Classic Nature

Experiencing a story read out loud is one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is. Fireside Reading is a way to slow down, reconnect with the timeless wisdom of great books, and rediscover the simple pleasure of being read to. Join Gildart Jackson in front of a cozy fire as he reads Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne to you and your family from beginning to end.

In this classic children’s fable, three little pigs set out on their own. Each builds a house to stay safe—one builds his house of out of straw, the second uses sticks, and the third pig spends a little more time and builds a house of bricks. When the Big Bad Wolf arrives to huff and puff and blow their houses down, which pig will be safe? This is a story children will want to hear again and again!

Join Winnie-the-Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, and all their forest friends in this classic tale of friendship, adventure, and childhood imagination. Follow this beloved group on their journeys into the Hundred Acre Wood as they face their fears, help those in need, and find delightfully humorous ways to solve all kinds of twisty and tangled troubles. Learn along the way the importance of loyalty, care, kindness, and understanding what makes each friend so uniquely lovable.

Maxine lived at the firehouse with the Pine Plains Fire Fighters. But she wasn’t always a good fire dog! One time the fire fighters were rescuing a cat stuck up a tree. Maxine barked so loudly she scared the cat to a higher branch. Find out who Maxine meets that teaches her to become the best fire dog of all time. Fun music and authentic sound effects help tell the adorable story of “Maxine and the Ghost Dog!”

Generations of young readers continue to fall in love with Marguerite Henry’s “horse stories.” In one of her most famous, King of the Wind, the author traces the ancestry of the great Kentucky Derby winner, Man o’ War, whose mysterious pedigree is linked to the noble line leading from the Godolphin Arabian.

Join everyone’s favourite family cat in this delightful collection of classic picture book stories, full of her warm-hearted and funny escapades and read by Tacy Kneale. From the creator of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Mog the Forgetful Cat comes a remarkable audio collection of five delightful family adventures about a really remarkable cat! This collection includes Mog and the V.E.T., Mog the Forgetful Cat, Mog and the Baby, Mog’s Christmas and Mog’s Amazing Birthday Caper.

Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson, narrated by Richard Stibbard, is a foundational work of transcendentalist philosophy that explores the profound connection between humanity and the natural world.

Winnie-the-Pooh is a loveable bear with a forest full of friends: Piglet, Kanga and Roo, Tigger, Eeyore, and many more. This well-known cast of characters was inspired by the toys belonging to author A.A. Milne’s son Christopher Robin, himself a character in Milne’s writing. Join Pooh as he goes in search of Eeyore’s lost tail, which looks suspiciously like Owl’s new bell-rope. Cheer on little Piglet as he ventures into the woods to trap a Heffalump. Take a snack break with Winnie-the-Pooh, who is always in search of honey to satisfy the “rumbly” in his tummy.

Beatrix Potter (1866 - 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. Her children's stories are loved all around the world. Born into an upper-middle-class household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developing a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Enjoy a collection of her stories, recorded in high quality audio.

Clifford the Big Red Dog has some bad habits, such as chasing after cars, digging up flowers, and chewing shoes. But his owner, the affectionate and devoted Emily Elizabeth, wouldn't trade him for the world in Norman Bridwell's endearing classic children's book about the inseparable bond between a pint-sized girl and her giant, goofy red dog.

In the early years of our country, a poor school teacher, Justin Morgan, receives a horse and her tiny colt in payment for some work. He wishes he had been given money instead. Hoping that he might sell both horses for a fair price, he asks his student, Joel, to break in the colt. To his surprise, young Joel soon discovers that this small, brown creature has special abilities: "Bub" can pull more than a team of oxen, and he can run faster than a racehorse.

Buck is living the good life in the soft South, when he is snatched and transported to the savagery of the Northland, where the Klondike gold rush has brought out rough basic instincts of survival in men - and dogs. He adjusts to the gruelling regime of a sled dog, which almost kills him, but he survives to find a new and fulfilling way of life. The Call of the Wild is not only a classic 'ripping yarn', but also an enduring masterpiece of the inescapable laws of nature.

Published in 1884, Against Nature (À rebours) concerns the attempts of its cultured and neurotic anti-hero, Des Esseintes, to escape contemporary Parisian life. At his rural retreat he is able to indulge his particular artistic tastes as he muses on a range of topics including literature, religion and painting.

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.

A silver brumby is special, but he will be hunted by man and horse alike, and must be stronger than both.... Thowra, the magnificent silver stallion, is king of brumbies. But he must defend his herd from the mighty horse, The Brolga, in the most savage of struggles. That is not the only danger. Thowra needs all his speed and cunning to save his herd from capture by man. In a desperate chase through mountains, it seems there is no longer anywhere for him to run to....

Nature is a book-length essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and published by James Munroe and Company in 1836. In the essay, Emerson put forth the foundation of transcendentalism, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century.

Una de las grandes novelas americanas. La terrorifica magnitud de la selva amazonica es el telon de fondo de la unica novela del gran poeta y escritor colombiano Jose Eustasio Rivera, La voragine.

This favorite children’s classic tale is about a young boy who receives a stuffed velveteen rabbit as a Christmas present. The Boy loves the rabbit, but after unwrapping the other presents, forgets about the Rabbit completely. The wise old Skin Horse comforts the Rabbit by telling him not to worry, because the fancier toys will never become “Real.” The Skin Horse explains that “Real” only happens when a child loves something for a very long, long time.

Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first and then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays, Essays: First Series (1841) and Essays: Second Series (1844), represent the core of his thinking. They include the well-known essays "Self-Reliance" and "The Over-Soul". Together with "Nature", these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson's most fertile period.

A charming tale of the peddler whose stolen caps mean all kinds of monkey business.