Jan opened his wooden box and took out the silver sword. 'This will bring me luck,' he said to Mr Balicki. 'And it will bring you luck because you gave it to me.' The silver sword is only a paper …
Soon I felt something alive moving along my leg and up my body to my face, and when I looked down, I saw a very small human being, only fifteen centimetres tall... I was so surprised that I gave a …
In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feel…
One winter’s day in 1673 young John Ridd is riding home from school, across the wild lonely hills of Exmoor. He has to pass Doone valley – a dangerous place, as the Doones are famous robbers an…
When Black Beauty is trained to carry a rider on his back, or to pull a carriage behind him, he finds it hard at first. But he is lucky - his first home is a good one, where his owners are kind peo…
Careful, Connie, please. Your little sister's eyes are looking angry. Look at the sudden lines around her mouth. Connie, a sister is a good thing. Even a younger sister. 'Mercy, who are you going o…
Nani Tama looked at each of us - Dad, Auntie Hiraina, my cousin Timi, and myself. His eyes were angry. 'You fullas want me to die here in this room? Looking at these four walls? When the whakapapa…
In our world today a hummingbird is a small, brilliantly coloured bird that lives in the tall trees of tropical forests. In the far distant future, Hummingbird (Hummy for short) is a girl of sixte…
Little Mary Lennox is a bad-tempered, disagreeable child. When her parents die in India, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle in a big, lonely, old house. There is nothing to do all …
'I wish I could get through into looking-glass house,' Alice said. 'Let's pretend that the glass has gone soft and . . . Why, I do believe it has! It's turning into a kind of cloud!' A moment late…
When a large plane is hijacked, the Prime Minister looks at the list of passengers and suddenly becomes very, very frightened. There is a name on the list that the Prime Minister knows very well - …
In Edinburgh a detective listens to a confession; in Orkney an old man lives with the ghosts of his past. In the Outer Hebrides some travellers learn a lesson; in Glasgow a young woman steals a me…
Tripitaka, can you go to the West for me - and for Buddha?' When the holy woman Guanyin asks the young monk Tripitaka to bring holy writings back from India, he says 'yes'. But how can he travel a…
'There's going to be a storm,' Father told Fritz. 'Find your brothers and bring them to our room.' A Swiss family is going to Australia when their ship sinks in a storm. After that, Mother, Father…
Are men cleverer than women? Is a poor man cleverer than a rich man? And what about teachers? Are they always cleverer than their students? The people in these six well-known folk tales from aroun…
For thousands of years the dead body of the king Tutankhamun slept under the sands of Egypt. In the autumn of 1922, Howard Carter finds and opens his tomb door. These are exciting times, and Carter…
It's Gromit the dog's birthday, and his friend Wallace gives him an unusual present a pair of techno-trousers. At first Wallace uses the trousers to take Gromit for walks, but when the penguin com…
My name is Victor Frankenstein.' On a ship in the Arctic, Victor Frankenstein - ill and tired - tells the story of his sad life to the British man of science, Robert Walton. He talks of his family …
Jamie and Taymour overhear this strange conversation near their homes in Muscat. Two men want to kill an important visitor, it seems. But who is the woman in danger? And what can the boys do to sav…
A man from the British royal family leaves an expensive gold and emerald crown at Holder and Stevenson's - one of the best banks in London. When someone tries to take the crown from Mr Holder's des…