Franz Joseph Haydn: The Story of the Choir Boy who became a Great Composer


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Franz Joseph Haydn: The Story of the Choir Boy who became a Great Composer (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

You can find out more about Haydn here!

The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang?s Fairy Books or Andrew Lang?s ?Coloured? Fairy Books are a twelve-book series of fairy tale collections. Although Andrew Lang did not collect the stories himself from the oral tradition, the extent of his sources (who had collected them originally), made them an immensely influential collection, especially as he used foreign-language sources, giving many of these tales their first appearance in English. As acknowledged in the prefaces, although Lang himself made most of the selections, his wife and other translators did a large portion of the translating and telling of the actual stories.? (summary from wikipedia)

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Total running time:? 11 hours, 24 minutes

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00 ? Dedication and Preface

01 ? The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership

02 ? The Six Swans

03 ? The Dragon of the North

04 ? Story of the Emperor?s New Clothes

05 ? The Golden Crab

06 ? The Iron Stove

07 ? The Dragon and His Grandmother

08 ? The Donkey Cabbage

09 ? The Little Green Frog

10 ? The Seven-Headed Serpent

11 ? The Grateful Beasts

12 ? The Giants and the Herd-boy

13 ? The Invisible Prince

14 ? The Crow

15 ? How Six Men travelled through the Wide World

16 ? The Wizard King

17 ? The Nixy

18 ? The Glass Mountain

19 ? Alphege, or the Green Monkey

20 ? Fairer-Than-A-Fairy

21 ? The Three Brothers

22 ? The Boy and the Wolves, or the Broken Promise

23 ? The Glass Axe

24 ? The Dead Wife

25 ? In The Land of Souls

26 ? The White Duck

27 ? The Witch and Her Servants

28 ? The Magic Ring

29 ? The Flower Queen?s Daughter

30 ? The Flying Ship

31 ? The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son

32 ? The Story of King Frost

33 ? The Death of the Sun-hero

34 ? The Witch

35 ? The Hazel-nut Child

36 ? The Story of Big Klaus and Little Klaus

37 ? Prince Ring

38 ? The Swineherd

39 ? How To Tell A True Princess

40 ? The Blue Mountains

41 ? The Tinder-box

42 ? The Witch in the Stone B

43 ? Thumbelina

44 ? The Nightingale

45 ? Hermod and Hadvor

46 ? The Steadfast Tin-Soldier

47 ? Blockhead Hans

48 ? A Story about a Darning-needle

Mozart: The Story of a Little Boy and his Sister Who Gave Concerts by Thomas Tapper

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Mozart: The Story of a Little Boy and his Sister who gave Concerts (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

Listen to Mozart’s music

Click here to read a short bio of Mozart on Classics for Kids and to listen to his piano Sonata No. 11 in A.

The following several selections are recorded by Jon Sayles on classical guitar.? For more of his beautiful recordings of both classical and early/renaissance music,? visit his website.

Andante from Divertimento II (K439b)
Allegro–from K229

Adagio after K439b

Listen to more podcasts about Mozart on Classics for Kids.

The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

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Total running time: 12 hours, 22 minutes

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00 ? Preface

01 ? The Twelve Dancing Princesses

02 ? The Princess Mayblossom

03 ? Soria Moria Castle

04 ? The Death of Koshchei the Deathless

05 ? The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen

06 ? The Master Thief

07 ? Brother and Sister

08 ? Princess Rosette

09 ? The Enchanted Pig

10 ? The Norka

11 ? The Wonderful Birch

12 ? Jack and the Beanstalk

13 ? The Little Good Mouse

14 ? Graciosa and Percinet

15 ? The Three Princesses of Whiteland

16 ? The Voice of Death

17 ? The Six Sillies

18 ? Kari Woodengown

19 ? Drakestail

20 ? The Ratcatcher

21 ? The True History of Little Goldenhood

22 ? The Golden Branch

23 ? The Three Dwarfs

24 ? Dapplegrim

25 ? The Enchanted Canary

26 ? The Twelve Brothers

27 ? Rapunzel

28 ? The Nettle Spinner

29 ? Farmer Weatherbeard

30 ? Mother Holle

31 ? Minnikin

32 ? Bushy Bride

33 ? Snowdrop

34 ? The Golden Goose

35 ? The Seven Foals

36 ? The Marvellous Musician

37 ? The Story of Sigurd

Handel: The Story of a Little Boy who practiced in an Attic by Thomas Tapper

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Handel: The Little Boy who practiced in an Attic (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

You can find out more about Handel here!

