National Network for Equitable Library Service

Three of Dickens's most compelling orphan protagonists'Oliver Twist, Pip, and Esther Summerson'in three of his greatest novels. Perhaps no writer in the English language is more closely associated with orphaned characters than Charles Dickens. The trials and dangers for children without parental protection play a significant part in nearly all his work, as both a source of highly entertaining melodrama and pointed social criticism.

The third and final novel in Tolstoy's Autobiographical Trilogy, following Childhood and Boyhood. In Youth, Leo Tolstoy's protagonist-now a fervent sixteen-year-old-eagerly prepares to strike out on his own. And as he does so, he begins to savor life in all its glory, both grand and miniscule. From his interactions with friends, old and new, to his perceptions of the beauty of nature, the young man has an entirely new world to look forward to.

The author of The Razor's Edge explores the longing for love and freedom in this coming-of-age story-"a novel of the utmost importance" (Theodore Dreiser). Born with a clubfoot and orphaned at an early age, Philip Carey has long felt set apart from others. In the care of his doting aunt and dismissive uncle, he finds solace and escape in reading. But when he is sent to boarding school, he finds himself once again alone in heart and spirit. It is these cold beginnings that set him on a search for true happiness.

Tolstoy's first published novel and the beginning of his Autobiographical Trilogy. Written when he was just twenty-three years old and stationed at a remote army outpost in the Caucasus Mountains, Childhood won Leo Tolstoy immediate fame and critical praise years before works like War and Peace and Anna Karenina would bring him to the forefront of Russian literature. It is the story of the ten-year-old son of a wealthy Russian landowner in the mid-1800s, as told by the child himself.

Tolstoy's first published novel and the beginning of his Autobiographical Trilogy. Written when he was just twenty-three years old and stationed at a remote army outpost in the Caucasus Mountains, Childhood won Leo Tolstoy immediate fame and critical praise years before works like War and Peace and Anna Karenina would bring him to the forefront of Russian literature. It is the story of the ten-year-old son of a wealthy Russian landowner in the mid-1800s, as told by the child himself.

These three connected early novels from the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina form an intimate portrait of Russian youth. Begun when Leo Tolstoy was just twenty-three years old and stationed at a remote army outpost in the Caucasus Mountains, his work known as the Autobiographical Trilogy would win immediate fame and critical praise years before works like War and Peace and Anna Karenina would bring him to the forefront of Russian literature.

Venture to a world of fairies and flowers in this nineteenth-century collection of stories and poems from the beloved author of Little Women. At the tender age of sixteen, Louisa May Alcott's imagination was already in full bloom. From tales she told her neighbor, Ellen, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, she wove together stories and songs about fairies, elves, talking flowers, and animals.

From America's favorite storyteller: A rich selection of twenty-five tales by the author of "The Gift of the Magi." Writing under the pseudonym O. Henry, William Sydney Porter was an incredibly prolific and popular master of the short story in the early twentieth century. His stories are known for being witty, playful, full of plot twists, and marked by surprise endings. The author had a special fondness for New York City and a deep interest and appreciation for the ordinary folk who populate his timeless tales.

Princes, princesses, goblins, ghouls, dragons, and more abound in these twenty-two Japanese fairy tales translated and retold for young Western readers. Prepare to encounter action and adventure in this highly regarded collection of classic Japanese tales, in which you'll meet a dragon king, a talking tortoise, a wily badger, princesses, knights, and mischievous monkeys!

A stylistically innovative volume of short stories from the groundbreaking author of Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and Orlando. First presented as one volume in 1921, Monday or Tuesday was the only collection of stories Virginia Woolf published in her lifetime. Written in her experimental, stream-of-consciousness style, these eight unconventional stories eschew traditional plot and character development in favor of interior thoughts, emotions, memories, and associations.