Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis were quite happy living in their ordinary red-brick house located in the suburbs. But when their father was called away, the children and their mother were compelled to move to a dark, shabby cottage in the country, and their lives changed more then they ever could have imagined. At first the country seemed lonely and dull. Then one afternoon, a walk led them to a railway tunnel. There they met Perks, the porter, made friends with the kind Station Master, and waved to the Green Dragon train as it went by. Soon every day became filled with the excitement and fascination of the railway, and they became railway children. Since its first publication in 1906, The Railway Children has been one of the most popular and beloved children s books, and it is sure to charm many generations to come....

In her touching introduction to this collection, Britain's beloved children's author E. Nesbit shares with us her very personal inspiration for The Children's Shakespeare. As a writer, she understood that the stories are the least part of Shakespeare, but as a mother she also understood the need for simplicity. Her daughters were far too young to handle such complex language, yet certainly they must be capable of appreciating, indeed enjoying, the stories hidden within.

Envisioning this simplified introduction to works such as The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew-eleven plays in all-E. Nesbit set out to make them more accessible to young readers without sacrificing any essential elements. For if the stories were stripped of their wit and humor, of their emotion, the children would be no more entertained by them than by the indecipherable originals.

In the end, under E. Nesbit's gifted pen, these stories emerged with all the charm and grace of the very best fairy tales. Written in thoroughly modern English and each no more than ten pages in length, the eleven plays featured in this volume afford children the opportunity to discover for themselves the magic of Shakespeare....

This is the third in Edith Nesbits ever-popular Treasure Seekers series, after The Treasure Seekers and The Wouldbegoods. This classic childrens tale brings back the much-loved characters of Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel and H.O. Bastable as they stumble into yet more comic adventures. Teresa Gallagher read the previous two books in this highly praised series and returns to recount more japes in her colourful array of childrens voices....

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Most of the eleven stories in this collection were originally published in The Strand Magazine in 1899. Like Nesbit's other works, these tales are charming and will delight children of all ages. Included are such memorable stories as "The Book of Beasts," (where young Lionel is crowned king, but accidentally releases a dangerous fire dragon on his kingdom and must find a way to return the dragon to the magic book from whence it came), "The Island of the Nine Whirlpools" (featuring a princess and her true love, Nigel, who find the way -- via love and mathematics -- to free her from the curse her wicked father wished upon her), and "The Last of the Dragons" (about a princess who, not wanting to uphold the tradition that all royal maidens must be rescued from the dragon by their prince, insists that she be allowed to fight the dragon herself -- only to discover that this particular dragon is not at all interested in eating Princesses . . . nor in being killed by one)....

An inviting introduction to Shakespeare for children retells, in modern English, the stories in ten of the Bard's greatest plays, illustrated with dramatic black-and-white photographs from modern productions on the English stage. UP. "...