Free Kid's Book of the Week

If you would like a free book that you can read on any e-reader or on your computer screen, send email to seltzer@samizdat.com and ask for our "ebook of the week." You'll receive free download codes and instructions for this week's selection and future free ebooks. You'll then be able to download a zipped file with that book in four formats (txt, epub, pdf and prc [for Kindle].

Suggestions always welcome.

6/5/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is Louisa May Alcott: 29 Books. Please note that while most of these books are intended for children, some (like Work, Behind a Mask, and The Abbot's Ghost) are not. This book-collection file includes: Flower Fables, Hospital Sketches, On Picket Duty and Other Tales, The Mysterious Key and What It Opened, Little Women, Kitty's Class Day and Other Stories, An Old-Fashioned Girl, Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Shawl-Straps, Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore Etc., Little Men, Work, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Under the Lilacs, Jo's Boys, A Garland for Girls, A Modern Cinderella and Other Stories, And Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, Moods, Silver Pitchers and Independence, Spinning Wheel Stories,The Louisa Alcott Reader, Behind a Mask, and The Abbot's Ghost.

5/24/2013 -- The Free Kid's Book of the Week is Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney. According to Wikipedia: "The Five Little Peppers book series was created by Margaret Sidney from 1881 to 1916. It covers the lives of the five children of Mamsie and the late Mister Pepper who are born into poverty in a rural "little brown house." The series begins with the Peppers in their native state and develops with their rescue by a wealthy gentleman who takes an interest in the family... According to Wikipedia: "Margaret Sidney was the pseudonym of American author Harriett Mulford Stone Lothrop (June 22, 1844–August 2, 1924). In addition to writing popular children's stories, she ran her husband Daniel Lothrop's publishing company after his death. After they bought The Wayside country house together, they worked hard to make it a center of literary life...She published nothing until 1878, at the age of 34, when she began sending short stories to Wide Awake, a children's magazine in Boston. Two of her stories, “Polly Pepper's Chicken Pie” and “Phronsie Pepper's New Shoes,” proved to be very popular with readers. Daniel Lothrop, the editor of the magazine, requested that Stone write more. The success of Harriett's short stories prompted her to write the now-famous “Five Little Peppers” series. This series was first published in 1881, the year that Stone married Daniel Lothrop. Daniel had founded the D. Lothrop Company of Boston, who published Harriett's books under her pseudonym, Margaret Sidney. Harriett and Daniel may have both had an interest in history and in famous authors. In 1883, they purchased the house in which both Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne had lived. Nicknamed The Wayside, the house is located in Concord, Massachusetts."

5/1/2013 -- The Free Kid's Book of the Week is The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain According to Wikipedia: "The Prince and the Pauper is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States. The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547, it tells the story of two young boys who are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper who lives with his abusive father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London, and Prince Edward, son of King Henry VIII."

4/23/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is an illustrated edtion of "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. The 1886 edition, with over a hundred illustrations. According to Wikipedia: "Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894), and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896)... Tom Sawyer's best friends include Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom's infatuation with classmate Rebecca "Becky" Thatcher is apparent. He lives with his half brother Sid, his cousin Mary, and his stern Aunt Polly in the (fictional) town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. In addition, he has another aunt, Sally Phelps, who lives considerably farther down the Mississippi River, in the town of Pikesville. Tom is the son of Aunt Polly's dead sister."

4/14/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Ozma of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, with illustrations by John R. Neill. According to Wikipedia: "Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tik-Tok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein published on July 30, 1907, was the third book of L. Frank Baum's Oz series. It was the first in which Baum was clearly intending a series of Oz books. It is the first Oz book where the majority of the action takes place outside of the Land of Oz. Only the final two chapters take place in Oz itself. This reflects a subtle change in theme: in the first book, Oz is the dangerous land through which Dorothy must win her way back to Kansas; in the third, Oz is the end and aim of the book. Dorothy's desire to return home is not as desperate as in the first book, and it is her uncle's need for her rather than hers for him that makes her return."

3/14/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo" by L. Frank Baum (author of the Oz books). According to Wikipedia: "The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People (copyright registered 17 June 1896) is the first full-length children's fantasy book by L. Frank Baum. Originally published in 1899 as A New Wonderland, Being the First Account Ever Printed of the Beautiful Valley, and the Wonderful Adventures of Its Inhabitants, the book was reissued in 1903 with a new title in order to capitalize upon the alliterative title of Baum's successful The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The book is only slightly altered--Mo is called Phunniland or Phunnyland, but aside from the last paragraph of the first chapter, they are essentially the same book."

3/3/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "The Enchanted Island of Yew" by L. Frank Baum (author of the Oz books). According to Wikipedia: "The Enchanted Island of Yew: Whereon Prince Marvel Encountered the High Ki of Twi and Other Surprising People is a children's fantasy novel written by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Fanny Y. Cory, and published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1903... The Island of Yew is set at some undisclosed place in the Earth's global ocean — "in the middle of the sea." (Later commentators have sometimes placed it in Baum's "Nonestic Ocean" with the landmass that contains the Land of Oz and its associated countries; but there is no authority for this in the book itself.) Like Oz, it is divided into four countries associated with the four cardinal directions, plus a fifth central country that dominates the others. In the east of Yew lies the land of Dawna; in the west, "tinted rose and purple by the setting sun," is Auriel. In the south lies the kingdom of Plenta, "where fruits and flowers abounded;" and in the north is Heg, the most stereotypically feudal and medieval of the four. In the center, like the Emerald City in Oz, lies the fifth kingdom of Spor."

2/19/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is Policeman Bluejay by Frank Baum (author of the Oz books). According to Wikipedia: "Policeman Bluejay or Babes inn Birdland is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright. First published in 1907, it has been considered one of the best of Baum's works… Baum published many works — adventure stories, melodramas, and juvenile novels — under pseudonyms; early experience had taught him that he ended up "competing with himself" if he released too much material under his own name. Both The Twinkle Tales and Policeman Bluejay were printed under the pen name "Laura Bancroft" — the only Baum fantasy works published under a pseudonym. Tongue-in-cheek, Katharine Rogers has called Policeman Bluejay "her best work...."[2] Oz author and "Royal Historian" Jack Snow thought Policeman Bluejay Baum's finest fantasy apart from the Oz books."

2/13/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is The Patchwork Girl of Oz, with the original illustrations. "A Faithful Record of the Remarkable Adventures of Dorothy and Trot and the Wizard of Oz, together with the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger and Cap'n Bill, in their successful search for a Magical and Beautiful Birthday Present for Princess Ozma of Oz."

According to Wikipedia: "The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum, is a children's novel, the seventh set in the Land of Oz. Characters include the Woozy, Ojo "the Unlucky", Unc Nunkie, Dr. Pipt, Scraps (the patchwork girl), and others. The book was first published on July 1, 1913, with illustrations by John R. Neill. In 1914, Baum adapted the book to film through his "Oz Film Manufacturing Company." In the previous Oz book, The Emerald City of Oz, magic was used to isolate Oz from all outside worlds. Baum did this to end the Oz series, but was forced to restart the series with this book due to financial hardships. In the prologue, he explains how he managed to get another story about Oz, even though it is isolated from all other worlds. He explains that a child suggested he make contact with Oz with wireless telegraphy. Glinda, using her book that records everything that happens, is able to know that someone is using a telegraph to contact Oz, so she erects a telegraph tower and has the Shaggy Man, who knows how to make a telegraph reply, tell the story contained in this book to Baum. This story is the first one since the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to send its hero on a quest through the land of Oz, a technique that allowed Baum to showcase the marvels of the land." (The plain text version [txt] does not include the illustrations).

1/28/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Penelope's Postscripts". Stories from the Penelope series, including Penelope in Switzerland, Penelope in Venice, Penelope's Prints of Wales, Penelope in Devon, and Penelope at Home. According to Wikipedia: "Kate Douglas Wiggin ( 1856 - 1923) was an American children's author and educator. Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the Silver Street Free Kindergarten). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. She was also a writer of children's books, the best known being The Birds' Christmas Carol (1887) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903)."

1/24/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is another of Kate Douglas Wiggin's Penelope books -- Penelope's Irish. According to Wikipedia: "Kate Douglas Wiggin ( 1856 - 1923) was an American children's author and educator. Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the Silver Street Free Kindergarten). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. She was also a writer of children's books, the best known being The Birds' Christmas Carol (1887) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903)."

1/16/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is another of Kate Douglas Wiggin's Penelope books -- Penelope's Experiences in Scotland. According to Wikipedia: "Kate Douglas Wiggin ( 1856 - 1923) was an American children's author and educator. Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the Silver Street Free Kindergarten). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. She was also a writer of children's books, the best known being The Birds' Christmas Carol (1887) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903)."

1/7/2013 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Penelope's English Experience" by Kate Douglas Wiggin. According to Wikipedia: "Kate Douglas Wiggin ( 1856 - 1923) was an American children's author and educator. Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the Silver Street Free Kindergarten). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. She was also a writer of children's books, the best known being The Birds' Christmas Carol (1887) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903)."

12/30/2012 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is Moths of the Limberlost, a Book About Limberlost Cabin by Gene Stratton-Porter. According to Wikipedia: "Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924) was an American author, amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCalls. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world."

11/23/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Laddie, a True Blue Story by Gene Stratton-Porter. According to Wikipedia: "Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924) was an American author, amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCalls. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world. She used her position and income as a well-known author to support conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in the state of Indiana."

11/12/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "At the Foot of the Rainbow" by Gene Stratton-Porter. According to Wikipedia: "Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924) was an American author, amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCalls. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world. She used her position and income as a well-known author to support conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in the state of Indiana."

11/2/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is "The Harvester" by Gene Stratton-Porter. According to Wikipedia: "Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924) was an American author, amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some of the best selling novels and well-received columns in magazines of the day... She became a wildlife photographer, specializing in the birds and moths in one of the last of the vanishing wetlands of the lower Great Lakes Basin. The Limberlost and Wildflower Woods of northeastern Indiana were the laboratory and inspiration for her stories, novels, essays, photography, and movies. Although there is evidence that her first book was "Strike at Shane's", which was published anonymously, her first attributed novel, The Song of the Cardinal met with great commercial success. Her novels Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost are set in the wooded wetlands and swamps of the disappearing central Indiana ecosystems she loved and documented. She eventually wrote over 20 books. Although Stratton-Porter wanted to focus on nature books, it was her romantic novels that made her famous and generated the finances that allowed her to pursue her nature studies. She was an accomplished author, artist and photographer and is generally considered to be one of the first female authors to promulgate public positions — in her case, conserving the Limberlost Swamp."

10/26/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Freckles" by Gene Stratton-Porter. According to Wikipedia: "Freckles is a novel written by the American writer and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter. It is primarily set in the Limberlost Swamp area of Indiana, with brief scenes set in Chicago. The title character also appears briefly in Porter's A Girl of the Limberlost. The hero is an adult orphan, just under twenty years of age, with bright red hair and a freckled complexion. His right hand is missing at the wrist, and has been since before he can remember... Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924) was an American author, amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCalls. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world."

