Educational resources for busy parents
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Summary: When Ronald Mervyn from Devonshire is falsely accused of murder he emigrates to South Africa. He takes part in the Kaffir war and during this time he rescues a family from death. The family then return to England and try to establish Ronald’s innocence. (Summary by Michele Eaton for Librivox)
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Running time: 11:26
Summary: David and his father set out from their idyllic mountain home to go to meet family, but enroute, David’s father, who is sick dies, and David is left stranded in a little farming town. No one can read his father’s handwriting on the notes he’s left for David or his signature, and David doesn’t know his last name. A stern farmer and his wife take David in, and learn more from him than they realize! David, who counts only the sunny hours of his life, soon touches all the people’s lives he meets in his new life with his beautiful violin music and sunny disposition. (Summary by Mary Anderson for Librivox)
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Total running time: 6 hours, 50 minutes
06 – Nuisances Necessary and Otherwise
07 – You’re Wanted, You’re Wanted!
12 – Answers That Did Not Answer
Summary:
Imagine a strange, tropical place that is almost inaccessible. Time appears to have stood still there. Species of animal and plant life not seen elsewhere on Earth, except in the fossil record, inhabit the place. The lakes heave with the shapes of huge grey bulks moving under the surface. The woods are places where chittering cries move about above your head, as powerful apes move swiftly in the canopy of leaves. Then, a tree splinters nearby, and a dinosaur steps out from his hiding place… and he’s eyeing YOU.
Jurassic Park? Not quite. The Lost World was an inspiration for Jurassic Park; in fact, a character in J.P. has the same name as one of the chief characters in The Lost World. It also inspired King Kong. But this is the original! Four adventurers go off to find the place shown in a dead man’s sketch book – they find a war between apes and Indians, prowling dinosaurs, a sparkly treasure hidden in the blue clay – they find the Lost World. And because of the treachery of a native guide, their means of escape is destroyed! (courtesy of Librivox)
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Running time: 8 hours, 23 minutes
1: There are Heroisms All Round Us
2: Try Your Luck with Professor Challenger
3: He is a Perfectly Impossible Person
4: It’s Just the Biggest Thing in the World
7: Tomorrow we Disappear into the Unknown
8: The Outlying Pickets of the New World
9: Who Could Have Foreseen It?
10: The Most Wonderful Things Have Happened!
12: It Was Dreadful in the Forest
13: A Sight Which I Shall Never Forget
14: Those Were the Real Conquests
Summary: When three brothers mortally offend Mr. Southwest Wind, Esquire, their farm is laid waste and their riches lost. Desperate for money, the brothers become goldsmiths and melt down their remaining treasures . . . only to find that the spirit of the King of the Golden River resides with a molded tankard, and knows the secret of the riches of the Golden River. (Introduction by Xenutia for Librivox)
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Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total running time: 10 hours, 58 minutes
Ned Sankey is a quick-tempered, strong-willed boy during the Luddite riots in Yorkshire. The happy times at the beginning of the story are soon marred by the death of his father. From there things only get worse. When things take a turn for the worst, how will he respond? (Summary by GabrielleC)
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Total running time: 8 hours, 20 minutes
14: Committed for Trial, continued
There are few campaigns that, either in point of the immense scale upon which it was undertaken, the completeness of its failure, or the enormous loss of life entailed, appeal to the imagination in so great a degree as that of Napoleon against Russia. Fortunately, we have in the narratives of Sir Robert Wilson, British commissioner with the Russian army, and of Count Segur, who was upon Napoleon’s staff, minute descriptions of the events as seen by eye-witnesses, and besides these the campaign has been treated fully by various military writers. I have as usual avoided going into details of horrors and of acts of cruelty and ferocity on both sides, surpassing anything in modern warfare, and have given a mere outline of the operations, with a full account of the stern fight at Smolensk and the terrible struggle at Borodino. I would warn those of my readers who may turn to any of the military works for a further history of the campaign, that the spelling of Russian places and names varies so greatly in the accounts of different writers, that sometimes it is difficult to believe that the same person or town is meant, and even in the narratives by Sir Robert Wilson, and by Lord Cathcart, our ambassador at St. Petersburg, who was in constant communication with him, scarcely a name will be found similarly spelt. I mention this, as otherwise much confusion might be caused by those who may compare my story with some of these recognized authorities, or follow the incidents of the campaign upon maps of Russia. (Introduction by G.A.Henty)
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Chapter 2: Before the Justices
Chapter 11: With the Russian Army
Chapter 13: With the Read Guard
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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01 ? The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership
04 ? Story of the Emperor?s New Clothes
07 ? The Dragon and His Grandmother
12 ? The Giants and the Herd-boy
15 ? How Six Men travelled through the Wide World
19 ? Alphege, or the Green Monkey
22 ? The Boy and the Wolves, or the Broken Promise
27 ? The Witch and Her Servants
29 ? The Flower Queen?s Daughter
31 ? The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son
33 ? The Death of the Sun-hero
36 ? The Story of Big Klaus and Little Klaus
39 ? How To Tell A True Princess
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Total running time: 12 hours, 22 minutes
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01 ? The Twelve Dancing Princesses
04 ? The Death of Koshchei the Deathless
05 ? The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen
15 ? The Three Princesses of Whiteland
21 ? The True History of Little Goldenhood
The Long Winter presented by Hallmark Playhouse
The Long Winter is set in South Dakota during the severe winter of 1880-1881. It is the 6th book in the Little House on the Prairie series.