My Very First Little German Book

An adorable picture book with 29 little lessons in German. Learn many simple and useful phrases, such as “How big the sea is!” and “Have you ever been to the farm?” Summary by Kara for Librivox

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My Very First Little German Book (left click to listen online or right click “save as” to download)

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Johann Sebastian Bach: The Story of the Boy who Sang in the Streets by Thomas Tapper

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Johann Sebastian Bach: The Story of the Boy who Sang in the Streets (left click to listen or Right Click “save as” to download)

This story is from the book “Stories of Great Composers for Children” by Thomas Tapper. Subscribe to the whole book in iTunes or Download the entire book as a zipped file.

Listen to Bach’s music:

The following several selections are recorded by Jon Sayles on classical guitar.? For more of his beautiful recordings of both classical and early/renaissance music, including several more Bach selections, visit his website.

Sheep May Safely Graze

Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light (from the Christmas Oratorio)

Now Let us to the Bagpipe’s Sound from the Peasant’s Cantata

Gavotte in A

Goldberg Variations, Number 2,? Number 10, Number 18

Listen to the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on Classics for Kids

More resources for studying Bach:

For more stories about Bach, including the podcasts “About Johann Sebastian Bach”, “The Sons of Johann Sebastian Bach”, “What’s a Concerto” and “More about the Brandenburg Concertos”, visit Classics for Kids.

Classics for Kids activity sheet about Bach and the Brandenburg Concertos

CurrClick has many resources for the study of Bach and classical music.

Grammar Land by M. L. Nesbitt

Summary: In this charming 1877 book of grammar instruction for children, we are introduced to the nine parts of speech and learn about the rules that govern them in Grammar-Land.

“Judge Grammar is far mightier than any Fairy Queen, for he rules over real kings and queens down here in Matter-of-fact-land. Our kings and queens have all to obey Judge Grammar?s laws, or else they would talk what is called bad grammar; and then, even their own subjects would laugh at them, and would say: ?Poor things!

They are funny fellows, these nine Parts-of-Speech. You will find out by-and-by which you like best amongst them all. There is rich Mr. Noun, and his useful friend Pronoun; little ragged Article, and talkative Adjective; busy Dr. Verb, and Adverb; perky Preposition, convenient Conjunction, and that tiresome Interjection, the oddest of them all.” Summary for Librivox

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Total running time:? 2 hours, 46 minutes

Worksheets for Grammar Land

Worksheets for Grammar Land

00 Preface and Introduction

01? Mr. Noun

02? Little Article

03? Mr. Pronoun

04? Serjeant Parsing’s Visit to Schoolroom-shire

05? Mr. Adjective

06? Mr. Adjective Tried for Stealing

07? The Quarrel Between Mr. Pronoun and Mr. Adjective, and Little Interjection

08? Dr. Verb

09? Dr. Verb’s Three Tenses, and Number, and Persons

10? Serjeant Parsing in Schoolroom-Shire Again

11?? The Nominative Case

12? Adverb

13? Preposition

14? Prepositions Govern the Objective Case

15? Conjunction

16? Active Verbs Govern the Objective Case

17? The Possessive Case, and Who’s to Have the Prize?

Our Old Nursery Rhymes by Alfred Moffat


Summary: Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911) is a book of 30 of folkloric songs arranged by Alfred Moffat and beautifully illustrated by H. Willebeck Le Mair. You and your child can listen and sing along as you read the facsimile edition online from the Children?s Digital Library.