10/18/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "A Girl of the Limberlost" by Gene Stratton-Porter. According to Wikipeia: "A Girl of the Limberlost, a novel written by American writer and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter, was published in August, 1909. It is considered a classic of Indiana literature. It and its precursor, Freckles, are her greatest novels. Stratton-Porter was named by Patricia Raub (Senior Lecturer of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston) "one of the most popular woman novelists of the era, who was known for her nature books and her editorials on McCall's 'Gene Stratton-Porter Page' as well as for her novels." Raub wrote, "At the time of her death in 1924, more than ten million copies of her books had been sold — and four more books were published after her death." The story takes place in Indiana, in and around the Limberlost Swamp - at that time, a site of heavy logging and natural oil extraction. The novel has been chosen as a good text for high school gifted students to study."

10/8/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "The Song of the Cardinal" by Gene Stratton-Porter. According to Wikipedia: "Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924) was an American author, amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCalls. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world... There is evidence that Stratton-Porter's first book was The Strike at Shane's which was published anonymously. Her first attributed novel, The Song of the Cardinal, met with great commercial success. Her novels Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost are set in the wooded wetlands and swamps of the disappearing central Indiana ecosystems. She knew and loved these, and documented them extensively. Stratton-Porter wrote more than 20 books, both novels and natural history."

9/28/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Lilith", the last of our series of books by George MacDonald. While this, like the others, is a fantasy, it is darker than the others and intended for an older audience.

According to Wikipedia: "Lilith is a fantasy novel written by Scottish writer George MacDonald and first published in 1895. Its importance was recognized in its later revival in paperback by Ballantine Books as the fifth volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in September 1969. Lilith is considered among the darkest of MacDonald's works, and among the most profound. It is a story concerning the nature of life, death, and salvation. In the story, MacDonald mentions a cosmic sleep that heals tortured souls, preceding the salvation of all. MacDonald was a Christian universalist, believing that all will eventually be saved. However, in this story, divine punishment is not taken lightly, and salvation is hard-won."

9/19/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "The Light Princess and Other Fairy Tales" by George MacDonald. According to Wikipedia: "George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later," said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."

9/14/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald. This week's Ebook of the Week is At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald. According to Wikipedia: "George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later," said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."

9/4/2012 -- This week's Ebook of the Week is At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald. According to Wikipedia: "George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later," said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."

8/28/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is Young Knights of the Empire, a scouting/boy scouts book by Baden-Powell. According to Wikipedia: "Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B.-P., B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement. ... Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by Sir Arthur Pearson, for youth readership. In 1907, he held the first Brownsea Island Scout camp, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting."

8/21/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is "My Adventures as a Spy" by Robert Baden Powell. According to Wikipedia: "Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B.-P., B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement. ... Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by Sir Arthur Pearson, for youth readership. In 1907, he held the first Brownsea Island Scout camp, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting.

8/13/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "New Chronicles of Rebecca" by Kate Douglas Wiggin. According to Wikipedia: "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her two stern aunts in the village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy for life inspires her aunts, but she faces many trials in her young life, gaining wisdom and understanding. Wiggin wrote a sequel, New Chronicles of Rebecca.[1] Eric Wiggin, a great nephew of the author, wrote updated versions of several Rebecca books, including a concluding story. The story was adapted for the theatrical stage, and was filmed three times, once with Shirley Temple in the title role."

7/26/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the week is a collection of 20 stories published between 1896 and 1901 by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of the Anne of Green Gables Books. According to Wikipedia: "Lucy Maud Montgomery, (always called "Maud" by family and friends) and publicly known as L. M. Montgomery, (1874-1942) was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success. The central character, Anne, an orphaned girl, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. The first novel was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character. The novels became the basis for the highly acclaimed 1985 CBC television miniseries, Anne of Green Gables and several other television movies and programs, including Road to Avonlea, which ran in Canada and the U.S. from 1990-1996."

6/28/2012 -- This week's free Kid's Book of the Week is "The Vizier of the Two-Horned Alexander" by Frank Stockton. According to Wikipedia: "Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century... His most famous fable is "The Lady, or the Tiger?" (1882), about a man sentenced to an unusual punishment for having a romance with a king's beloved daughter. Taken to the public arena, he is faced with two doors, behind one of which is a hungry tiger that will devour him. Behind the other is a beautiful lady-in-waiting, whom he will have to marry, if he finds her. While the crowd waits anxiously for his decision, he sees the princess among the spectators, who points him to the door on the right. The lover starts to open the door and ... the story ends abruptly there. Did the princess save her love by pointing to the door leading to the lady-in-waiting, or did she prefer to see her lover die rather than see him marry someone else? That discussion hook has made the story a staple in English classes in American schools, especially since Stockton was careful never to hint at what he thought the ending would be..."

6/17/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "The Magic Egg and Other Stories" by Frank Stockton. According to Wikipedia: "Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century... His most famous fable is "The Lady, or the Tiger?" (1882), about a man sentenced to an unusual punishment for having a romance with a king's beloved daughter. Taken to the public arena, he is faced with two doors, behind one of which is a hungry tiger that will devour him. Behind the other is a beautiful lady-in-waiting, whom he will have to marry, if he finds her. While the crowd waits anxiously for his decision, he sees the princess among the spectators, who points him to the door on the right. The lover starts to open the door and ... the story ends abruptly there. Did the princess save her love by pointing to the door leading to the lady-in-waiting, or did she prefer to see her lover die rather than see him marry someone else? That discussion hook has made the story a staple in English classes in American schools, especially since Stockton was careful never to hint at what he thought the ending would be..."

6/5/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts by Frank Stockton. According to Wikipedia: "Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century."

5/22/2012 -- Thanks to Peggy Smith, who requested books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, his week's Kid's Book of the week is The Golden Road, the sequel to last week's Story Girl. According to Wikipedia: "The Golden Road is a 1913 novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. As a child, Montgomery learned many stories from her great aunt Mary Lawson. She later used these in The Story Girl and The Golden Road. Montgomery married on July 5, 1911 and left Prince Edward Island. She arrived at Leaskdale, Ontario in October, where her husband served as the minister of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. She began work on this novel on April 30, 1912, and gave birth to her first son on July 7. She finished the novel on May 21, 1913, saying "I have been too hurried and stinted for time. I have had to write it at high pressure, all the time nervously expecting some interruption". The book was published on September 1. It was dedicated to Mary Lawson. The plot is based around the character Beverley who remembers his childhood days with his brother Felix and friends and cousins Felicity, Cecily, Dan, Sara Stanley (the "Story Girl"), hired-boy Peter and neighbor Sara Ray. The children often played in their family's orchard and had many adventures, even creating their own newspaper, called Our Magazine. More character development takes place in this novel than in its predecessor, and the reader is able to watch the children grow up; in particular, they are able to watch Sara Stanley leave the Golden Road of childhood forever. They also are able to see the beginnings of a relationship between Peter and Felicity, as chemistry between them starts to build; it also seems that Beverly and Sara Stanley are drawn to each other, but this is left undeveloped. Throughout the story it is hinted that Beverly's cousin, Cecily, is consumptive; in a passage where the Story Girl tells their futures, the adult Beverly confirms that Cecily never left the Golden Road. As well, she strongly hints that Peter and Felicity will be married. The novel ends after Sara's father collects her to give her a proper education, and their small group is never complete again."

5/14/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Peggy Smith, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is The Story Girl by Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of the Anne of Green Gables books). According to Wikipedia: The Story Girl is a 1911 novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. It narrates the adventures of a group of young cousins and their friends who live in a rural community on Prince Edward Island, Canada. The book is narrated by Beverley, who together with his brother Felix, has come to live with his Aunt Janet and Uncle Alec King on their farm while their father travels for business. They spend their leisure time with their cousins Dan, Felicity and Cecily King, hired boy Peter Craig, neighbour Sara Ray and another cousin, Sara Stanley. The latter is the Story Girl of the title, and she entertains the group with fascinating tales including various events in the King family history. "I do like a road, because you can be always wondering what is at the end of it," once said Sara Stanley, also known as the Story Girl. She is enlightening and brings about a glow to the reader's heart. The sequel to the book is The Golden Road, written in 1913."

Update on our Quench Editions download store http://www.samizdat.com/quencheditions

One week after we opened, we now have 143 books and book collections (single files with multiple books) in our store, and plan to add 10-20 more every day, for the forseeable future. Each day we post a list of the new books in our blog http://www.samizdat.com/blog

We are not set up like the monster on-line stores that have millions of titles and are totally automated, depending on search engines and data bases. If you know exactly the title you want, that's probably the best kind of store for you to go. But if you'd prefer to browse through a personally selected set of great books, organized like the shelves of a library, with similar books found near one another to prompt you to check titles and authors you may not have heard of before, then you'd probably enjoy a leisurely stroll through our store.

As we grow, we will continuously expand and refine our organization. For instance, American Literature and History, Religion, and Portuguese Literature just grew large enough to warrant their own separate Web pages. But you will always be able to go click to all categoies. from our home page href="http://www.samizdat.com/quencheditions">http://www.samizdat.com/quencheditions

Do you have any author and/or titles that you would like us to include? We have a library of over 23,000 classics. If what you want is in our collections, we'll make it a priority to put those books in the store within the next two days. seltzer@samizdat.com

5/8/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. According to Wikipedia: "An Old-Fashioned Girl ... was first serialised in the Merry's Museum magazine between July and August in 1869 and consisted of only six chapters. For the finished product, however, Alcott continued the story from the chapter "Six Years Afterwards" and so it ended up with nineteen chapters in all. The book turns around Polly Milton, the old-fashioned girl who titles the story. Polly visits her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw in the city and is overwhelmed by the fashionable and urban life they live––but also left out because of her "countrified" manners and outdated clothes."

4/21/2012 -- Thanks to Phyllis Campbell who requested more Louisa May Alcott, the Kid's Book of the Week is "Little Men." According to Wikipedia: "Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1871. The novel reprises characters from Little Women and is considered by some the second book of an unofficial Little Women trilogy, which is completed with Alcott's 1886 novel Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men". Little Men tells the story of Jo Bhaer and the children at Plumfield Estate School. The book was inspired by the death of Alcott's brother-in-law, which reveals itself in one of the last chapters, when a beloved character from Little Women passes away. The novel has been adapted to a film and television series."

4/12/2012 -- Thanks to Phyllis Campbell who requested more Louisa May Alcott, the Kid's Book of the Week is "Little Women," and next week it will be "Little Men." According to Wikipedia: "Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The first volume, Little Women, was an immediate commercial and critical success, prompting the composition of the book's second volume, entitled Good Wives, which was also successful. Both books were first published as a single volume entitled Little Women in 1880. Alcott followed Little Women with two sequels, also featuring the March sisters: Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886)."

3/30/2012 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott, sequel to Eight Cousins, which was suggested by Betty Bandy. According to Wikipedia: "The sequel to Eight Cousins is Rose in Bloom (1876) and continues the story into Rose's young adulthood, depicting courtship and marriage, poverty and charity, transcendental poetry and prose, illness and death among her family and friends. Rose Campbell: The central character of the novel is the daughter of the recently deceased George Campbell, one of six Campbell brothers who are nephews of Aunts Plenty and Peace Campbell. (The Campbells, wealthy residents of Boston, are of Scottish descent, and some of them are engaged in the China trade.) Rose, 13, is a pretty and sweet-natured child without marked talents of any kind. She has never known her mother and has lived apart from the rest of the Campbell family all her life... Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys."

