Tom Swift & friends decide to trial an experimental airship near the New Jersey coast, and are unexpectedly swept out to sea by hurricane winds. Unable to steer or navigate without tearing the airship apart, the hapless crew must simply let the storm take them wherever it will. Unfortunately, the storm proves too much for the craft and Tom makes a crash landing on the uninhabited and crumbling Earthquake Island.

A $10,000 prize lures Tom into competing at a local aviation meet at Eagle Park. Tom is determined to build the fastest plane around, but his plans mysteriously disappear, which means Tom must redesign his new airplane from the beginning.

Viking tales are tales from Iceland, featuring the king Halfdan and his son Harald.

Short and sweet stories for children from the 19th century. The stories were compiled by two New York City teachers and were thought appropriate for third year children at that time.

This is an intriguing collection of folklore from the Santal Parganas, a district in India located about 150 miles from Calcutta. As its Preface implies, this collection is intended to give an unadulterated view of a culture through its folklore. It contains a variety of stories about different aspects of life, including family and marriage, religion, and work. In this first volume, taken from Part I, each story is centered around a particular human character. These range from the charmingly clever (as in the character, The Oilman, in the story, “The Oilman and His Sons”) to the tragically comical (as in the character, Jhore, in the story “Bajun and Jhore”)...

“Is that your bundle, sir?” repeated Mr Blunt a little louder. “Eh? yes, yes—all right,” replied Edwin, annoyed at the interruption, and thinking only of Emma Lee, to whom he turned, and went on—“Well, when Colonel Jones had scaled the first wall—” “Come, sir,” said Blunt, entering the carriage, and laying his hand on Edwin’s shoulder, “it’s not all right. This is another man’s property.” The youth turned round indignantly, and, with a flushed countenance, said, “What do you mean?” “I mean that you are travelling with another man’s property,” said Blunt, quietly pointing to the strapped rug...

Raggedy Ann is a fictional character created by writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair. The character was created in 1915 as a doll, and was introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories. A doll was also marketed along with the book to great success. A sequel, Raggedy Andy Stories (1920) introduced the character of her brother, Raggedy Andy, dressed in sailor suit and hat.

Once upon a time there lived in a small house built underneath the ground two curious little folk, with their father, their mother, their uncle and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was the nurse, hired girl and cook, all in one, and the reason she had such a funny name was because she was a funny cook. She had long hair, a sharp nose, a very long tail and the brightest eyes you ever saw. She could stay under water a long time, and was a fine swimmer. In fact, Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was a big muskrat, and the family she worked for was almost as strange as she was. (excerpt from text)

This delightful story is full of ups and downs involving a young boy and his dog, "a gift from the sea". The adventures range from playful antics to times of peril, and through it all, our protagonists (both human and canine alike) come through for each other as only a dog and his boy can! This adventurous and fun tale will bring you back to your own childhood memories...you and that special tail-wagger from the "good ol' days".

The Ontario Readers is a school book first published in 1909, by the Ontario Ministry of Education, containing short excerpts of literary works, both stories and poems, geared to grade-school age children.

Riley was an American writer known as the “Hoosier poet”, and made a start writing newspaper verse in Hoosier dialect for the Indianapolis Journal in 1875. His favorite authors were Burns and Dickens. This collection of poems is a romanticized and mostly boy-centered paean to a 19th century rural American owning-class childhood. I’ve included the pieces I did because they’re the ones I most enjoyed when I read a copy of the collection handed down from my great-grandfather.

It is the 1570's, and the people of the Netherlands live in terror under the cruel dominion of Spain. Though many long to be free of Spanish tyranny, efforts at rebellion are failing, and allies are nowhere to be found. Edward “Ned” Martin, son of an English captain and a Dutch lady, is thrust into the conflict when he resolves to help his mother’s people and avenge his murdered relatives. Entering the service of the revolutionary leader William the Silent, Prince of Orange, Ned is called upon to carry out dangerous secret missions deep within occupied territory...

Ernest Ray is a young boy who sets out to reclaim the inheritance that was unjustly with held from his father and given to a cousin. (Introduction by Abigail Rasmussen)

When an innocent blue jay starts talking in his sleep, it’s up to him to find out what’s going on in this fun, naturalistic, Southern-style children’s story.

Join us as we follow Jerry Muskrat and his friends on an adventure to discover what is threatening their homeland; The Laughing Brook and The Smiling Pool.

A wonderful book in which we meet the lucky little bunny who becomes Mrs. Peter Rabbit! This is one of many delightful animal books written by Thornton W. Burgess. I grew up reading and enjoying these tales of talking animals with fun and varied personalities. Peter Rabbit is a character loved by all, and this charming tale recounts the adventures of meeting, wooing, and marrying Mrs. Peter Rabbit. (Introduction by CLW Rollins)

Another short story for children by the well-known conversationalist and writer, Thornton W. Burgess. This story revolves around Unc' Billy Possum and his adventures.