These nursery rhymes were performed by 17 talented university student musicians who are sisters in the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women at California State University-Stanislaus. The project was conceived as an opportunity to offer service to the music-loving community around the world and to children everywhere. [Summary written by Dennis Sayers for Librivox].

View the lovely illustrations and music in the Children’s Library e-text.

Our Old Nursery Rhymes (left click to listen online, right click “save as” to download)

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One of the 28th–A Tale of Waterloo

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Total running time: 10 hours, 3 minutes

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A tale of Victorian-style romance, maritime battles and even the penultimate Napoleanic battle – Waterloo. (Introduction by Mike Harris for Librivox)

00 – Preface

01 – Unexpected News

02 – A Country Visit

03 – Run down

04 – The Privateer’s Rendezvous

05 – The British Cruisers

06 – Home Again

07 – A Commission

08 – Startling News

09 – Mr. Tallboys’ Visitor

10 – On Detachment

11 – Still-Hunting

12 – The Cave Among the Rocks

13 – More Startling News

14 – The New Housemaid

15 – In Belgium

16 – Found at Last

17 – Quatre Bras

18 – Waterloo

19 – The Rout

My Doggie and I by R. M. Ballantyne

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Total running time: 4 hours, 25 minutes

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Introduction: This story surrounds a child waif, a young woman, a young gentleman doctor, and an elderly lady. This tale unfolds the story of a bond that brings these unlikely friends together and merges their separate paths of life into one common path. The bond is “Dumps”, or “Pompey”, the “doggie”. With many twists, turns, and uncertainties, the ending may surprise the reader. All’s well that ends well in this doggie “tail”. (Introduction by Allyson Hester for Librivox)


01 Ch 1 – Explains Itself

02 Ch 2 – Introduces a New Hero

03 Ch 3 – Treats of an Old Heroine

04 Ch 4- In Which Dumps Finds Another Old Friend

05 Ch 5 – Conspiracy and Villainy, Innocence and Tragedy

06 Ch 6 – Relates a Stirring Innocent.

07 Ch 7 – My Circumstances begin to Brighten.

08 Ch 8 – Little Slidder Resists Temptation Successfully, and I Become Enslaved.

09 Ch 9 – On the Scent, but Puzzled.

10 Ch 10 – A Disappointment, an Accident, and a Perplexing Return.

11 Ch 11 – Relates Generally to the Doings and Sayings of Robin Slidder

12 Ch 12 – Begins with Love, Hope, and Joy, and ends Peculiarly.

13 Ch 13 – A Wonderful Discovery.

14 Ch 14 – The Last.

The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

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Total running time: 9 hours, 41 minutes

To hear this book, click play in the box below or click on the chapter links.

00 – Preface

01 – The Story of the Hero Makoma

02 – The Magic Mirror

03 – Story of the King Who Would See Paradise

04 – How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu

05 – Ian, the Soldier’s Son

06 – The Fox and the Wolf

07 – How Ian Direach Got the Blue Falcon

08 – The Ugly Duckling

09 – The Two Caskets

10 – The Goldsmith’s Fortune

11 – The Enchanted Wreath

12 – The Foolish Weaver

13 – The Clever Cat

14 – Story of Manus, The

15 – Pinkel the Theif

16 – The Adventures of a Jackal

17 – The Adventures of the Jackal’s Eldest Son

18 – The Adventures of the Younger Son of the Jackal

19 – The Three Treasures of the Giants

20 – The Rover of the Plain

21 – The White Doe

22 – The Girl-Fish

23 – The Owl and the Eagle

24 – The Frog and the Lion Fairy

25 – The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired

26 – The Princess Bella-Flor

27 – The Bird of Truth

28 – The Mink and the Wolf

29 – Adventures of an Indian Brave

30 – How the Stalos Were Tricked

31 – Andras Baive

32 – The White Slipper

33 – The Magic Book

The Tiger of Mysore by G. A. Henty

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Total running time:? 11 hours, 31 minutes