3/19/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, the Kid's Book of the Week is "Eight Cousins" by Louisa May Alcott. According to Wikipedia: ""Eight Cousins, or The Aunt-Hill" was published in 1875 by American novelist Louisa May Alcott. It is the story of Rose Campbell, a lonely and sickly girl who has been recently orphaned and must now reside with her maiden aunts, the matriarchs of her wealthy Boston family. When Rose's guardian, Uncle Alec, returns from abroad, he takes over her care. Through his unorthodox theories about child-rearing, she becomes happier and healthier while finding her place in her family of seven boy cousins and numerous aunts and uncles. She also makes friends with Phebe, her aunts' young housemaid, whose cheerful attitude in the face of poverty helps Rose to understand and value her own good fortune."

3/11/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Michael Bowman-Jones, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Alice in Wonderland Retold in Words of One Syllable" by Gorham. The title is a misnomer. There are multi-syllable words, which are broken up into syllables with hyphens. But it's a fun effort. According to Wikipedia: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (Wonderland) populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre,and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre."

2/23/2012 -- This week's Kid's book of the week is "Country of the Pointed Firs" by Sarah Orne Jewett. According to Wikipedia: "Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set in or near South Berwick, Maine, on the border of New Hampshire, which in her day was a declining New England seaport... She published her first important story in the Atlantic Monthly at age 19, and her reputation grew throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Her literary importance arises from her careful, if subdued, vignettes of country life that reflect a contemporary interest in local color rather than plot. Jewett possessed a keen descriptive gift that William Dean Howells called "an uncommon feeling for talk — I hear your people." Jewett made her reputation with the novella The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896).[6] A Country Doctor (1884), a novel reflecting her father and her early ambitions for a medical career, and A White Heron (1886), a collection of short stories are among her finest work.[7] Some of Jewett's poetry was collected in Verses (1916), and she also wrote three children's books. Willa Cather described Jewett as a significant influence on her development as a writer,[8] and "feminist critics have since championed her writing for its rich account of women's lives and voices."

2/13/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Irish Fairy Tales" edited by the poet W. B. Yeats. The Introduction begins: "I am often doubted when I say that the Irish peasantry still believe in fairies. People think I am merely trying to bring back a little of the old dead beautiful world of romance into this century of great engines and spinning-jinnies. Surely the hum of wheels and clatter of printing presses, to let alone the lecturers with their black coats and tumblers of water, have driven away the goblin kingdom and made silent the feet of the little dancers. Old Biddy Hart at any rate does not think so. Our bran-new opinions have never been heard of under her brown-thatched roof tufted with yellow stone-crop. It is not so long since I sat by the turf fire eating her griddle cake in her cottage on the slope of Benbulben and asking after her friends, the fairies, who inhabit the green thorn-covered hill up there behind her house. How firmly she believed in them! How greatly she feared offending them! For a long time she would give me no answer but 'I always mind my own affairs and they always mind theirs.' A little talk about my great-grandfather who lived all his life in the valley below, and a few words to remind her how I myself was often under her roof when but seven or eight years old loosened her tongue, however. It would be less dangerous at any rate to talk to me of the fairies than it would be to tell some 'Towrow' of them, as she contemptuously called English tourists, for I had lived under the shadow of their own hillsides. She did not forget, however, to remind me to say after we had finished, 'God bless them, Thursday' (that being the day), and so ward off their displeasure, in case they were angry at our notice, for they love to live and dance unknown of men."

2/2/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, the Kid's Book of the Week is "Cabin on the Prairies" by Pearson. The introduction begins: ""If you stay here long, you will become so Westernized that you will lose all love for New England. That's my experience." So said a brawny pioneer, a man of large mind, and generous heart, and a sledge-hammer fist that never struck a coward's blow; but when swung in defence of the right was like "the jaw-bone" of Samson to the Philistines. He had emigrated from Maine twenty years before, and was one of the first settlers I met on the prairie near the scene of my story. Was his prediction fulfilled? Ah, how like sweetest music sounded the bells of Salem (city of peace) the first Sunday of my return to the Old Bay State! Besides, the frontiersman misrepresented himself. For, seated by his ample clay-stick-and-stone fireplace, how his eye kindled, and tones mellowed, as he treated us to reminiscences of his early days! And what a grip he gave the hand of a freshly-arrived Yankee!"

1/25/2012 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Fables for Children, Stories for Children, Natural Science Stories, etc." by Leo Tolstoy. According to Wikipedia: "Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer. His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr."

For next week I'm planning "Country of the Pointed Firs" by Jewett.

1/17/2012 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Robin Hood" by McSpadden. According to Wikipedia: "Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes. The origin of the legend is claimed by some to have stemmed from actual outlaws, or from ballads or tales of outlaws. Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the medieval period continuing through to modern literature, films and television.

1/9/2012 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is "New Treasure Seekers or The BAstable Children in Search of a Fortune" by Edith Nesbit. According to Wikipedia: "Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party."

12/31/2011 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, the Kid's Book of the Week is The Wouldbegoods by Edith Nesbit, the second of her three Treasure Seeker books. According to Wikipedia: "Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party." Next week I plan to send out the third book of the series -- The New Treasure Seekers.

12/19/2011 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, the Kid's Book of the Week is "The Story of the Treasure Seekers" by Edith Nesbit. According to Wikipedia: "Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party."

In coming weeks, I plan to send out the sequels: The Wouldbegoods and The New Treasure Seekers.

12/14/2011 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, the Kid's Book of the week is "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" by Nobel-Prize winner Selma Lagerlof. According to Wikipedia: "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils is a work of fiction by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. It was published in two books, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils in 1906 and Further Adventures of Nils in 1907. These two are usually combined into a single book called The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, although that name could also describe the first book only. The background for publication was a commission from the National Teachers Association in 1902 to write a geography reader for the public schools. "She devoted three years to Nature study and to familiarizing herself with animal and bird life. She has sought out hitherto unpublished folklore and legends of the different provinces. These she has ingeniously woven into her story." (From translator Velma Swanston Howard's introduction.)... Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish author. She was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and most widely known for her children's book The Wonderful Adventures of Nils."

12/6/2011 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's Kid's Book is "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewall. According to Wikipedia: "Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid.[1] The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, long enough to see her first and only novel become a success. With fifty million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time.[2] While forthrightly teaching animal welfare, it also teaches how to treat people with kindness, sympathy and respect... Anna Sewell was born in Norfolk, England and had a brother named Philip, who was an engineer in Europe. At the age of 14, Anna fell while walking home from school in the rain and injured both ankles. Through mistreatment of the injury, she became unable to walk or stand for any length of time for the rest of her life. Disabled and unable to walk since a young child, Anna Sewell began learning about horses early in life, spending many hours driving her father to and from the station from which he commuted to work. Her dependence on horse-drawn transportation fostered her respect of horses.[2] The local estate of Tracy Park, now a golf club, was said to be the inspiration for Black Beauty's “Birtwick Park.” Sewell's introduction to writing began in her youth when she helped edit the works of her mother, Mary Wright Sewell (1797–1884), a deeply religious, popular author of juvenile best-sellers. By telling the story of a horse's life in the form of an autobiography and describing the world through the eyes of the horse, Anna Sewell broke new literary ground."

11/26/2011 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray. According to Wikipedia: "The Rose and The Ring is a satirical work of fiction written by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published at Christmas 1854 (though dated 1855).[1] It criticises, to some extent, the attitudes of the monarchy and those at the top of society and challenges their ideals of beauty and marriage. Set in the fictional countries of Paflagonia and Crim Tartary, the story revolves around the lives and fortunes of four young royal cousins, Princesses Angelica and Rosalba, and Princes Bulbo and Giglio. Each page is headed by a line of poetry summing up the plot at that point and the storyline as a whole is laid out, as the book states, as 'A Fireside Pantomime.' The original edition had illustrations by Thackeray who had intended a career as an illustrator. The plot opens on the royal family of Paflagonia eating breakfast together, consisting of King Valoroso, his wife, the Queen, and their daughter, Princess Angelica. Through the course of the meal it is discovered that Prince Bulbo, heir to the neighbouring kingdom of Crim Tartary, and son of King Padella is coming to visit Paflagonia. It is also discovered, after the two females have left the table, that King Valoroso stole his crown, and all his wealth, from his nephew, Prince Giglio, when the prince was an infant."

11/21/2011 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is Grimm's Fairy Tales (200 tales and 10 legends). According to Wikipedia: "Children's and Household Tales (German: Kinder- und Hausmärchen) is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms' Fairy Tales (German: Grimms Märchen). On December 20, 1812, they published the first volume of the first edition, containing 86 stories; the second volume of 70 stories followed in 1814. For the second edition, two volumes were issued in 1819 and a third in 1822, totalling 170 tales. The third edition appeared in 1837; fourth edition, 1840; fifth edition, 1843; sixth edition, 1850; seventh edition, 1857. Stories were added, and also subtracted, from one edition to the next, until the seventh held 211 tales. All editions were extensively illustrated, first by Philipp Grot Johann and, after his death in 1892, by Robert Leinweber. The first volumes were much criticized because, although they were called "Children's Tales", they were not regarded as suitable for children, both for the scholarly information included and the subject matter. Many changes through the editions – such as turning the wicked mother of the first edition in Snow White and Hansel and Gretel to a stepmother, were probably made with an eye to such suitability. They removed sexual references—such as Rapunzel's innocently asking why her dress was getting tight around her belly, and thus naïvely revealing her pregnancy and the prince's visits to her stepmother—but, in many respects, violence, particularly when punishing villains, was increased. The influence of these books was widespread. W. H. Auden praised the collection, during World War II, as one of the founding works of Western culture."

11/11/2011 -- The Kid's Book of the week is Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault. According to Wikipedia: "Charles Perrault (12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Le Chat Botté (Puss in Boots) and La Barbe bleue (Bluebeard).[1] Perrault's stories continue to be printed and have been adapted to opera, ballet (like Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty), theatre, and film.

9/14/2011 -- Back after a long break, thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Five Little Mice in a Mouse Trap" by Laura Richards. According to Wikipedia: "Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (February 27, 1850 - January 14, 1943) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a high-profile family. During her life, she wrote over 90 books, including children's, biographies, poetry, and others. A well-known children's poem for which she is noted is the literary nonsense verse "Eletelephony." Her father was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. Samuel Gridley Howe's famous pupil Laura Bridgman was Laura's namesake. Julia Ward Howe, Laura's mother, was famous for writing the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

7/8/2011 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Tales of Folk and Fairies" by Katharine Pyle (author of last week's "Counterpane Fairy". This collection includes: THE MEESTER STOORWORM A Story from Scotland,

JEAN MALIN AND THE BULL-MAN A Louisiana Tale

THE WIDOW'S SON A Scandinavian Tale

THE WISE GIRL A Serbian Story

THE HISTORY OF ALI COGIA From the Arabian Nights

OH! A Cossack Story

THE TALKING EGGS A Story from Louisiana

THE FROG PRINCESS A Russian Story

THE MAGIC TURBAN, THE MAGIC SWORD AND THE MAGIC CARPET A Persian Story

THE THREE SILVER CITRONS A Persian Story

THE MAGIC PIPE A Norse Tale

THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH A Hindu Story

LIFE'S SECRET A Story of Bengal

DAME PRIDGETT AND THE FAIRIES

6/28/2011 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "The Counterpane Fairy" by Katharine Pyle. This classic tale apparently derives from the Robert Louis Stevenson poem "The Land of Counterpane" --

When I was sick and lay a-bed, I had two pillows at my head, And all my toys beside me lay to Keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so I watched my eladen soldiers go With different uniforms and drills, Among hte bed-clothes, throughthe hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets All up and down among the sheets; Or brought my trees and houses out, And Planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still That sits upon the pillow-fill, And sees before him, dal and plain, The pleasant land of counterpane.

