The Velveteen Rabbit, or How Toys Become Real, by Margery Williams. There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread...
This classic poem is read to thousands of children on Christmas Eve (24 December, the day before Christmas Day). It was first published in 1823 and has been translated in many languages. Some of the language is outdated but it is still a charming poe...
Chapter 1 (an excerpt) It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this tr...
Chapter 5 (an excerpt) It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the life...
Chapter 1 (an excerpt) My fathers family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. I give Pirrip as my fath...
Adventure IV: The Boscombe Valley Mystery (an excerpt) I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy, said Holmes. Have you an order to see him in prison? Yes, but only for you and me. Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We...
Metamorphosis (an excerpt) One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slig...
Chapter 2 Merry Christmas (an excerpt) Jo was the first to wake in the gray dawn of Christmas morning. No stockings hung at the fireplace, and for a moment she felt as much disappointed as she did long ago, when her little sock fell down because it w...
Chapter XXVIII An Unfortunate Lily Maid (an excerpt) [Note: The flat in this scene refers to a flat-bottomed rowboat used for duck-hunting.] It was Annes idea that they dramatize Elaine. They had studied Tennysons poem in school the preceding winter,...
