Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter, found a piece of wood that wept and laughed like a child Centuries ago there lived - "A king " my little readers will say immediately.

Meet heroic maid Pattern in The Last Duchess, the first Silver Service Mystery from Laura Powell, illustrated by Sarah Gibb. Pattern is only thirteen, but is already rising through the ranks at Mrs Minchin's Academy of Domestic Servitude and seems destined for a life below stairs. But fate intervenes when she is packed off to the small and secretive Duchy of Elffinberg, to serve as lady's maid to the recently orphaned Grand Duchess. Pattern's young new mistress is excitable and paranoid, yet despite their differences the two girls forge an unlikely friendship that quickly turns into a battle for survival. For picture-perfect Elffinberg hides an extremely dark and deadly secret . . . Armed only with her trusty sewing basket, a bottle of smelling salts and J. Bulcock's inestimable guide, The Duties of a Lady's Maid, Pattern will need all her wits and resourcefulness when dealing with above-stairs conspiracies and below-stairs intrigue. Darning stockings has never been so dangerous.

A full-colour short story taken from the world of the Magic Faraway Tree. Perfect for new readers. Discover the magic!

Joe, Beth, Frannie and cousin Rick go up the Faraway Tree for another fantastical adventure! This time, they reach the Land of Toys, where teddy bears, dolls and clockwork toys run around all day long. Poor Saucepan-Man gets thrown in prison by some toy soldiers and the children must rescue him before it's too late...

The stories about the Magic Faraway Tree have been entertaining children for more than 80 years. Now these colour short stories offer a great way for young new readers to discover the adventures of Silky, Moon-Face, the Saucepan Man and all of their friends in the Enchanted Wood.

Greek warrior Odysseus is desperate to make his way home to the island of Ithaca. But giants, sirens and many-headed serpents are just some of the obstacles that stand in his way. Join him on his amazing adventures in this dynamic graphic novel.

Motherless Sara Crewe was sent home from India to school at Miss Minchin's. Her father was immensely rich and she became 'show pupil' - a little princess. Then her father dies and his wealth disappears, and Sara has to learn to cope with her changed circumstances. Her strong character enables her to fight successfully against her new-found poverty and the scorn of her fellows.

Join the Mr Men and Little Miss as they welcome the arrival of the new king in this charming and funny new story! It's a right royal giggle from start to finish! The new king is visiting the Mr Men and Little Miss on his royal tour and everyone is very excited. In Happyland, Mr Happy and Little Miss Sunshine have planted a special flower display, while in Loudland, Mr Noisy and his band have been practising day and night! But will everything go to plan and what will be in store for the new king in Nonsenseland?! The Mr Men and Little Miss have been delighting children for generations with their charming and funny antics. Bold illustrations and funny stories make Mr Men and Little Miss the perfect story time experience for children aged two up. Have you met them all?

"Sad? Why should I be sad? It's my birthday. The happiest day of the year," said Eeyore. "Your birthday?" said Pooh in great surprise. It's Eeyore's birthday and none of his friends have remembered it. So Pooh and Piglet plan to cheer him up with presents, and some unexpected suprises... This beautiful little storybook is a great way to introduce young readers to the characters in A.A.Milne's Hundred Acre Wood. This is guaranteed to be a bedtime favourite for children aged 5 and up. This book is all the more special due to E.H.Shepard's decorations, which are shown in full, glorious colour. They are truly iconic and contributed to him being known as 'the man who drew Pooh'. Look out for the other titles in the collection: Winnie-the-Pooh: Eeyore Loses a Tail Winnie-the-Pooh: Pooh Goes Visiting Winnie-the-Pooh and the Wrong Bees Winnie-the-Pooh: Piglet Meets A Heffalump Winnie-the-Pooh: Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing Winnie-the-Pooh: A House is Built for Eeyore Winnie-the-Pooh: Pooh Invents A New Game The nation's favourite teddy bear has been delighting generations of children for over 95 years. Milne's classic children's stories - featuring Piglet, Eeyore, Christopher Robin and, of course, Pooh himself - are gently humorous while teaching lessons about friendship and kindness. Pooh ranks alongside other beloved character such as Paddington Bear, and Peter Rabbit as an essential part of our literary heritage. Whether you're 5 or 55, Pooh is the bear for all ages.

