Family Classics For Teens

The Austins are trying to settle into their new life in New York City, but their once close-knit family is pulling away from each other. With the Austins going in different directions, they don't notice that something sinister is going on in their neighborhood - and it's centered around them. A mysterious genie appears before Rob and Emily. A stranger approaches Vicky in the park and calls her by name. Members of a local gang are following their father. The entire Austin family is in danger. If they don't start telling each other what's going on, someone just might get killed.

Humphrey van Weyden led a privileged existence during his early life, but suddenly finds himself cast into the sea, fighting for survival. Pitted against ruthless captain Wolf Larsen, van Weyden's courage and determination allows him to fight adversity and learn valuable lessons along the way, in this American classic originally published in 1904.

Grandma's house was a magical place, and in this vivid memoir, Donald Davis makes it possible for each of us to go back to our own grandma's kitchen, clutter room, living room, and to that immeasurable bed that seemed to swallow us whole. This selection also contains a traditional story Davis learned from his grandmother, one handed down through his family from generations who once lived in Scotland before coming to the Appalachian mountains, about the time that fortune-seeker named Jack made the king mad.

In rural North Carolina, in 1951, despite parental reassurances, a typhoid shot hurt. It hurt even more when the children saw who would be administering the shot: Miss Winnie, a large, dictatorial nurse who had been "especially built by the nursing school so she would never blow away in a hard wind".

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.

For a family with four kids, two dogs, assorted cats, and a constant stream of family and friends dropping by, life in the Austin family home has always been remarkably steady and contented. When a family friend suddenly dies in a plane crash, the Austins open their home to an orphaned girl, Maggy Hamilton. The Austin children - Vicky, John, Suzy, and Rob - do their best to be generous and welcoming to Maggy. Vicky knows she should feel sorry for Maggy, but having sympathy for Maggy is no easy thing.

Hawthorne approached the Romantic notion of the ability of science to destroy art (or beauty) in the form of fictive "horror stories" of biological research out of control. This story is the best of that group. A devoted scientist marries a beautiful woman with a single physical flaw: a birthmark on her face. Aylmer becomes obsessed with the imperfection and his attempts to remove it via his scientific skills, thus rendering his bride perfect.

Yorkshire, North of England, 1786. As the abandoned son of a lascar—a sailor from India—Heathcliff has spent most of his young life maligned as an "outsider." Now he's been flung into an alien life in the Yorkshire moors, where he clings to his birth father's language even though it makes the children of the house call him an animal, and the maids claim he speaks gibberish. Catherine is the younger child of the estate's owner, a daughter with light skin and brown curls and a mother that nobody talks about. Her father is grooming her for a place in proper society, and that's all that matters.

This is the story of a boy's adventures growing up in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi river over 100 years ago. The cheerful, adventurous hero plays truant to form a pirate band and, together with his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, finds fun, excitement, and buried treasure along the shores of the great river.

Second star to the right and straight on until morning...that's one way to get to Neverneverland. The other is through this unique full-cast performance, presented in exciting Radio Theatre style.

Three years after the close of Little Women, the March girls and their friend Laurie are young adults with only their futures to find. Along the way, they all face painful trials, from Meg's difficult lessons in housekeeping to Laurie's heartbreak in a love tragedy. Each of the girls finds happiness, but not always in the ways they expect.

This is the classic story of a boy's adventures growing up in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi river over a hundred years ago. The cheerful, adventurous hero plays truant to form a pirate band and, together with his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, finds fun and excitement, and buried treasure, along the shores of the great river.

Each year along the Eastern seacoast, the wild ponies of Assateague Island are driven across a narrow strip of ocean to Chincoteague. There the shaggy, untamed ponies are sold. When young Paul and Maureen Beebe rescue a drowning newborn foal, they take her home to nearby Pony Farm. Now the foal has grown into their free-spirited pony, Misty, and has been the subject of a popular children's book.

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.

Peter Pan, the mischievous imp who refuses to grow up, lands in the Darling's proper middle-class home to look for his shadow. He befriends Wendy, John, and Michael and teaches them to fly (with a little help from fairy dust). He and Tinker Bell whisk them off to Neverland where they encounter the Red Indians, the Little Lost Boys, pirates, and the dastardly Captain Hook.

The dreams, pranks, misfortunes, and courtships of the March girls form a charming family portrait.

With renewed interest in Alexander Key's extraordinary 1968 novel, fans can dive into Escape to Witch Mountain as it was meant to be listened to. The powerful, thrilling story of Tony and Tia - twins joined by their paranormal gifts, on the run from evil forces that seek to suppress their forgotten pasts - is more gripping and relevant than ever.

Transported back in time to the regal days of chivalry, the quick-witted, sharp-tongued Connecticut Yankee introduces the legendary King Arthur and his court to some "magic" even the wizard Merlin never dreamed of: the destructive power of gunpowder, and the ability to eclipse the sun itself!

When the boy awakens one morning to a sweet-smelling ham on the table, it seems like a blessing. But soon, the sheriff and his deputies come to the house and take the boy's father away in handcuffs. Suddenly the boy must grow up fast in a world that isn't fair, keeping hope alive through the love he has for his father's faithful dog, Sounder. Listeners who enjoy timeless dog stories such as Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows will find much to love in Sounder, even as they listen through tears at times.

When Pollyanna Whittier's loving but impoverished father dies, she is left orphaned and alone. Her wealthy spinster aunt, Aunt Polly, agrees to take her in, so she and her few belongs are packed onto an eastbound train. Pollyanna looks forward to living with her aunt, but Aunt Polly is cold and strict. She puts Pollyanna in a musty attic room and expects her to keep quiet and stay out of the way.