight! When young Jim Hawkins finds a map to pirates’ gold he starts on an adventure that takes him…
The Blue Lagoon
Two shipwrecked children grow up on a South Pacific island. This beautiful story of adventure and innocent love was H.D. Stacpoole’s most po…
Through the Looking-Glass (version 2)
The sequel to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” finds Alice back in Wonderland and a piece in a surreal chess game. This weird and wonderfu…
The Wind Boy
A gentle, otherworldly novel featuring the mysterious “girl from the mountains” who aides a refugee family in a most unexpected way. Mystica…
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
One of the greatest English tragic novels, TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES (1891) is the story of a “pure woman” who is victimized both by convent…
California Coast Trails
In 1911, decades before California's coast Highway 1 was built, an Englishman rode 2000 miles on horseback the length of California, from Me…
Jewish Children (Yudishe Kinder)
Although written from a child's perspective, this is not a kids book but a series of funny, poignant, and sometimes disturbing stories about…
The King of Schnorrers
Manasseh da Costa, protagonist of this hilarious novel, is a schnorrer (beggar) who lives on the charitable contributions of the Jews of lat…
Children of the Ghetto
In this 1892 novel of London's Jewish East End, Israel Zangwill sets the apparently irrational and decidedly indecorous religious practices …
Yiddish Tales (יידיש מעשה)
A collection of 48 wonderful English language stories from Sholem Alechem, I. L. Perez, Shalom Asch, and others. Tales of humour and drama, …
Kari the Elephant
Kari the Elephant tells the enchanting story of a young Indian boy and his cherished companion, an elephant named Kari. Set against the vibr…