It's time to meet a new Little Miss who is intelligent, ingenious and inventive. Little Miss Inventor is as bright as a button. In fact she's as bright as two buttons and can invent the most extraordinary things for her friends. But her greatest challenge yet has her stumped, what on earth could she invent for Mr Rude?!

The Mr Men and Little Miss have been delighting children for generations with their charming and funny antics. Bold illustrations and funny stories make Mr Men and Little Miss the perfect story time experience for children aged two up. Have you met them all?

Many of the earliest children's books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pook Press are working to republish these classic works in affordable, high quality editions, using the original text and artwork so these works can delight another generation of children.

When five-year-old orphan Heidi is sent to live in the Swiss Alps with grumpy Grandpa, the rest of the village take pity on her. But Heidi soon discovers that her grandpa is gentle and kind behind his scowl, and she loves her new life running wild in the mountains with the goats, the flowers and her best friend Peter. That is, until Heidi is forced to move far away to the soot and smoke of Frankfurt to be the companion to an unwell girl. Will she ever return to her true home in the mountains?

Sometimes at the darkest hour, hope shines the brightest…

When Col’s childhood imaginary friends come to life, he discovers a world where myths and legends are real. Accompanied by his guardians – a six-foot tiger, a badger in a waistcoat and a miniature knight – Col must race to Blitz-bombed London to save his sister.

But there are darker forces at work, even than the Nazi bombings. Soon Col is pursued by the terrifying Midwinter King, who is determined to bring an eternal darkness down over everything.

Eleanor Estes's "The Hundred Dresses "won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn't and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it's too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda's classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." This powerful, timeless story has been reissued with a new letter from the author's daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin's original artwork in beautifully restored color.

With an Introduction and Notes by Stuart Hutchinson, University of Kent at Canterbury. Tom Sawyer, a shrewd and adventurous boy, is as much at home in the respectable world of his Aunt Polly as in the self-reliant and parentless world of his friend Huck Finn. The two enjoy a series of adventures, accidentally witnessing a murder, establishing the innocence of the man wrongly accused, as well as being hunted by Injun Joe, the true murderer, eventually escaping and finding the treasure that Joe had buried. Huckleberry Finn recounts the further adventures of Huck, who runs away from a drunken and brutal father, and meets up with the escaped slave Jim. They float down the Mississippi on a raft, participating in the lives of the characters they meet, witnessing corruption, moral decay and intellectual impoverishment. Sharing so much in background and character, these two stories, the best of Twain, indisputably belong together in one volume. Though originally written as adventure stories for young people, the vivid writing provides a profound commentary on provincial American life in the mid-nineteenth century and the institution of slavery.

Five Children and It (1902) is a children's fantasy novel by English writer Edith Nesbit. The first book in Nesbit's beloved Psammead trilogy-which also includes The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) and The Story of the Amulet (1906)-Five Children and It is a story of childish wonder, adventure, and the power of imagination. Five siblings move with their parents from London to the English countryside, where they adjust to the rhythms of rural life and spend their days playing and exploring outside. One day, while playing in a local gravel pit, they discover a strange creature with the eyes of a snail, the ears of a bat, a spider-shaped body, and the limbs of a monkey. Known as a Psammead, the being is a sand fairy who grants the children one wish per day-while warning them that whatever they wish for will turn to stone when the sun sets. The children's fear quickly turns to wonder, and they begin to wish for increasingly ambitious things: a pile of gold coins; the power of flight; superhuman size; a castle. With each wish comes a commensurate adventure, forcing the children to escape more and more dangerous situations. As it grants the children wish after wish, the initially cynical Psammead grows to appreciate their vibrant imaginations and seemingly unquenchable passion for adventure. Five Children and It is masterpiece of fantasy from Edith Nesbit, one of the twentieth century's leading authors of children's fiction. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Edith Nesbit's Five Children and It is a classic of English children's literature reimagined for modern readers.