6/14/2011 -- This week's kid's book is a story of mine -- "The Lizard of Oz" -- first published back in 1974. When an elementary class sets out on a quest to save the world from disenchantment, their adventures reveal paradoxes of the human mind and ways of awakening the magic within us. Library Journal -- "An intriguing and very entertaining little novel" Aspect -- "Carroll and Tolkien have a new companion" Lancaster (PA) Independent Press -- "a work so saturated that the mind is both stoned with pleasure and alive with wonder" Philadelphia Bulletin -- "A commentary on our times done delightfully"

5/26/2011 -- This Week's Kid's Book of the Week is "True Stories of History and Biography" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It includes five short biographies for children, covering Benjamin West, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Cromwell, Benjamin Franklin, and Queen Christina.

5/9/2011 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Twice-Told Tales" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

(By the way, in all probability, you haven't missed any of these mailings. They've become far more irregular as the demands of work eat up my time. I'll continue to send these out whenever I can. Please be patient. Thank you.)

According to Wikipedia: "Twice-Told Tales is a short story collection in two volumes by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first was published in the spring of 1837, and the second in 1842.[1] The stories had all been previously published in magazines and annuals, hence the name... Edgar Allan Poe wrote a well-known two-part review of Twice-Told Tales, published in the April and May 1842 issues of the Broadway Journal. Poe criticized Hawthorne's reliance on allegory and the didactic, something he called a "heresy" to American literature. He did, however, express praise at the use of short stories (Poe was a tale-writer himself) and said they "rivet the attention" of the reader.[18] Poe admitted, "The style of Hawthorne is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective--wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes." He concluded that, "we look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth."

4/6/2011 -- "Hero Tales from American History" by Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt. According to Wikipedia: "Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was the 26th President of the United States (1901–1909). He is noted for his energetic personality, range of interests and achievements, leadership of the Progressive Movement, and his "cowboy" image and robust masculinity. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party of 1912. Before becoming President, he held offices at the municipal, state, and federal level of government. Roosevelt's achievements as a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier are as much a part of his fame as any office he held as a politician... Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850 – November 9, 1924) was an American statesman, a Republican politician, and a noted historian from Massachusetts. While the title was not official, he is considered to be one of the first Senate Majority leaders and was the first Senate Republican Leader, while serving concurrently as Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. He is best known for his positions on foreign policy, especially his battle with President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles, which the United States Senate never ratified."

3/24/2011 -- "Forgotten Books of the American Nursery" by Rosalie Halsey. Chapters cover: The Play-Book in England, Newbery's Books in America, Patriotic Printers and the American Newbery, The Child and his Book at the End of the Century, Toy-Books inthe Early Nineteenth Century, and American Writers and English Critics. According to the introduction: " A shelf full of books belonging to the American children of colonial times and of the early days of the Republic presents a strangely unfamiliar and curious appearance. If chronologically placed, the earliest coverless chap-books are hardly noticeable next to their immediate successors with wooden sides; and these, in turn, are dominated by the gilt, silver, and many colored bindings of diminutive dimensions which hold the stories dear to the childish heart from Revolutionary days to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Then bright blue, salmon, yellow, and marbled paper covers make a vivid display which, as the century grows older, fades into the sad-colored cloth bindings thought adapted to many children's books of its second quarter."

3/4/2011 -- "The Monkey That Would Not Kill" by Henry Drummuond

1/25/2011 -- "Our American Holidays: Lincoln's Birthday". A comprehensive view of Lincoln as given in his most noteworthy essays, orations and poems, in fiction and in Lincoln's own writings. This book is from a "series of Anthologies upon American Holidays, each volume a collection of writings from many sources, historical, poetic, religious, patriotic, etc., presenting each American festival as seen through the eyes of the representative writers of many ages and nations."

12/16/2010 -- This week's Free Kid's Book of the Week is "Good Stories for Great Holidays" selected and edited by Frances Jenkins Olcott.

11/29/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Dickens' Stories about Children Every Child Can Read" edited by Jesse Hurlbut and first published in 1909.

11/2/2010 -- "Library Work With Children" a collection of articles by children's librarians, first published in 1913

10/26/2010 -- "Games for Halloween" by Mary Bain

9/28/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is The Singing Mouse Stories by Emerson Hough. Hough is best-known for his adult western tales, in particular "The Covered Wagon." According to Wikipedia: "Hough was born in Newton, Iowa on June 28,1857. He was in Newton High School's first graduating class of three in 1875. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1880 and later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1882. His first article, "Far From The Madding Crowd," was published in Forest and Stream in 1882. "He moved to White Oaks, New Mexico, practiced law there, and wrote for the White Oaks newspaper Golden Era for a year and a half, returning to Iowa when his mother was ill. He later wrote a novel, Story of the Outlaw, a study of the western desperado, which included profiles of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. Hough moved to New Mexico after Garrett shot Billy the Kid, and he became a friend of Garrett. He wrote for various newspapers in Des Moines, Iowa, Sandusky, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Wichita, Kansas. In 1889 he got a position as western editor of Forest and Stream, editing the "Chicago and the West" column. He was hired by George Bird Grinnell, the owner of Field and Stream, who founded the Audubon Society in 1886 which, along with Theodore Roosevelt's Boone and Crockett Club, was a leader in the conservation movement. "Hough was also a conservationist. One of his projects for Forest and Stream was to survey Yellowstone National Park in midwinter 1893, with a guide and 2 soldiers from the nearby fort of the same name. There were supposed to be more than 500 buffalo there, but their count barely reached 100. Due to Hough's report, eastern newspapers took up the cause against poaching, and in May 1894 the U.S. Congress passed a law making poaching of game in national parks a punishable offense. Later, he and other Saturday Evening Post writers wrote a letter for for Stephen Mather and George Horace Latimer to sign, advocating the creation of a national park system. The National Park Service was created in 1916. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Izaak Walton League, an organization of outdoorsmen, in 1922. He wrote the "Out-of-Doors" column for the Saturday Evening Post and these columns later appeared in book form.[11] "In 1902, Hough began his association with Bobbs-Merrill Company (then Bowen-Merrill), which published his first best-seller, Mississippi Bubble. Hough began a trilogy on America when he published 54-40 or Fight in 1909, dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt. He dedicated the second volume, Purchase Price, to U.S. Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana in 1910 and the third, John Rawn, to Woodrow Wilson in 1912. He nevertheless campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt, candidate of the Bull Moose Party, in the 1912 presidential election. "Reviewers noted the political nature of Hough's Western fiction. One reviewer wrote that John Rawn was "not a novel at all; it is an arraignment; it is propaganda" for progressive Republicans or the Democrats. It condemned protective tariffs and presented consistently negative portrait of money-driven characters. The review was positive, praising the novelist's portrait of his main character, but little else. Hough "makes his point, and hammers it hard. He leaves nothing for the reader to guess....He goes at it all with bludgeon and battle-ax....He has, as a fighter, a strong style. His book is well worth reading. But it is not art." Hough responded at length and with good humor, citing widely divergent views of the novel. He explained that a story of "blackguards and traitors" should not lead anyone to the conclusion that he believes such characters typify American society, rather that "imitation of blackguards and traitors is not a fit ambition for Americans." "He took a public position during the election of 1916, adding his name to a letter sent on behalf of the Roosevelt Authors' League pledging support to Theodore Roosevelt because "the international crisis makes your re-election to the Presidency essential to the ultimate welfare of our country." It praised "the splendid fight you are making for Americanism" and had harsh words for the administration of Woodrow Wilson. "His other notable works included Story of the Cowboy, "which received a high recommendation from President Theodore Roosevelt," Way of the West, Singing Mouse Stories, and The Passing of the Frontier. Among his historical novels, The Magnificent Adventure in 1916 was set at the time of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition and told, said one reviewer, "a good stirring tale."

9/21/2010 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's kid's book is "Mother Carey's Chicken" by George Manville Fenn (1831-1909). According to the transcriber, "Set in the Java Seas, we meet with pirates, sharks, serpents, volcanoes, unfriendly natives, adverse weather, geysers, fire at sea, and many other dire situations." Please let me know if you'd like more Fenn books, and if so, which are your favorites.

9/14/2010 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "The Song of Hiawtha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, plus "The Myth of Hiawatha and Other Oral Legends, Mythologic and Allegoric of the North American Indians by Henry Schoolcraft (first published in 1856).

9/7/2010 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, the Kid's book of the week is "Buried Cities," ancient history for kids.

8/31/2010 -- "The Aeroplane Boys on the Wing or Aeroplane Chums in the Tropics, by John Luther Langworthy, first published in 1912 (before WWI), plus a short piece on the early history of of the airplane by the Wright Brothers.

8/24/2010 -- "The Dare Boys of 1776" by Stephen Angus Cox. (Thanks to Penny Golden for the suggestion.)

7/29/2010 -- This week's Kid's Boo of the Week is "The Motor Boys on the Pacific or The Young Derelict Hunters" by Clarence Young. According to Wikipedia: "Clarence Young was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for series of books for boys, the most well-known being the "Motor Boys" series. The following series were published under the name Clarence Young: Jack Ranger--6 volumes (1907-1911); Motor Boys--22 volumes (1906-1924)-- Racer Boys--6 volumes (1912-1914). The pseudonym "Clarence Young" was also used by Edward Stratemeyer for a few football stories published in turn of the century boys magazines."

6/29/2010 -- The Kid's book of the Week is "The Motor Boys" by Clarence Young. (A favorite of my grandfather and then of my father when they were teenagers [and my father is now 87]). According to Wikipedia: "The Motor Boys were the heroes of a popular series of adventure books for boys at the turn of the 20th century issued by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym of Clarence Young. This series was published by Cupples & Leon and was issued with dustjackets and glossy frontispiece. Howard Garis (author of the Uncle Wiggly stories) wrote many, if not all, of these stories. NOTE: The name of their boat ( Dartaway) is also the name of the plane mentioned in The Rover Boys In The Air (1912)."

6/22/2010 -- This week's book is "Richard of Jamestown" an historical novel set during colonial time by James Otis. According to Wikipedia: "James Otis Kaler (1848 — 1912) was an American journalist and author of children’s literature. He used the pen name James Otis. Kaler was born on March 19, 1848, in Winterport, Maine. He attended public schools during his childhood. Kaler got a job with the Boston Journal when he was in his teens. Later, he went on to work as a journalist or editor for various newspapers, superintendent at schools, and a publicity man at a circus. In 1880, under the pen name James Otis, he authored his first children’s book, Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus, a story about an orphan who runs away to join the circus. Following the book's success he went on to author numerous other children’s books. After spending several years in the southeastern states, he returned to Maine to become the first superintendent in South Portland. Kaler married Amy L. Scamman on March 19, 1898, and, together, they had two children named Stephen and Otis. Kaler died of uremia on December 11, 1912 in Portland, Maine."