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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)
04 – The Privateer’s Rendezvous
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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)
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.
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Total running time: 9 hours, 41 minutes
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01 – The Story of the Hero Makoma
03 – Story of the King Who Would See Paradise
04 – How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu
07 – How Ian Direach Got the Blue Falcon
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
24 – The Frog and the Lion Fairy
25 – The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired
29 – Adventures of an Indian Brave
Summary: George MacDonald claimed that he did not write for children, but for the child-like. Some of his longer works are clearly intended for adults, and this fantastic fiction influenced later writers such as G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. But you can find some of his best writing in the stories aimed squarely at children, and these are three of the finest.
The Light Princess. A wicked aunt curses her baby niece so that gravity has no effect on her, and she floats through the air as if it were water.The only way to break the curse is to make the princess cry.
The Giant’s Heart. Two children argue and run away to Giantland. There they find out that one of the Giants steals children from the land of men and eats them, but how can they kill the Giant when he has hidden his heart where no one can find it?
The Golden Key. A boy discovers a Golden Key, but cannot find the lock. He meets a girl, and together they search for the land from where the shadows fall, hoping that the key will allow them in.
(Summary by Clive Catterall for Librivox)
Total running time:? 3 hours, 31 minutes
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Summary: The Princess and Curdie is the sequel to The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. It’s been a year since the Princess Irene and Curdie first met, and a year since the goblin incident and all appears to be going well in the Kingdom. Or is it? After a visit from Irene’s great-great-grandmother, Curdie finds himself on a mission to save the kingdom, with a rather strange companion in tow. (Summary by Lizzie Driver for Librivox)
Total Running Time: 6 hours
This book is the sequel to The Princess and the Goblin.
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02 – Chapter 2: The White Pigeon
03 – Chapter 3: The Mistress of the Silver Moon
04 – Chapters 4-5: Curdie’s Father and Mother and The Miners
05 – Chapters 6-7: The Emerald and What is In a Name?
06 – Chapter 8: Curdie’s Mission
07 – Chapters 9-10: Hands and The Heath
08 – Chapters 11-12: Lina and More Creatures
09 – Chapters 13-14: The Baker’s Wife and The Dogs of Gwyntystorm
10 – Chapters 15-16: Derba and Barbara AND The Mattock
11 – Chapters 17-18: The Wine Cellar AND The King’s Kitchen
12 – Chapter 19: The King’s Chamber
13 – Chapters 20-21: Counterplotting AND The Loaf
14 – Chapters 22-23: The Lord Chamberlain AND Dr. Kellman
15 – Chapters 24-25: The Prophecy AND The Avengers
16 – Chapters 26-27: The Vengeance AND More Vengeance
17 – Chapters 28-30: The Preacher AND Barbara AND Peter
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# 03 – The Struggle For An Education
# 05 – The Reconstruction Period
# 06 – Black Race And Red Race
# 08 – Teaching School In A Stable And A Hen-House
# 09 – Anxious Days And Sleepless Nights
# 10 – A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw
# 11 – Making Their Beds Before They Could Lie On Them
# 13 – Two Thousand Miles For A Five-Minute Speech
# 14 – The Atlanta Exposition Address
Summary: The Peterkins were a lovable but comically inept family that possess ingenuity, logic, resourcefulness, and energy — but not common sense. The general formula is that the family tries to solve some problem in an appealingly roundabout way, fails, and is eventually rescued by “the wise old lady from Philadelphia” who always cuts the Gordian knot with some effective but prosaic solution. The charm of the story is not in the plot, but in the telling, with the building up of layers of complication, and the affectionate fun poked at the not-quite-cartoonish characters. The “wise old lady’s” solution is usually obvious to the reader, or even the young listener, from the start. (From Wikipedia)
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Total running time: 4 hours, 24 minutes
Chapter 00-01 – Preface/The Lady Who Put Salt in Her Coffee
Chapter 05-06 – The Peterkins at Home/Why the Peterkins Had a Late Dinner
Chapter 07-08 – The Peterkin’s Summer Journey/The Peterkins Snowed Up
Chapter 09-10 – The Peterkins Decide to Keep a Cow / The Peterkins’ Christmas-Tree
Chapter 11-12 – The Peterkins’ Tea Party / The Peterkins Too Late For the Exhibition
Chapter 13-14 13 The Peterkins Celebrate the “Fourth” / The Peterkins’ Picnic
Chapter 15-16 The Peterkins’ Charades / The Peterkins are Obliged to Move
Chapter 17-18 The Peterkins Decide to Learn the Languages / Modern
Chapter 19-20 Agamemnon’s Career / The Educational Breakfast
Chapter 21 – The Peterkins at the Carnival of Authors in Boston
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Total running time: 15 hours
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