"The most influential anticruelty novel of all time."-Bernard Unti Black Beauty (1877), the only novel from Anna Sewell, was the first book ever written from the singular viewpoint of an animal. The fictional narrative, told by Black Beauty, a genial thoroughbred, was initially written by the author "to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses." Over time the book has become a classic book for children, despite its initial adult readership. The book is considered the advent of the Anthropomorphic literary genre. Black Beauty, the gentle horse and narrator of the story, begins with recollection of an idyllic youth with his mother and other kind horses. When Black Beauty is four years old, his owner sells him to Squire Gordon, who provides a caring home among other horses. One of the squire's other horses, a headstrong chestnut named Ginger, becomes Black Beauty's best friend. When the squire's wife becomes seriously ill, the couple are forced to sell their horses; in a heartbreaking turn of events, Black Beauty is sold in a succession of transactions where he is mistreated, overworked, and separated from Ginger. Although scarred, Black Beauty is resilient and eventually is returned to a life of kindness and care. This deeply moving story aimed towards the awareness of animal welfare was influential reforms in the laws regarding the treatment of horses; yet, its enduring legacy is the massage of compassion that has touched readers for more than 200 years. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Black Beauty is both modern and readable.

Heidi (1881) is a children's novel written by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. One of the best-selling books of all time, Heidi is not only a defining work of Swiss literature, but a beloved masterpiece of children's fiction. It was adapted into a 1937 film starring Shirley Temple, and has since gone on to inspire numerous feature films, television series, and animated works. It is especially popular in Japan, serving as source material for the early hit anime series Heidi, Girl of the Alps. Heidi, a young orphan girl, is sent by her aunt to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. A reclusive man, he is known as the Alm-Uncle by the townsfolk he avoids and disdains. Although initially wary of Heidi's presence, he soon softens, learning to love the young girl and to appreciate her inherent goodness and unusual intelligence. Although she wants to go to school, he refuses on account of his distrust of the town and its people. Despite this, Heidi befriends a neighboring family-a young goatherd named Peter, his mother Brigitte, and her elderly mother-who eventually accept her as one of their own. When her aunt Dete returns to take her to Frankfurt, however, her newfound life in the country is exchanged for one of service in the city. There, she works as a companion for Clara, the crippled daughter of a wealthy family. The two become fast friends, and in exchange for her love and affection, Heidi is encouraged to learn reading and writing, as well as to study the teachings of Christianity. She misses the countryside, however, and longs to return to the Swiss Alps once more. Beloved by readers around the world for well over a century, Johanna Spyri's Heidi is a classic tale of faith and friendship with lessons for children and adults alike. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Johanna Spyri's Heidi is a classic of Swiss literature and children's fiction reimagined for modern readers.

The Red Fairy Book (1890) is a collection of fairy tales by Scottish folklorist Andrew Lang. Published in time for Christmas, The Red Fairy Book was the second volume out of 25 in the Lang's Fairy Books series, compiled, written, and edited by Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. Using such sources as the Brothers Grimm and Madame d'Aulnoy, they selected culturally significant stories from all over Europe, crafting carefully organized and beautifully illustrated compilations featuring beloved Russian, French, Scottish, Norse, and Danish myths and legends. In "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," a classic German tale, a powerful king locks his twelve beautiful daughters in their room at night only to discover their shoes worn down each morning. Confused and unused to disobedience, he promises his kingdom and his daughters to the first man who manages to discover the secret of their nightly endeavors. "Soria Moria Castle" is a Norwegian fairy tale that follows a young boy who goes to sea with an adventurous captain. Blown off course, they discover a mysterious castle guarded by a monstrous, three-headed troll. Warned by the princess, the young Halvor swears to face down the beast in order to free her and her kingdom. "The True History of Little Goldenhood" is a retelling of the classic Italian story of Little Red Riding Hood, a young girl who falls prey to a devious, hungry wolf. The Red Fairy Book compiles over three dozen stories from across Europe and remains an essential resource for amateur and professional folklorists to this day. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Andrew Lang's The Red Fairy Book is a classic work of folklore reimagined for modern readers.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.' Scientist Pierre Aronnax and his colleagues set out on an expedition to find a strange sea monster and are captured by the infamous and charismatic Captain Nemo and taken abroad the Nautilus submarine as his prisoners. As they travel the world's oceans, they become embroiled in adventures and events beyond their wildest dreams. Visionary in its outlook, Vern's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a legendary science fiction masterpiece.