6/15/2010 -- "Under the Liberty Tree" by James Otis

6/8/2010 -- "The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Van Loon.

6/1/2010 -- "What Shall We Do Now? Five Hundred Games and Passtimes. A Book of Suggestions for Children's Gams and Employments" by Dorothy Canfield, 1907.

5/25/2010 -- "How to Tell Stories to Children and Some Stories to Tell" by Sara Cone Bryant

5/18/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Stories to Tell Children" by Sara Cone Bryant. Next week I plan to send the related book "How to Tell Stories to Children and Some Stories to Tell" by Sara Cone Bryant, plus two more for them as well -- "What Shall We Do Now? Five Hundred Games and Passtimes. A Book of Suggestions for Children's Gams and Employments" by Dorothy Canfield, 1907; and "The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Van Loon.

5/11/2010 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, the Kid's Book of the Week is "Life and Perambulations of a Mouse" by Kilner.

Please let me know if you would prefer to receive these books in .prc (MobiPocket Reader format), which works better than plain text for reading on the Kindle. I'm building a separate mailing list for Kindle users. FYI -- I just learned a technique that let's me add "metadata" to these files, for the title and author work on the Kindle (from the Menu and when sorting).

Meanwhile, I'm building a new online store, where you will be able to buy "portable" ebooks by download for your ebook readers (Kindle, Sony, Barnes & Noble Nook, Borders, etc.) This is in addition to (not instead of), waht we've been doing -- making book collection CDs and DVDs, with books in plain text (.txt) format.

The store is currently "under construction". We plan to officially launch it in about a week. But you can take a look now at http://www.samizdat.com/store

5/4/2010 -- In honor of Mother's Day, this week's Kid's Book selection consists of two books "Old Mother West Wind" and "Mother West Wind How Stories" by Burgess.

According to Wikipedia: "Thornton Waldo Burgess (January 14, 1874 – June 5, 1965). Born in Sandwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, he was a conservationist and author of children's stories. Thornton Waldo Burgess loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years. By the time he retired, he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for daily columns in newspapers... Many of his outdoor observations in nature were used as plots for his stories. In his first book, Old Mother West Wind, published in 1910, the reader meets many of the characters found in later books and stories. These characters include Peter Rabbit, Jimmy Skunk, Sammy Jay, Bobby Raccoon, Little Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog, Billy Mink, Jerry Muskrat, Spotty the Turtle and of course, Old Mother West Wind and her Merry Little Breezes." 4/27/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch: Being Parts of the 'Lives' of Plutarch".

4/20/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "The Canterbury Pilgrims: Being Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Retold for Children" by M. Sturt. Next week I'm planning on Plutarch for Kids.

4/13/2010 -- Sorry for the delay. I missed four weeks, bogged down in a big project with a tight deadline. Now my wife, Barbara, will be working with me full-time, so this will no longer be a one-man-band; and you should get these books far more regularly. We'll also be able to devote more time to CD/DVD updates and publishing new books for the Kindle. Suggestions always welcome. (By the way, you can reach Barbara at barbara@samizdat.com)

This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Children's Literature: A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes" -- a huge anthology, first published in 1920.

3/9/2010 -- This week's Kid's Book is "Welsh Fairy Tales" by William Elliot Griffis, including: WELSH RABBIT AND HUNTED HARES THE MIGHTY MONSTER AFANG THE TWO CAT WITCHES HOW THE CYMRY LAND BECAME INHABITED THE BOY THAT WAS NAMED TROUBLE THE GOLDEN HARP THE GREAT RED DRAGON OF WALES THE TOUCH OF CLAY THE TOUCH OF IRON THE MAIDEN OF THE GREEN FOREST THE TREASURE STONE OF THE FAIRIES GIANT TOM AND GIANT BLUBB A BOY THAT VISITED FAIRYLAND THE WELSHERY AND THE NORMANS THE WELSH FAIRIES HOLD A MEETING KING ARTHUR'S CAVE THE LADY OF THE LAKE THE KING'S FOOT HOLDER POWELL, PRINCE OF DYFED POWELL AND HIS BRIDE WHY THE BACK DOOR WAS FRONT THE RED BANDITS OF MONTGOMERY THE FAIRY CONGRESS THE SWORD OF AVALON

3/2/2010 -- This week's Kid's Book is "Children of the New Forest" by Captain Frederick Marryat. According to Wikipedia: "Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 � August 9, 1848) was an English novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his children's novel The Children of the New Forest, and for a widely used system of maritime flag signalling... From 1832 to 1835 Marryat edited The Metropolitan Magazine.[2] He kept producing novels, with his biggest success, Mr Midshipman Easy, coming in 1836. He lived in Brussels for a year, travelled in Canada and the United States, then moved to London in 1839, where he was in the literary circle of Charles Dickens and others. He was in North America in 1837 when the Rebellion of that year in Lower Canada broke out, and served with the British forces in suppressing it. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his invention and other achievements. In 1843 he moved to a small farm at Manor Cottage in Norfolk, where he died in 1848. His daughter Florence Marryat later became well-known as a writer and actress. Marryat's novels are characteristic of their time, with the concerns of family connections and social status often overshadowing the naval action, but they are interesting as fictional renditions of the author's 25 years of real-life experience at sea. These novels, much admired by Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway, were among the first sea novels. They were models for later works by C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian that were also set in the time of Nelson and told the stories of young men rising through the ranks through successes as naval officers. His later novels were generally for the children's market, including his most famous novel for contemporary readers, The Children of the New Forest, which was published in 1847."

2/23/2010 -- This week's Kid's Book is "The Little Savage" by Captain Frederick Marryat. According to Wikipedia: "Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 � August 9, 1848) was an English novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his children's novel The Children of the New Forest, and for a widely used system of maritime flag signalling... From 1832 to 1835 Marryat edited The Metropolitan Magazine.[2] He kept producing novels, with his biggest success, Mr Midshipman Easy, coming in 1836. He lived in Brussels for a year, travelled in Canada and the United States, then moved to London in 1839, where he was in the literary circle of Charles Dickens and others. He was in North America in 1837 when the Rebellion of that year in Lower Canada broke out, and served with the British forces in suppressing it. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his invention and other achievements. In 1843 he moved to a small farm at Manor Cottage in Norfolk, where he died in 1848. His daughter Florence Marryat later became well-known as a writer and actress. Marryat's novels are characteristic of their time, with the concerns of family connections and social status often overshadowing the naval action, but they are interesting as fictional renditions of the author's 25 years of real-life experience at sea. These novels, much admired by Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway, were among the first sea novels. They were models for later works by C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian that were also set in the time of Nelson and told the stories of young men rising through the ranks through successes as naval officers. His later novels were generally for the children's market, including his most famous novel for contemporary readers, The Children of the New Forest, which was published in 1847."

2/16/2010 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, this week's Kid's Book is "Mary Jane's City Home" by Clara Ingram Judson. According to Wikipedia: "Clara Ingram Judson (1879-1960) was an American author who wrote over 70 books for children. She was born on May 4, 1879, in Logansport, Indiana, and married James McIntosh Judson in 1901. Her first children's book was Flower Fairies, published in 1915. She is probably most famous books were the Mary Jane Series, first published in 1918. Her radio program on homemaking debuted in 1928, making her one of the first women broadcasters. She died on May 24, 1960, in Evanston, Illinois, shortly before she would receive the second Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, just after Laura Ingalls Wilder herself. She Later got her own award, the Clara Ingram Judson Award."

2/2/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Penrod and Sam" by Booth Tarkington. According to Wikipedia: "Penrod is a collection of comic sketches by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Booth Tarkington that was first published in 1914. The book follows the misadventures of Penrod Schofield, an eleven-year-old boy growing up in the pre-World War I Midwestern United States, in a similar vein to Huckleberry Finn.. In Penrod, Tarkington established characters who appeared in two further books, Penrod and Sam (1916) and Penrod Jashber (1929). The three books were published together in one volume, Penrod: His Complete Story, in 1931."

1/26/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Penrod" by Booth Tarkington. According to Wikipedia: "Penrod is a collection of comic sketches by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Booth Tarkington that was first published in 1914. The book follows the misadventures of Penrod Schofield, an eleven-year-old boy growing up in the pre-World War I Midwestern United States, in a similar vein to Huckleberry Finn.[1][2]. In Penrod, Tarkington established characters who appeared in two further books, Penrod and Sam (1916) and Penrod Jashber (1929). The three books were published together in one volume, Penrod: His Complete Story, in 1931."

1/12/2010 -- This week's Kid's Book is "Seventeen: A Tale of Youth and Summer Time and the Baxter Family Especially William" by Booth Tarkington. According to Wikipedia, this "is a humorous novel ... that gently satirizes first love, in the person of a callow 17-year-old, William Sylvanus Baxter. Seventeen takes place in a small city in the Midwestern United States shortly before World War I. It was published as sketches in the Metropolitan Magazine in 1914, and collected in a single volume in 1916, when it was the bestselling novel in the United States... Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869, Indianapolis � May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams... Much of Tarkington's work consists of satirical and closely observed studies of the American class system and its foibles. He himself came from a patrician family that lost much of its wealth after the Panic of 1873 (after a measure of wealth returned, his mother transferred him to Princeton University to complete his education). Today, he is best known for his novel The Magnificent Ambersons, which Orson Welles filmed in 1942. It is included in the Modern Library's list of top-100 novels. The second volume in Tarkington's Growth trilogy, it contrasted the decline of the "old money" Amberson dynasty against the rise of "new money" industrial tycoons in the years between the Civil War and World War I."

1/5/2010 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales by Frank R. Stockton. According to Wikipedia: "Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 � April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century. Stockton avoided the didactic moralizing, common to children's stories of the time, instead using clever humor to poke at greed, violence, abuse of power and other human foibles, describing his fantastic characters' adventures in a charming, matter-of-fact way in stories like "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" (1885) and "The Bee-Man of Orn" (1887), which was published in 1964 in an edition illustrated by Maurice Sendak. His most famous fable is "The Lady, or the Tiger?" (1882), about a man sentenced to an unusual punishment for having a romance with a king's beloved daughter. Taken to the public arena, he is faced with two doors, behind one of which is a hungry tiger that will devour him. Behind the other is a beautiful lady-in-waiting, whom he will have to marry, if he finds her. While the crowd waits anxiously for his decision, he sees the princess among the spectators, who points him to the door on the right. The lover starts to open the door and ... the story ends abruptly there. Did the princess save her love by pointing to the door leading to the lady-in-waiting, or did she prefer to see her lover die rather than see him marry someone else? That discussion hook has made the story a staple in English classes in American schools, especially since Stockton was careful never to hint at what he thought the ending would be (according to Hiram Collins Haydn in The Thesaurus of Book Digests, ISBN 0-517-00122-5). He also wrote a sequel to the story, "The Discourager of Hesitancy".