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Summary:? During the Indian war with Tippoo Saib, 15 year old Dick Holland and his mother set out from England to find and rescue his father, shipwrecked 6 years earlier, and believed to be held prisoner by the ‘Tiger of Mysore’. (Summary by annise for Librivox)


00 – Preface

01 – A Lost Father

02 – A Brush With Privateers

03 – The Rajah

04 – First Impressions

05 – War Declared

06 – A Perilous Adventure

07 – Besieged

08 – The Invasion of Mysore

09 – News of The Captive

10 – In Disguise

11 – A Useful Friend

12 – A Tiger in A Zenana

13 – Officers of The Palace

14 – A Surprise

15 – Escape

16 – The Journey

17 – Back At Tripataly

18 – A Narrow Escape

19 – Found At Last

20 – The Escape

21 – Home

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport

This popular book gives young children an overview of King’s life and work

Our friend, Martin is an old animated video about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last speech, given the day before he was assassinated

The Complete “I have a Dream” speech, August 28, 1963

excerpt from King’s “I have a Dream” speech

Walter Cronkite reports on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the “CBS Evening News”

Parents, please do not allow your children to peruse YouTube (or any other video sharing site) alone, and preview all video content before sharing with your children. We recommend watching You Tube videos in full screen mode or here on My Audio School rather than directly on You Tube.

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

Summary: The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley, first published in its entirety in 1863. Though some of the author’s opinions are very dated now, the journey of a little chimney-sweep water-baby through rivers and storms, under sea and over iceberg, is still a classic, wonderful children’s adventure.

Summary by Cori Samuel for Librivox. Music from Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture at musopen.com.

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Total running time:  7 hours, 6 minutes

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01 Chapter 1, Part 1

02 Chapter 1, Part 2

03 Chapter 2, Part 1

04 Chapter 2, Part 2

05 Chapter 3, Part 1

06 Chapter 3, Part 2

07 Chapter 4, Part 1

08 Chapter 4, Part 2

09 Chapter 5, Part 1

10 Chapter 5, Part 2

11 Chapter 6, Part 1

12 Chapter 6, Part 2

13 Chapter 7, Part 1

14 Chapter 7, Part 2

15 Chapter 8, Part 1

16 Chapter 8, Part 2

17 Moral

On the Irawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War by G. A. Henty

Summary: With the exception of the terrible retreat from Afghanistan, none of England’s many little wars have been so fatal–in proportion to the number of those engaged–as our first expedition to Burma. It was undertaken without any due comprehension of the difficulties to be encountered, from the effects of climate and the deficiency of transport; the power, and still more the obstinacy and arrogance of the court of Ava were altogether underrated; and it was considered that our possession of her ports would assuredly bring the enemy, who had wantonly forced the struggle upon us, to submission. Events, however, proved the completeness of the error. The Burman policy of carrying off every boat on the river, laying waste the whole country, and driving away the inhabitants and the herds, maintained our army as prisoners in Rangoon through the first wet season; and caused the loss of half the white officers and men first sent there. The subsequent campaign was no less fatal and, although large reinforcements had been sent, fifty percent of the whole died; so that less than two thousand fighting men remained in the ranks, when the expedition arrived within a short distance of Ava. Not until the last Burmese army had been scattered did the court of Ava submit to the by no means onerous terms we imposed.(from the preface)


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Total running time: 8 hours, 47 minutes

To hear this book, click play in the box below or click on the chapter links.

00 – Preface

01 – A New Career

02 – The Outbreak of War

03 – A Prisoner

04 – A Ruined Temple

05 – With Brigands

06 – Among Friends

07 – On The Staff

08 – The Pagoda

09 – Victories

10 – The Advance

11 – Donabew

12 – Harry Carried Off

13 – Preparing a Rescue

14 – In The Temple

15 – The Attack

16 – Rejoining

17 – The Pride Of Burma Humbled

18 – In Business Again