Known as a central figure in English literature, Hilaire Belloc produced a number of stunning, funny, and clever admonishments for children. The tales in this volume, illustrated by the inimitable Edward Gorey, contain instructive lessons for almost everyone. For those children prone to wandering off from their caretakers, there is the story of a certain young Jim, who ran away from his nurse and was eaten by a lion. Those known to stretch the truth will hardly be comforted by the tale of Matilda, who told lies and was burned to death. And as for those of us — and our children — who tend to the vainglorious, there is the sobering tale of Godolphin Horne, who was cursed with the sin of pride and became a boot-black. Witty, brilliant, and strikingly irreverent.

Both witness to and victim of Stalin's reign of terror, a courageous woman tells the story of her harrowing eighteen-year odyssey through Russia's prisons and labor camps.

Curious George, the beguiling little monkey, is one of the most beloved of all children's book characters. In this new set of four colorful board books featuring art adapted from H. A. Rey's original adventures about Curious George, his antics have been suitably scaled and reinforced for the youngest readers.

Karen Wynn Fonstad's THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH is an essential volume that will enchant all Tolkien fans. Here is the definitive guide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in the Elder Days through the Third Age, including the journeys of Bilbo, Frodo, and the Fellowship of the Ring. Authentic and updated — nearly one third of the maps are new, and the text is fully revised — the atlas illuminates the enchanted world created in THE SILMARILLION, THE HOBBIT, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Hundreds of two-color maps and diagrams survey the journeys of the principal characters day by day — including all the battles and key locations of the First, Second, and Third Ages. Plans and descriptions of castles, buildings, and distinctive landforms are given, along with thematic maps describing the climate, vegetation, languages, and population distribution of Middle-earth throughout its history. An extensive appendix and an index help readers correlate the maps with Tolkien's novels.

Explore the imagination — and share the murderous action — of Dostoevsky's chief Crime and Punishment character, Raskolnikov. Gain a grasp of how this impoverished young man expected to enrich humanity by rising to a level above the law. The CliffsNotes perspective on a masterpiece of Russian literature delivers insight into the people, plots, language, and history woven into the book's text, as well as information on the author's personal background and careers within the nineteenth-century movement toward realism in writing. CliffsNotes on Crime and Punishment is the real deal in reliable resources for making your classroom experience richly rewarding!

Who is John Galt? This famous rhetorical question rings through Ayn Rand's best-selling novel as the people's anthem of despair in depressed economic times. Set in the future, the novel follows capitalist magnates as they battle looters, strikers, and the impending ruin of the United States' economy. The romantic and intellectual relationship between Dagny Taggart, the heroine, and John Galt, whose identity as the leader of the strike is eventually revealed, carries the novel to its climax. This novel, controversial when it first appeared in 1957, purports Rand's objectivist philosophy that the individual is free to pursue his or her own happiness without bowing to God or society. Objectivism in action upholds full laissez-faire capitalism as the only philosophy that can protect humankind's freedom to think, to be inventive, and to live productively.

It's no secret that Beethoven went deaf, that Mozart had constant money problems, and that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote musicals. But what were these people — and other famous musicians — really like? What did they eat? What did they wear? How did they spend their time? And — possibly most interesting of all — what did their neighbors think? Discover the fascinating and often humorous stories of twenty famous musicians — people of all shapes, sizes, temperaments, and lifestyles, from various countries and historical periods. Beginning with Vivaldi and ending with Woodie Guthrie, Lives of the Musicians brings musical history to life.

Read from A to Z along with George in a condensed version of the clas-sic Curious George Learns the Alphabet.

An artist and writer of genius (New Yorker) gives us a small-format edition of one of his favorite tales-a deliciously twisted comedy of manners.

«A new, small-format edition of one of Gorey's «dark masterpieces of surreal morality» (Vanity Fair) — a witty, disquieting journey through the alphabet.»

While teaching upper — and lowercase letters to preschoolers, Ehlert introduces fruits and vegetables from around the world. A glossary at the end provides interesting facts about each food.

Children will adore these rhyming misadventures of a group of zany sheep on a pirate ship. The staccato rhyming text packs in plenty of action, while the excellent expressive colored-pencil drawings catch these bumbling swashbucklers in realistically sheepish glory.

A flock of hapless sheep drive through the country in this rhyming picture book. The bright-colored pencil drawings and lean text make this a great choice for preschool storytimes, as well as for beginning readers who want a funny story.

The Russian folktale about an old woman's endless search for the Christ child.

Superb design, magnificent illustrations, and clearly presented information distinguish all of David Macaulay's books. Whether chronicling the monumental achievements of past civilizations or satirizing modern architecture, he is concerned above all in how constructions are made and what their effects are on people and their lives.

For two decades, first at Wellesley and then at Cornell, Nabokov introduced undergraduates to the delights of great fiction. Here, collected for the first time, are his famous lectures, which include Mansfield Park, Bleak House, and Ulysses. Edited and with a Foreword by Fredson Bowers; Introduction by John Updike; illustrations.

The author's observations on the great nineteenth-century Russian writers-Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Gorky, Tolstoy, and Turgenev. This volume... never once fails to instruct and stimulate. This is a great Russian talking of great Russians (Anthony Burgess). Edited and with an Introduction by Fredson Bowers; illustrations.

«This marvelous book recreates the building of a French Gothic cathedral from the hewing down of half a forest to the placement of the last sheet of lead on the spire. Macaulay uses voluminous knowledge and pen-and-ink sketches accompanied by a brief clear narrative.»

The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.