12/29/2009 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, the Kid's Book of the Week is "The Basket Flowers" by Christoph von Schmid. According to Wikipedia, "Writer of children's stories and educator, Christoph von Schmid was born at Dinkelsbuehl, in Bavaria, on 15 August 1768, and died at Augsburg on September 3, 1854. He studied theology and was ordained priest in 1791. Christoph von Schmid then served as assistant in several parishes until 1796, when he was placed at the head of a large school in Thannhausen on the Mindel, where he taught for many years. He soon began writing books for children which taught Christian values.[1] His first work was a bible history for children (1801). He continued with his calling as a writer of children's books throughout his long life, one of his most noted stories being Die Ostereier (Easter Eggs, 1816) due to its popularity and also that he started signing himself as �author of Easter Eggs.�[2] Many say that he was the pioneer writer of books for youths. His original purpose for writing was to reward his students after school by reading his books to them. His writings have been translated into 24 languages. His principle juvenile works are Biblische Geschichte f�r Kinder, Der Weihnachtsabent, Genovena, Ostereier, Das Blumenk�rbschen, and Erz�hlungen f�r Kinder und Kinderfreunde (1823�1829). His stories usually center around a disturbance to the happiness of good people which God's righteousness finally fixes, the goal of the writer being to awaken a practical piety in his youthful readers. He also wrote poems which are scattered here and there in his work.[2] His autobiography, Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben, was published in 1853�1857. From 1816 to 1826 he was parish priest at Oberstadion in W�rtemberg. In 1826, Christoph von Schmid was appointed canon of the Cathedral of Augsburg, where he died of cholera when he was eighty seven."

12/22/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is "A Budget of Christmas Tales", an anthology originally published in 1895 that includes: A Christmas Carol -- by CHARLES DICKENS The Christmas Babe by MARGARET E. SANGSTER. A Western Christmas by MRS. W. H. CORNING. Joe's Search for Santa Claus by IRVING BACHELLER. Angela's Christmas by JULIA SCHAYER. The First Puritan Christmas Tree by ANONYMOUS First New England Christmas by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. The Chimesby CHARLES DICKENS. Billy's Santa Claus Experience by CORNELIA REDMOND. Christmas in Poganuc by MRS. H. B. STOWE. The Christmas Princess by MRS. MOLESWORTH. Widow Townsend's Visitor by ANONYMOUS The Old Man's Christmas by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. The Christmas Goblin by CHARLES DICKENS. The Song of the Star by C. H. MEAD. Indian Pete's Christmas Gift by H. W. COLLINGWOOD. My Christmas Dinner by ANONYMOUS The Poor Traveler by CHARLES DICKENS. The Legend of the Christmas Tree by ANONYMOUS The Peace Egg by JULIANA HORATIA EWING.

12/15/2009 -- Christmas Stories and Legends compiled by Phebe A. Curtiss

12/8/2009 -- Folk Tales Every Child Should Know edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie. According to Wikipedia: "Hamilton Wright Mabie, A.M., L.H.D., LL.D. (1846�1916) was an American essayist, editor, critic, and lecturer... Notable Quote: 'Don't be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with the wind.'" Kids's book of the week

12/1/2009 -- Two Penniless Princesses by Charlotte Yonge.

11/24/2009 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, this week's kid's book of the week is Daisy Chain by Charlotte Yonge (a book that reminds her of Little Women). According to Wikipedia: "Charlotte Mary Yonge (11 August 1823 - 24 May 1901), was an English novelist, known for her huge output, now mostly out of print... Yonge's work was widely read and respected in the nineteenth century. Among her admirers were Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, William Gladstone, Charles Kingsley, Christina Rossetti, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Anthony Trollope.[9] William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones read The Heir of Redclyffe aloud to each other while undergraduates at Oxford University and "took [the hero, Guy Morville's] medieval tastes and chivalric ideals as presiding elements in the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood."[10] Yonge's work was compared favorably with that of Jane Austen, Honor� de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Trollope, and Emile Zola.[10] So popular were her works that 'A midshipman was able to supply from memory a missing page in his ship's copy of The Daisy Chain. An officer in the Guards, asked in a game of "Confessions" what his prime object in life was, answered that it was to make himself like Guy Morville, hero of The Heir of Redclyffe.'" Please let me know if you would prefer to receive these books in .prc (MobiPocket Reader format), which works better than plain text for reading on the Kindle. I'm building a separate mailing list for Kindle users.

11/17/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is Kipling's "Rewards and Fairies".

According to Wikipedia: "Rudyard Kipling (December 30,1865 – January 18,1936) was a British author and poet. Born in Bombay, in British India, he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book (1894) (a collection of stories which includes Rikki-Tikki-Tavi), Kim (1901) (a tale of adventure), many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888); and his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author Henry James said of him: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined. Later in life Kipling came to be recognized (by George Orwell, at least) as a "prophet of British imperialism." Many saw prejudice and militarism in his works, and the resulting controversy about him continued for much of the 20th century. According to critic Douglas Kerr: "He is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognized as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with.... Puck of Pook's Hill is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. The stories are all told to two children living near Pevensey by people magically plucked out of history by elf Puck, or by Puck himself. Puck, who refers to himself as "the oldest thing in England", is better known as a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Genre of particular stories range from authentic historical novella (A Centurion of the Thirtieth, On the Great Wall) to children's fantasy (Dymchurch Flit)... Puck of Pook's Hill was followed four years later by the second volume, Rewards and Fairies."

11/3/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is Kipling's "Puck of Pook's Hill". According to Wikipedia: "Rudyard Kipling (December 30,1865 – January 18,1936) was a British author and poet. Born in Bombay, in British India, he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book (1894) (a collection of stories which includes Rikki-Tikki-Tavi), Kim (1901) (a tale of adventure), many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888); and his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author Henry James said of him: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined. Later in life Kipling came to be recognized (by George Orwell, at least) as a "prophet of British imperialism." Many saw prejudice and militarism in his works, and the resulting controversy about him continued for much of the 20th century. According to critic Douglas Kerr: "He is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognized as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with.... Puck of Pook's Hill is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. The stories are all told to two children living near Pevensey by people magically plucked out of history by elf Puck, or by Puck himself. Puck, who refers to himself as "the oldest thing in England", is better known as a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Genre of particular stories range from authentic historical novella (A Centurion of the Thirtieth, On the Great Wall) to children's fantasy (Dymchurch Flit)... Puck of Pook's Hill was followed four years later by the second volume, Rewards and Fairies." I plan to send out "Rewards and Fairies" next week.

10/27/2009 -- Kim by Kipling. According to Wikipedia: "According to Wikipedia: "Kim is a novel by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by MacMillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. The story is set against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. It is set after the Second Afghan War which ended in 1881, but before the Third, perhaps in the 1890s. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of Indian people, culture, and its varied religions. It is generally considered by critics to be Kipling's best serious long novel."

10/20/2009 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Captains Courageous" by Kipling. According to Wikipedia: "Captains Courageous is an 1897 novel, by Rudyard Kipling, that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon... The title comes from the ballad "Mary Ambree", which starts "When captains courageous, whom death could not daunt". Kipling had already used the same title for an article on businessmen as the new adventurers, published in The Times of 23 Nov. 1892... Features that may confuse younger readers: A massive amount of non-standard English spelling, used to represent dialect speech in the conversations. Words used in obsolete uses: e.g. "trawl" to mean "long-lining" and "hooking" to mean "stealing". As with some other of Kipling's books, "nigger" used many times without being intentionally derogatory. "Troops" used to mean "Disko Troop's family" rather than "soldiers"."

10/13/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is "Sea Wolf" by Jack London. According to Wikipedia: "The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American writer Jack London about a literary critic and other survivors of an ocean collision who come under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues them. Its first printing of forty thousand copies were immediately sold out before publication on the strength of London's previous The Call of the Wild. Ambrose Bierce wrote, "The great thing�and it is among the greatest of things�is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen... the hewing out and setting up of such a figure is enough for a man to do in one lifetime... The love element, with its absurd suppressions, and impossible proprieties, is awful." ... The personal character of the novel's antagonist "Wolf Larsen" was attributed to a real sailor London had known, Captain Alex MacLean. According to London himself, "much of the Sea Wolf is imaginary development, but the basis is Alexander McLean" London, who was called "Wolf" by his close friends, also used a picture of a wolf on his bookplate, and named his mansion "Wolf House" Given that Van Weyden's experiences in the novel bear some resemblance to experiences London had, or heard told about, when he sailed on the Sophia Sutherland, the autodidact sailor Wolf Larsen has been compared to the autodidact sailor Jack London. Captain Alex MacLean, or McLean, was born May 15, 1858 in East Bay, Nova Scotia. He did sail mostly in the Pacific North West with his brother, Captain Dan MacLean. MacLean was at one time the Sheriff of Nome, Alaska. The MacLean Captains maintained their ties to Cape Breton Island despite having spent much of their lives sailing the Pacific Coast and do have living descendants (The Highland Heart of Nova Scotia, Neil MacNeil). The real-life USRC Bear and its color commander, Captain Michael A. Healy, each icons along the late 19th century Alaskan coast, were reportedly inspirations for London when writing The Sea-Wolf.[citation needed] (The Bear is the American revenue cutter which comes to the rescue at the end of his story). London's intention in writing the The Sea-Wolf was "an attack on (Nietzsche's) super-man philosophy." The novel also contains references to Herbert Spencer, Omar Khayy�m, Shakespeare, and John Milton."

10/6/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is "White Fang" by Jack London. According to Wikipedia: "White Fang is the title of a novel by American author Jack London. The novel was first serialized in The Outing Magazine in May to October 1906. It is the story of a wild wolfdog's journey toward becoming civilized in Yukon Territory, Canada, during the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century. White Fang is a companion novel (and a thematic mirror) to London's best-known work, The Call of the Wild, which concerns a kidnapped civilized dog turning into a wild animal. Much of the novel is written from the view-point of animals, allowing London to explore how animals view their world and how they view humans. White Fang examines (sometimes graphically) the violent world of wild animals and the equally violent world of supposedly-civilized humans. The book also explores complex themes including morality and redemption. White Fang has been adapted for the screen numerous times, including a live-action Disney film in 1991 which starred Ethan Hawke."

9/29/2009 -- This week's Kid's book is "The Call of the Wild" by Jack Lodon, plus "Stickeen, a great dog story by the naturalist John Muir.

According to Wikipedia: "The Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated and even somewhat pampered dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events finds him serving as a sled dog in the treacherous, frigid Yukon during the days of the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rushes in which sled dogs were bought at generous prices. Published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is one of London's most-read books, and it is generally considered one of his best.[citation needed] Because the protagonist is a dog, it is sometimes classified as a juvenile novel, suitable for children, but it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence. London followed the book in 1906 with White Fang, a companion novel with many similar plot elements and themes as Call of the Wild, although following a mirror image plot in which a wild wolf becomes civilized by a mining expert from San Francisco named Weedon Scott"

Also according to Wikipedia: "John Muir (21 April 1838 � 24 December 1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of U.S. wilderness. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, have been read by millions and are still popular today. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. His writings and philosophy strongly influenced the formation of the modern environmental movement.

9/22/2009 -- "The Danger Trail" by James Oliver Curwood.

9/15/2009 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is "Baree, Son of Kazan by James Oliver Curwood. According to Wikipedia: "James Oliver Curwood, (June 12, 1878 � August 13, 1927), was an American novelist and conservationist. A great number of his works were turned into movies, several of which starred Nell Shipman as a brave and adventurous woman in the wilds of the north. Many films from Curwood's writings were made during his lifetime, as well as after his passing through to the 1950s. In 1988 French director Jean-Jacques Annaud used his 1916 novel, The Grizzly King to make the film The Bear. Annaud's success generated a renewed interest in Curwood's stories that resulted in five more films being produced in 1994 and 1995."

