Classic English Literature For Teens

Five years after Anne Shirley came to the town of Avonlea, she feels (a little) more grown up, but she's still the same skinny, red-headed orphan Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert took in. After putting her dream of attending Redmond College on hold so she can help Marilla with the farm, Anne doubts she has many adventures ahead of her. But even in plain old Avonlea, her life proves to be anything but ordinary.

If the melt-down, flood, plague, the third World War, new Ice Age, Rapture, alien invasion, clamp-down, meteor, or something else entirely hit today, what would tomorrow look like? Some of the biggest names in YA and adult literature answer that very question in this short story anthology, each story exploring the lives of teen protagonists raised in catastrophe's wake - whether set in the years soon after the change, or in decades far in the future.

"Johnny Butler was just four years old when his Lenni Lenape "father," Cuyloga, spoke the words that siphoned out his white blood and put Indian blood in its place. Now the Yengwes, the white soldiers, were taking him back to his "true" home. Inside of him hate and anger spread like poisons. The Light in the Forest, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Conrad Richter, will touch a new generation with its lasting truths.

In the hands of Sophocles, the master dramatist, the anguished tale of a man fated to kill his father and marry his mother retains its power to shock and move beyond any Freudian reference.

Return with Portia and her younger brother, Foster, as they rediscover an abandoned summer resort, consisting of deserted crumbling Victorian summer homes surrounding a vanished lake, which is now a swamp.

In this fast-paced survival story set in Hawaii, electronics fail worldwide, the islands become completely isolated, and a strange starscape fills the sky. Leilani and her father embark on a nightmare odyssey from Oahu to their home on the Big Island. Leilani's epilepsy holds a clue to the disaster, if only they can survive as the islands revert to earlier ways.

The last of John Steinbeck’s play-novelettes, Burning Bright was the author’s final attempt after 1937’s Of Mice and Men and 1942’s The Moon is Down to create what he saw as a new, experimental literary form. Four scenes, four people: the husband who yearns for a son, ignorant of his...

Hollis Woods has been in so many foster homes she can hardly remember them all. When Hollis is sent to Josie, she'll do everything in her power to make sure they stay together.

Amy's ventriloquist dummy, Dennis, has lost his head...for real. So Amy begs her family for a new dummy. That's when her dad finds Slappy in a local pawnshop. Slappy's kind of ugly, but at least his head stays on! Amy loves practicing her new comedy routine. It's like this dummy knows what she's thinking. Like he can move by himself. And it's a lot of fun...until Slappy starts a routine of his own. A nasty, horrible routine that isn't funny at all. Slappy may have a new owner, but he's up to the same old tricks....

In this spirited and romantic saga, a young heir named David Balfour meets his miserly uncle Ebenezer, who has illegally taken control of the Balfour estate. Ebenezer kidnaps David and plots to have him seized and sold into slavery on a ship to the Carolinas. A couple of days into the voyage, a shipwreck throws David together with David Break, a Scotsman returning from political exile in France, and the two of them journey together.

In Aramanth, exams are everything. When Kestrel rebels, her family are sentenced to the harshest punishment. To save them, Kestrel learns the secret of the wind singer and she sets out to discover the true source of the evil that grips Aramanth.

Travel back in time to experience one of the greatest epic stories of all time. Once the Trojan War ended, Odysseus thought his journey home would begin. But what he assumed was the end of his adventure was truly only the beginning.

Pollyanna, an expert at her favorite "Glad Game" of always looking at the bright side in her numerous trials, is one of the most popular and enduring characters in all of children's literature. As Pollyanna arrives in Beldingsville to live with her strict and dutiful maiden aunt, she exclaims, "Oh, Aunt Polly, I don't know how to be glad enough that you let me come to live with you!"

The magic unfolds from the first lines of Water Rat's soliloquy about messing about in boats in this captivating version of Kenneth Grahame's classic. Although it's generally considered a children's book, get a copy for yourself as well as the child in your life, as you won't want to give this away. Ralph Cosham's performance is a study in characterization without over-dramatization. His Ratty is breezy and lighthearted, his Mole shy and considerate. His Badger sounds just like that gruff old man you once knew who had a heart of gold. And Toad - well, Toad is perfectly insufferable.

Robin Hood's father may now be Sheriff of Nottingham and working hard to root out police corruption and the remains of Guy Gisborne's criminal empire, but the Sherwood rebel's problems are far from over. Former sheriff Marjorie Kovacevic has been elected national president promising to round up illegal refugees and migrants and use the army to wipe out the rebels and bandits who control Sherwood Forest. But she needs to pass a new law before she can send in the troops to recapture Robin's home, Sherwood Castle.

Lad: A Dog is a novelized version of twelve short stories about a fantastic collie named Lad. Lad is a noble creature, risking life and limb in defense of the vulnerable. Many people believe Lad: A Dog was the basis for the highly popular "Lassie" series which gripped the imagination of children and adults alike, as has this book for generations past.

In a post-apocalyptic world ruled by a Governor who is both feared and worshipped, Willow is a 17-year-old girl who is trying to get through her last year of studies. But when her father dies, she experiences strange dreams that change everything about how she looks at the world and at herself. Haunted by the tragedy, Willow pushes herself beyond anything she could have imagined she was capable of. It's only when she catches the attention of some of the Governor's informants that her world is turned upside-down.

This fictionalized portrait of Joyce's youth is one of the most vivid accounts of the growth from childhood to adulthood. Dublin at the turn of the century provides the backdrop as Stephen Dedalus moves from town and society, towards the irrevocable decision to leave. It was the decision made by Joyce himself which resulted in the mature novels of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

Irish fairy tales and legends - full of enchantment, brave deeds and lost loves. The best tales from the Irish tradition, including: 'How Cúchulainn Got His Name', 'The Magic Shoes', 'Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach', 'The King’s Secret', 'The Children of Lir', 'The Giant’s Causeway', 'The Bodach of the Grey Coat', 'The Pot of Gold', 'Tír na n-Óg' and 'The White Gander'. Irish fairy tales and legends are full of enchantment, brave deeds and lost loves. Told from generation to generation, they are as fascinating now as they were to their original listeners.

Lewis Carroll's enduring tale begins with Alice chasing the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole, where she encounters a world of delightfully eccentric characters like the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, the Mock Turtle, and the Queen of Hearts. Throughout her fantastic journeys, Alice retains her reason, humor, and sense of justice.