Each volume includes an introduction, informative notes and a chronology of the writer's life and times to enable the reader to gain a deeper understanding of these enduring works.

Called "the veriest trash" by a member of the Concord, Massachusetts Library Board that banned the novel when it was first published, Huckleberry Finn has come to be viewed, as H.L. Mencken put it, as "one of the great masterpieces of the world." Ernest Hemingway wrote that "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn....There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." A daringly ironic...

Stolen From Home and sold into a harsh life as a sled dog in northern Canada, Buck must quickly learn to survive. He soon takes his place as leader of the hardworking team, and his strength and courage become legendary among men. But the call of the wild is strong, awakening primal feelings of a life among wolves... One of the greatest of all wildlife stories, The Call of the Wild will enthrall today's readers as it has since its first publication...

"Young Jim Hawkins and his friends set sail for Treasure Island, hoping to find the buried loot of Captin Flint, fiercest of all the pirates. But, unknown to them, the crew of their own ship is made up of Flint's former crew, led by the evil one-legged pirate Long John Silver. Once on the island Jim and his friends must find the buried treasure and escape before the pirates capture them. Robert Louis Stevenson's timeless tale of greed and gold remains...

A blast of wind, a house-rattling bang, and Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane. Quicker than she can close her umbrella, she takes charge of the Banks children--Jane, Michael, and the twins--and she changes their lives forever.

Christopher Robin had a friend named Edward Bear. One day Edward Bear said he would like an exciting name all to himself. Without stopping to think about it, Christopher Robin said that he was Winnie-the-Pooh. To follow are stories of wonderful times with characters who live in the same woods.

While sorting through difficulties in her friendship with her neighbor Margaret, eight-year-old Clementine gains several unique hairstyles while also helping her father in his efforts to banish pigeons from the front of their apartment building.

After he is sent to bed without supper for behaving like a wild thing, Max dreams of a voyage to the island where the wild things are.

Matilda, a brilliant, sensitive little girl, uses her talents and ingenuity to seek revenge on her crooked father, lazy mother, and the terrifying Miss Trunchbull, her wicked headmistress, and save her beloved teacher, Miss Honey.

Life is never the same for the Brown family after they bring adventurous Paddington Bear into their home. Includes previously unpublished pictures by Peggy Fortnum.