9/8/2009 -- This Week's Kid's Book is "The Grizzly King: a Romance of the Wild" by James Oliver Curwood. According to Wikipedia: "James Oliver Curwood, (June 12, 1878 – August 13, 1927), was an American novelist and conservationist. A great number of his works were turned into movies, several of which starred Nell Shipman as a brave and adventurous woman in the wilds of the north. Many films from Curwood's writings were made during his lifetime, as well as after his passing through to the 1950s. In 1988 French director Jean-Jacques Annaud used his 1916 novel, The Grizzly King to make the film The Bear. Annaud's success generated a renewed interest in Curwood's stories that resulted in five more films being produced in 1994 and 1995... By 1922, Curwood's writings had made him a very wealthy man and he fulfilled a childhood fantasy by building Curwood Castle in Owosso. Constructed in the style of an 18th century French chateau, the estate overlooked the Shiawassee River. In one of the home's two large turrets, Curwood set up his writing studio. Curwood also owned a camp in a remote area in Baraga County, Michigan, near the Huron Mountains as well as a cabin in Roscommon, Michigan. Curwood was an avid hunter [1], but, as he grew older, he became an advocate of environmentalism and was appointed to the Michigan Conservation Commission in 1926. The change in his attitude towards wild life can be best expressed by a quote from The Grizzly King: 'The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live."

9/1/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat". According to Wikipedia: "Tom Swift (in some versions Tom Swift, Jr.) is the name of the central character in five series, totaling over 100 volumes, of juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. The character was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging firm, and his adventures have been written by a number of different ghostwriters over the years. The books are published under the collective pseudonym Victor Appleton (or, in one case, �Victor Appleton II�). The character first appeared in 1910 and has appeared in new titles as recently as 2007. Most of the various series focus on Tom�s inventions, a number of which pre-date actual inventions. The character has been presented in different ways over the years, but in general the books portray science and technology as wholly beneficial in their effects, and the role of the inventor in society has been treated as admirable and heroic. The books have been translated into a number of languages and have sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Tom Swift has also been the subject of a board game and a television show, and development of a feature film was announced in 2008. A number of prominent figures, including Steve Wozniak and Isaac Asimov, have cited "Tom Swift" as an inspiration. Several inventions, including the taser, have been directly inspired by Tom�s fictional inventions."

8/25/2009 -- Thanks to a suggestion from a reader who asked to be anonymous, this week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Everychild: A Story Which The Old May Interpret to the Young and Which the Young May Interpret to the Old". She says "...what a great read it is. I promise you it's a fun, delightful, enigmatic and satisfying story."

8/18/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is "The Arabian Nights: Their Best-Known Tales" edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith. According to Wikipedia: "Kate Douglas Wiggin (September 28, 1856�August 24, 1923) was an American educator and author children's stories. Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent.[1] A graduate of Abbot Academy, Class of 1873, she started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the Silver Street Free Kindergarten). With her sister during the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers... Still devoted to her school, she began to raise money for it through writing, first The Story of Patsy (1883), then The Birds's Christmas Carol (1887). Both privately printed books were issued commercially by Houghton Mifflin in 1889, with enormous success. Ironically, considering her intense love of children, Kate Wiggin had none. Her husband died suddenly during 1889, and Kate relocated to Maine. For the rest of her life she grieved, but she also traveled as frequently as she could, dividing her time between writing, visits to Europe, and giving public reading for the benefit of various children's charities. Her literary output included popular books for adults, scholarly work on the educational principles of Friedrich Froebel, and of course the classic children's novel Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903)."

8/11/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week (thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden) is "Bimbi" a collection of children's stories by Ouida. Meanwhile the Ebook of the Week is "Under Two Flags" by Ouida (which I remember for the Classic Illustrated comic book version). According to Wikipedia: "Ouida (January 1, 1839 � January 25, 1908) was the pen name of the English novelist Maria Louise Ram� (although she preferred to be known as Marie Louise de la Ram�e)... During her career, she wrote more than 40 novels, children's books and collections of short stories and essays. She was an animal rights activist and animal rescuer, and at times owned as many as thirty dogs. For many years she lived in London, but about 1874 she went to Italy, where she died. Ouida's work went through several phases during her career. In her early period, her novels were a hybrid of the sensationalism of the 1860s and the proto-adventure novels dubbed "muscular fiction" that were emerging in part as a romanticization of imperial expansion. Later her work was more along the lines of historical romance, though she never stopped comment on contemporary society. She also wrote several stories for children. One of her most famous novels, Under Two Flags, described the British in Algeria in the most extravagant of terms, while nonetheless also expressing sympathy for the French--with whom Ouida deeply identified--and, to some extent, the Arabs. This book went on to be staged in plays, and subsequently to be turned into at least three movies, transitioning Ouida in the 20th century."

8/4/2009 -- The Kid's Book of the Week is Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. According to Wikipedia: "Charles Lamb (London, 10 February 1775 � Edmonton, 27 December 1834) was an English/Welsh essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764�1847). Lamb has been referred to by E.V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as the most lovable figure in English literature, and his influence on the English essay form surely cannot be overestimated."

Charles Lamb was brought to my attention by the recent best-seller "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" , which mentioned his family tragedy (quite unexpected for a brother and sister renowned for their children's version of Shakespeare). As Wikipedia relates: "Charles and his sister Mary both suffered periods of mental illness. Charles spent six weeks in a psychiatric hospital during 1795. He was, however, already making his name as a poet. On 22 September 1796, a terrible event occurred: Mary, "worn down to a state of extreme nervous misery by attention to needlework by day and to her mother at night," was seized with acute mania and stabbed her mother to the heart with a table knife. Although there was no legal status of 'insanity' at the time, a jury returned a verdict of 'Lunacy' and therefore freed her from guilt of willful murder. With the help of friends Lamb succeeded in obtaining his sister's release from what would otherwise have been lifelong imprisonment, on the condition that he take personal responsibility for her safekeeping." (That gives a new twist to the old rhyme "Mary had a little lamb...")

Wikipedia continues: "Lamb used a large part of his relatively meagre income to keep his beloved sister in a private 'madhouse' in Islington called Fisher House. The 1799 death of John Lamb was something of a relief to Charles because his father had been mentally incapacitated for a number of years since suffering a stroke. The death of his father also meant that Mary could come to live again with him in Pentonville, and in 1800 they set up a shared home at Mitre Court Buildings in the Temple, where they lived until 1809. Despite Lamb's bouts of melancholia, both he and his sister enjoyed an active and rich social life. Their London quarters became a kind of weekly salon for many of the most outstanding theatrical and literary figures of the day. Charles Lamb, having been to school with Samuel Coleridge, counted Coleridge as perhaps his closest, and certainly his oldest, friend. On his deathbed, Coleridge had a mourning ring sent to Lamb and his sister. Fortuitously, Lamb's first publication was in 1796, when four sonnets by "Mr. Charles Lamb of the India House" appeared in Coleridge's Poems on Various Subjects. In 1797 he contributed additional blank verse to the second edition, and met the Wordsworths, William and Dorothy, on his short summer holiday with Coleridge at Nether Stowey, thereby also striking up a lifelong friendship with William. In London, Lamb became familiar with a group of young writers who favoured political reform, including Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Hazlitt, and Leigh Hunt. Lamb continued to clerk for the East India Company and doubled as a writer in various genres, his tragedy, John Woodvil, being published in 1802. His farce, Mr H, was performed at Drury Lane in 1807, where it was roundly booed. In the same year, Tales from Shakespeare (Charles handled the tragedies; his sister Mary, the comedies) was published, and became a best seller for William Godwin's "Children's Library." In 1819, at age 44, Lamb, who, because of family commitments, had never married, fell in love with an actress, Fanny Kelly, of Covent Garden, and proposed marriage. She refused him, and he died a bachelor. His collected essays, under the title Essays of Elia, were published in 1823 ("Elia" being the pen name Lamb used as a contributor to the London Magazine). A further collection was published ten years or so later, shortly before Lamb's death. He died of an infection, erysipelas, contracted from a cut on his face, on December 27, 1834, just a few months after Coleridge."

7/28/2009 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, this week's Kid's book is "Nobody's Boy" by Hector Malot.

7/21/2009 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, this week's Kid's Book is "Nobody's Girl" by Hector Malot. Penny describes it as "life-changing". According to Wikipedia: "Hector Malot (May 20, 1830 - July 17, 1907) was a French writer born in La Bouille, close to Rouen. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale. His first book, published in 1859, was Les Amants. In total Malot wrote over 70 books. By far his most famous book is Sans Famille (Nobody's Boy, 1878), which deals with the travels of the young orphan Remi, who is sold to the streetmusician Vitalis at age 10. Sans Famille gained fame as a children's book, though it was not originally intended as such."

7/14/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is the complete Grimm Fairy Tales. According to Wikipedia: "The Brothers Grimm (German: Die Br�der Grimm or Die Gebr�der Grimm), Jacob (January 4, 1785-September 20, 1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (February 24, 1786-December 16, 1859), were German academics who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales[1] and for their work in linguistics, relating to how the sounds in words shift over time (Grimm's law). They are among the best known story tellers of novellas from Europe, allowing the widespread knowledge of such tales as Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and The Frog Prince."

Next week, thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golde, I'll send "Nobody's Girl." After that, I'm considering "Nobody's Boy", then "Bimbi" by Ouida (suggested by Penny Golden), then some books by Kate Douglas Wiggin

7/7/2009 -- "The Governess" by Sarah Fielding (sister of Henry Fielding). According to Wikipedia: "The Governess, or The Little Female Academy (1749), which was the first novel in English written especially for children."

6/30/2009 -- Andersen's Fairy Tales

6/23/2009 -- "The Curly-Tops and Their Pets" by Garis

6/16/2009 -- "The Little Lame Prince" by Miss Mulock

6/9/2009 -- "Oh, Money! Money!" by Eleanor Porter

6/2/2009 -- "Miss Billy Married" by Eleanor Porter

5/26/2009 -- "Miss Billy's Decision" by Eleanor Porter.

5/19/2009 -- "Miss Billy" by Eleanor Porter.

5/12/2009 -- "Just David" by Eleanor Porter.

5/5/2009 -- "Pollyanna Grows Up" by Eleanor Porter, the sequel to "Pollyanna".

4/28/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Pollyanna" by Eleanor Porter. According to Wikipedia: "Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature. The book was such a success that Porter soon produced a sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up (1915). Eleven more Pollyanna sequels, known as "Glad Books", were later published, most of them written by Elizabeth Borton or Harriet Lummis Smith. Further sequels followed, the most recent of which, Pollyanna Plays the Game by Colleen L. Reece, appeared as recently as the mid-1990s. Pollyanna has been adapted for film several times. Some of the best-known include Disney's 1960 version starring child actress Hayley Mills, who won a special Oscar for the role, and the 1920 version starring Mary Pickford. The most recent incarnation of a Pollyanna character is Poppy, the main character in the 2008 Mike Leigh film Happy-Go-Lucky."

