The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape in a rather unusual way - by hijacking a balloon.The five are Cyrus Smith, a railroad engineer in the Union army, his African-American manservant...

An ordinary woman's unfulfilled dreams of romantic love lead her to a series of desperate acts, including adultery, in a classic novel set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century bourgeois France.

In Rudyard Kipling's 1901 novel Kim an orphan boy of poor Irish parents makes his living on the streets of Lahore running errands. After befriending a Tibetan monk, Kim undertakes several adventures which ultimately put him at the heart of The Great Game the geopolitical struggle between Britain and Russia for the control of India and Afghanistan. Notable for its vivid descriptions of the people, culture and landscape of India.

When young Edward VI of England and a poor boy who resembles him exchange places, each learns something about the other's very different station in life.

A mother duck hatches a brood of ducklings. All are sweet little yellow babies-all but one, who is very large, very gray, and very ugly. The poor ugly duckling is teased and tormented by everyone he meets, even his own mother, brothers, and sisters. Driven from his home in the barnyard, the unhappy duckling wanders the world alone, suffering hardships, cruelty, and ridicule wherever he goes. This exquisite tale of rejection and redemption has been...