Ocean State Libraries

A tale of the adventure of a company of dwarves in search of dragon-guarded gold. A reluctant partner in this perilous quest is Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving, unambitious hobbit, who surprises even himself by his resourcefulness and skill as a burglar.

The adventures of the three Darling children in Never-Never Land with Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up. "All children, except one, grow up." And so begins the story of one of the most beloved characters in children's literature, Peter Pan. J.M. Barrie's classic tale, completely unabridged, features a boy who refuses to grow up, Tinker Bell the fairy, and the Darling children -- Wendy, John, and Michael. Their great adventure begins on the...

Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist its ruler, the golden lion Aslan, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.

The Two Towers is the second part of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure, The Lord of the Rings. Frodo and the companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord, Sauron, by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard Gandalf in a battle with an evil spirit int he Mines of Moria; and at the Falls of Rauros, Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring...

The Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures as the quest continues. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and took part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escaped into Fangorn Forest and there encountered the Ents. Gandalf returned, miraculously, and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman.

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"Dorothy is transported by a prairie cyclone to the world of Oz, where she meets friends Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion, sees the wondrous Emerald City and its ruling wizard, and defeats the wicked Witch of the West in her efforts to return to Kansas." --

"A young boy is placed in the custody of his eccentric witch-expert grandmother before being transformed into a mouse by an evil coven that is plotting against local kids." --

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, with discussion questions, role-playing scenarios, and other study activities.

"Penned by English Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling in 1894, The Jungle Book is a collection of allegorical stories that take place deep in the Indian jungle. The most famous stories of The Jungle Book are those featuring a young feral boy named Mowgli who was raised by wolves, is friends with a panther, and was educated by the animals of the jungle." -- "Set in the mystical depths of the Indian jungle, where tigers roam the land and monkeys swing...

"A famous legend surrounding the creation of Anna Karenina tells us that Tolstoy began writing a cautionary tale about adultery and ended up by falling in love with his magnificent heroine. It is rare to find a reader of the book who doesn't experience the same kind of emotional upheaval: Anna Karenina is filled with major and minor characters who exist in their own right and fully embody their mid-nineteenth-century Russian milieu, but it still belongs...