Old Man Coyote craftily leads Bowser the hound away from home, and Bowser gets lost. Will Bowser find his way back to Farmer Brown's? Will Reddy Fox finally catch himself a chicken, now that Bowser is no longer guarding the henhouse? This is one of many delightful books by the naturalist Thornton W. Burgess, who wrote children's stories featuring the animals of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows.

“Not once upon a time but just now, in a white house by the side of a road, live three happy children.Their mother and father gave them very odd names, for two old uncles and one aunt, which pleased the old people very much. Their names are all written in the big family Bible,–Jehosophat Green, Marmaduke Green, and Hepzebiah Green.” So begins this collection of bedtime stories for children, one each night for twenty days, involving these three happy children and their playmates.

Carroll Watson Rankin's best known novel is Dandelion Cottage, published in 1904 by Henry Holt and Company. She first wrote the story serially for her own children. Considered a regional classic in the midwest, it tells of four young girls who negotiate the use of a derelict cottage as a playhouse by pulling dandelions for the owner, prosperous Mr. Black. The real life model for Mr. Black is generally acknowledged to be Marquette businessman and philanthropist, Peter White. The original Dandelion Cottage is located at 440 East Arch and is privately owned.

Years ago, a manufacturer built a great dock, jutting out from and then turning parallel to the shore of a northern Michigan town. The factory was abandoned, and following the habits of small towns, the space between the dock and the shore became "The Cinder Pond." Jean started life in the colony of squatters that came to live in the shanties on the dock, but fortune, heroism, and a mystery combine to change her fortunes and those of her friends near the Cinder Pond. (Advertising material from the publisher, 1915) More than one girl who reads this story will envy Jeanne her queer little home out on the end of the old dock in Lake Superior...

Sara Cone Bryant was an educator and storyteller who wrote several books on the importance of oral storytelling to children, and stories to tell children. This volume expounds on her theories and practices of telling stories to children, and provides several examples. Her conversational writing style makes this work as relevant for parents and teachers as it was 90 years ago.

This book, subtitled "How and Why Tales from Brazilian Folk-Lore", is a collection of short stories, most of them etiologial myths from Brazilian Indian Folklore.

Jack and Jill, along with their little sister "Bumps", are two pickles. Their curious, wild ways are too much for their guardians. But when their older sister reluctantly employs a governess for them, their feet are turned toward the "Golden City."

This is the story of Henry Ware, a young boy living in the wilds of the Kentucky frontier of the 1700's. The story follows Henry as he helps to establish a frontier outpost, is captured by an Indian tribe, and ultimately ensures the safety and security of a band of settlers against the warring Shawnee Indians. The Young Trailers is action packed and brings to life the adventures that awaited the early settlers as they traversed into the endless forests of the American frontier.

The Northern Army has just be handed a great defeat at Bull Run and is headed back to Washington, DC. How will the North answer this defeat? Follow our hero, Dick Mason, into the Western campaign to find out.This is the second book in the Civil War Series by Joseph A. Altsheler.

In this third book of Joseph Altsheler's Civil War series, Harry Kenton, a lieutenant in the Southern Army, is on scout patrol in the Shenandoah Valley. He has attracted the notice of the great General Stonewall Jackson after his regiment, the Invincibles of South Carolina, suffered great losses at the Battle of Bull Run. As the war continues, Harry meets each challenge that he faces with his close friends and fellow warriors.

The Child's Day, The Woods Hutchinson Health SeriesBy Woods Hutchinson, A.M., M.D. FOREWORD If youth only knew, if old age only could! lamented the philosopher. What is the use, say some, of putting ideas about disease into children's heads and making them fussy about their health and anxious before their time? Precisely because ideas about disease are far less hurtful than disease itself, and because the period for richest returns from sensible living is childhood--and the earlier the better. It is abundantly worth while to teach a child how to protect his health and build up his strength; too many of us only begin to take thought of our health when it is too late to do us much good...

Katharine E. Dopp was well-known as a teacher and writer of children’s textbooks at the turn of the 20th Century. She was among the first educators to encourage the incorporation of physical and practical activity into the elementary school curriculum at a time when such activities were becoming less commonplace in a child’s home environment. The Tree-Dwellers – The Age of Fear is the first in a series of elementary school texts written by Ms. Dopp that focus on the anthropological development of early human groups...

The hearty, all-American Rover Boys sail by yacht to Africa in search of their kidnapped father.

We have always loved stories. people have always entertained each other by telling tales around the campfire; traveling storytellers were huge crowd-pullers. Many of these stories were passed down through the generations, largely unchanged. "The stories made by the people, and told before evening fires, or in public places and at the gates of inns in the Orient, belong to the ages when books were few and knowledge limited, or to people whose fancy was not hampered by familiarity with or care for...

This story is based upon the experiences of two Belgian refugees in World War I. When their parents are marched of by Germans, Jan and Marie are left alone. Now they, along with their dog, have to find their parents!