4/21/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is "Rilla of Ingleside" by Lucy Maud Montgomery, from the Anne Shirley/Anne of Green Gables series. In this one, first published in 1917, Anne is 25-27. According to Wikipedia: "Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. It was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book. Montgomery found her inspiration for the book on an old piece of paper that she had written at a young age, describing a couple that were mistakenly sent an orphan girl instead of a boy, yet decided to keep her. Montgomery also drew upon her own childhood experiences in rural Prince Edward Island. Montgomery used a photograph of Evelyn Nesbit, clipped from an American magazine and pasted on the wall above her writing desk, as the model for Anne Shirley, the book's main character. Since publication, Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million books. In addition, this widely loved book is taught to students around the world."

4/14/2009 -- This week's Kid's Book is "Rainbow Valley" by Lucy Maud Montgomery, another of the Anne of Green Gables/Anne Shirley books. In this one, first published in 1919, Anne is 41 years old.

4/7/2009 -- Anne's House of Dreams, another of the Anne of Green Gables/Anne Shirley books by Lucy Maud Montgomery. In this one, first published in 1917, Anne is 25-27.

3/31/2009 -- "Anne of the Island" by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the third book in the Anne Shirley/Anne of Green Gables series.

3/24/2009 -- "Anne of Avonlea" the second of the Anne of Green Gables/Anne Shirley books. According to Wikipedia: "Following Anne of Green Gables (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. This book follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, as well as new ones like Mr Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy. The book's title is fitting, as Anne is no longer simply "of Green Gables" as she was in the previous book, but now takes her place among the "important" people of Avonlea society, as its only schoolteacher. She is also a founding member of the A.V.I.S. (the Avonlea Village Improvement Society), which tries to improve (with questionable results) the Avonlea landscape."

3/17/2009 -- "Anne of Green Gables" by Montgomery

3/10/2009 -- "Willis the Pilot" by Johanna Spyri (author of Heidi), a sequel to "The Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann Wyss.

3/3/2009 -- This week's kid's book is "The Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann Wyss. Next week I'm thinking of sending out a sequel to that book, "Willis the Pilot" by Johanna Spyri (author of Heidi).

2/24/2009 -- Heidi by Johanna Spyri

2/17/2009 -- Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge

2/10/2009 -- "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell.

2/3/2009 -- Our free kid's book this week is another animal story -- "Kazan" by James Oliver Curwood, which appears on our Children's Book CD.

1/27/2009 -- "Further Adventures of Lad" by Albert Payson Terhune.

1/20/2009 -- "His Dog" by Albert Payson Terhune, another good yarn about an amazing collie.

1/13/2009 -- This week's free kid's book of the week is Bruce by Albert Payson Terhune. (Thanks again to Mitch Borden for introducing me to that author). It's the story of a dog in WWI, with lots of humor and pathos, and insight into dog nature and human nature. There are also some eloquent passages about the evils of vivisection that still ring true. Above all, it's a good yarn well told. If you happen to be interested in animal rights, you should check the books on that subject at Micah Publications http://www.micahbooks.com/books.html#rts

1/6/2009 -- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden

12/30/2008 -- Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know by Hamilton Wright Mabie

12/23/2008 -- The Children's Book of Christmas Stories edited by Asa Don Dickinson and Ada M. Skinner, plus Holidays at the Grange or a Week's Delight: Games and Stories for Parlor and Friends by Emily Mayer Higgins

12/16/2008 -- Romance of a Christmas Card by Kate Douglas Wiggin

12/9/2008 -- Tales of Wonder edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith

12/2/2008 -- On Christmas Day in the Morning and On Christmas Day in the Evening by Grace Richmond

11/25/2008 -- Irish Fairy Tales by James Stephens

11/18/2008 -- Johnny Bear by Ernest Thompson Seton

11/11/2008 -- Biography of a Grizzly by Ernest Thompson Seton

11/4/2008 -- Monarch, the Big Bear of the Tallac by Ernest Thompson Seton

10/28/2008 -- Animal Heroes by Ernest Thompson Seton

10/21/2008 -- Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton

10/14/2008 -- The Bobbsey Twins at School by Laura Lee Hope

10/7/2008 -- The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Boork by Laura Lee Hope

9/30/2008 -- The Bobbsey Twins at Home by Laure Lee Hope

9/23/2008 -- This week's kid's book is "The Bobbsey Twins or Merry Days Indoors and Out" by Laura Lee Hope. That's the first book of the series. According to Wikipedia: "Laura Lee Hope is a pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for the Bobbsey Twins and several other series of children's novels. Actual writers taking up the pen of Laura Lee Hope include Edward Stratemeyer, Howard and Lilian Garis, Elizabeth Ward, Harriet (Stratemeyer) Adams, and Nancy Axelrad.

9/16/2008 -- For a change of pace, this week's book is "The Pirates' Who's Who: Giving Particulars of the Lives and Deaths of the Pirates and Buccaneers" by Philip Gosse. I was surprised to see that one of these famous pirates is one I had never heard of -- Bartholomew Roberts. And that name made me think of "The Dread Pirate Roberts" in the movie "The Princess Bride.

9/9/2008 -- Charles Dickens' "A Child's History of England" next

9/2/2008 -- "The Young Folk's History of England" by Charlotte Yonge

8/26/2008 -- According to Wikipedia: "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin. Rebecca Rowena Randall goes to live with her two stern aunts in the village of Riverboro in Maine. Her joy for life ends up inspiring them. She faces many trials in her young life, but comes through them with more wisdom and understanding."

8/19/2008 -- Betty Bandy suggested we try one of G.A. Henty's historical novels. So here's "The Boy Knight, a Tale of the Crusades".

8/12/2008 -- A book about children and children's literature -- "Children's Rights: a Book of Nursery Logic", by Kate Douglas Wiggin, author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and a pioneer of kindergarten education.

8/5/2008 --The King of the Golden River. Ruskin is best known for his books about Italian Renaissance art and artists. But I read this book of his in the form of a Classics Illustrated Junior comic book (back in the 1950s).

7/29/2008 -- For a change of pace, here's a collection of Japanese fairy tales.

7/22/2008 -- Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll

7/15/2008 -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

7/8/2008 -- This week's Kid's Book of the Week is one written by me -- The Lizard of Oz, as a Word document, with the illustrations (by Christin Couture).

7/1/2008 -- Now and Then and Other Tales from Ome by Richard Seltzer

6/24/2008 -- The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit

6/17/2008 -- The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

6/10/2008 -- The Lilac Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

6/3/2008 -- The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

5/27/2008 -- The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

5/20/2008 -- The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

5/13/2008 -- The Brown Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

5/6/2008 -- The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

4/29/2008 -- Tanglewood Tales, Nathaniel Hawthorne's retelling of Greek myths

4/22/2008 -- Po-No-Kah, an Indian Tale from Long Ago by Mary Mapes Dodge

4/15/2008 -- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

4/8/2008 -- As promised, here's Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

4/1/2008 -- The Prince and The Pauper by Mark Twain

3/25/2008 -- Pinocchio by Collodi

3/18/2008 -- Stolen Treasure by Howard Pyle.

3/11/2008 -- The Ruby of Kishmoor by Howard Pyle.

3/4/2008 -- Twilight Land by Howard Pyle.

2/262008 -- Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. This historical novel is set in 1400 in England, during the reign of Henry IV, who had just deposed Richard II. (This is a good time to reread your Shakespeare...)

2/19/2008 -- The Story of the Champions of the Round Table by Howard Pyle, another of his retellings of famous legends.

2/12/2008 -- The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

2/5/2008 -- Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates -- Fiction, Fact & Fancy concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main: From the writing & Pictures of Howard Pyle, compiled by Merle Johnson.

1/29/2008 -- Five Little Peppers Group Up by Margaret Sidney, the fifth book in the series.

1/22/2008 -- This week's kid's book is Five Little Peppers Abroad by Margaret Sidney, the fourth book in the series.

1/15/2008 -- This week's book is the third (in order of the story, rather than order of publication) of the Five Little Peppers series by Margaret Sidney.

1/8/2008 -- "The Five Little Peppers and Their Friends" the second (in the order of the story, rather than in order of publication) of the main Five Little Peppers books by Margaret Sidney.

1/1/2008 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Shelley Rhodes, this week's book is "The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Up" by Margaret Sidney. FYI, Margaret Sidney was a penname. Her real name was Harriet Mulford Stone. She and her husband Daniel Lothrop (founder of a book publishing company) bought and lived in The Wayside, a house in Concord, Mass., that had been the home of Louisa May Alcott and, earlier, of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

12/25/2007 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Penny Golden, this week's kid's book is The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin. Next week, thanks to a suggestion from Shelley Rhodes, I'll start the Five Little Peppers series.

12/18/2007 -- This week's kid's book is "Tom Swift and His Airship", the third in that series. Please let me know if you've read enough Tom Swift books and would like me to move on, or if you'd like me to send out more of them.

12/11/2007 -- This week's kid's book is "Tom Swift and His Motor Boat", the second book in the Tom Swift series.

12/4/2007 -- Tom Swift and His Motorcylce", the first Tom Swift book. Please let me know if you'd like more books from that series.

11/28/2007 -- Journeys Through Bookland, volume 5

11/21/2007 -- Journeys Through Bookland, volume 4

11/14/2007 -- Journeys Through Bookland, volume 3

11/7/2007 -- Journeys Through Bookland [anthology] edited by Charles Sylvester, volume 2

10/30/2007 -- This week's kid's book is Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. Over the next few weeks I plan to send out volumes of children's story collection "Journeys Through Bookland" edited by Charles Sylvester. NB -- I have volumes 2-6 of that, but not volume 1.

10/23/2007 -- This week's kid's book of the week is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Next week I'm planning to send out the Uncle Remus Stories by Joel Chandler Harris.

10/16/2007 -- This week's kid's book is Bulfinch's "Legends of Charlemagne". These wild tales of wizardry and magic and war were well-known in Europe for centuries and are the basis for many once popular and now little-read classics, like "Amadis of Gaul" and Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso". (Cervantes' hilarious and delightful "Don Quixote" is a satiric reaction to such tales.) It's amazing that Hollywood has not yet mined these story treasures.

10/9/2007 -- This week's kids' book is "The Age of Chivalry" by Bulfinch (a followup to last week's "The Age of Fable"). This one includes tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable, along with brief retellings of such stories as Beowulf, Cuchulain, and Robin Hood. Next week, I'll send out the third and last volume, the lesser known but still delightful "Legends of Charlemagne".

10/2/2007 -- Suggested by Betty Bandy, this week's kid's book is "The Age of Fable" from Bulfinch's Mythology. Please let me know if you'd like me to send out the rest of that series ("The Age of Chivalry" and "Legends of Charlemagne") in future weeks.

9/25/2007 -- Thanks to a suggestion from Betty Bandy, this week's Kids' Book of the Week consists of "The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving.

9/18/2007 -- �The Blue Fairy Book� by Andrew Lang.

9/11/2007 -- For this week's kid book, I'm sending Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and also his Child's Garden of Verses. ("My Shadow" has a haunting quality -- its impact seems to increase as I get older).

9/4/2007 -- This week's selection is "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain plus "The Outdoor Chums" by Captain Quincy Allen. (I include the Chums because Thomas Pynchon's recent monumental novel "Against the Day" begins with a parody of that little-known children's book series).

8/28/2007 -- Since I can't make up my mind, I'll start with two books, rather than one. "The Patchwork Girl of Oz" by Frank Baum, is one of my favorite Oz books (along with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Ozma of Oz). And "Just So Stories" by Kipling should appeal to a younger audience.