Meet Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timothy. Together they are THE FAMOUS FIVE - Enid Blyton's most popular adventure series. All 21 titles also available as audiobooks! In book seven, the Famous Five investigate spook trains in the dead of night. The trains seem to vanish into thin air, but where do they go? The Five discover an unusual underground tunnel system and a secret train-service. If they follow the tracks, will they solve the mystery? Fantastic new cover art by Laura Ellen Anderson will draw young readers into this accessible timeless classic.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. Visit the Penguin Readers website Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys. Victor Frankenstein wants to make his own creature from stolen body parts. But when the creature is finished, Frankenstein is shocked by his creation and runs away. Lonely and angry, the creature plans to kill his maker and all the people that Frankenstein loves.

Five Children and It (1902) is a children's fantasy novel by English writer Edith Nesbit. The first book in Nesbit's beloved Psammead trilogy-which also includes The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) and The Story of the Amulet (1906)-Five Children and It is a story of childish wonder, adventure, and the power of imagination. Five siblings move with their parents from London to the English countryside, where they adjust to the rhythms of rural life and spend their days playing and exploring outside. One day, while playing in a local gravel pit, they discover a strange creature with the eyes of a snail, the ears of a bat, a spider-shaped body, and the limbs of a monkey. Known as a Psammead, the being is a sand fairy who grants the children one wish per day-while warning them that whatever they wish for will turn to stone when the sun sets. The children's fear quickly turns to wonder, and they begin to wish for increasingly ambitious things: a pile of gold coins; the power of flight; superhuman size; a castle. With each wish comes a commensurate adventure, forcing the children to escape more and more dangerous situations. As it grants the children wish after wish, the initially cynical Psammead grows to appreciate their vibrant imaginations and seemingly unquenchable passion for adventure. Five Children and It is masterpiece of fantasy from Edith Nesbit, one of the twentieth century's leading authors of children's fiction. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Edith Nesbit's Five Children and It is a classic of English children's literature reimagined for modern readers.

"Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear!" said Piglet to himself. And he wanted to run away. But somehow, having got so near, he felt that he must just see what a Heffalump was like. Pooh and Piglet decide to catch a Heffalump together, but when Piglet meets one in the middle of the night, he realises that catching Heffalumps is much easier with two. This beautiful little storybook is a great way to introduce young readers to the characters in A.A.Milne's Hundred Acre Wood. This is guaranteed to be a bedtime favourite for children aged 5 and up. This book is all the more special due to E.H.Shepard's decorations, which are shown in full, glorious colour. They are truly iconic and contributed to him being known as 'the man who drew Pooh'. Look out for the other titles in the collection: Winnie-the-Pooh: Eeyore Loses a Tail Winnie-the-Pooh: Pooh Goes Visiting Winnie-the-Pooh and the Wrong Bees Winnie-the-Pooh: Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing Winnie-the-Pooh: Eeyore's Birthday Winnie-the-Pooh: A House is Built for Eeyore Winnie-the-Pooh: Pooh Invents A New Game The nation's favourite teddy bear has been delighting generations of children for over 95 years. Milne's classic children's stories - featuring Piglet, Eeyore, Christopher Robin and, of course, Pooh himself - are gently humorous while teaching lessons about friendship and kindness. Pooh ranks alongside other beloved character such as Paddington Bear, and Peter Rabbit as an essential part of our literary heritage. Whether you're 5 or 55, Pooh is the bear for all ages.