Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was written in 1872 and it finds Alice in a land when she walks through a mirror into the Looking-Glass House. The land is full of mythological creatures and characters and nursery rhyme characters. Alice makes a guest appearance in a bizarre game of chess with Humpty Dumpty! A charming, witty story! (Summary by Aldark) [chương_files]
Volume II of Roald Amundsen’s The Northwest Passage. Roald Amundsen and six hearty seafarers in the tiny sloop Gjöa are the first to make the complete passage across the top of the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. With a Supplement by First Lieutenant Godfred Hansen, Vice Commander of the expedition. – Summary by Steven Seitel [chương_files]
Imagine it’s early 1900’s and you want to get away from it all. So you head to Two Palms, Arizona. Where for entertainment, people await the arrival of the daily stage coach. Gold mining is an avocation. There is desert everywhere, deadly rattlers, no paved roads, some people travel in model T’s which they call flivvers. They must carry their own water, gasoline and tire patch kits for the many blowouts they encounter. The heat is blinding! The nearest “big” town is Meteorite which has an ice cream shop, a post office and a stage coach head office. Here’s where it gets interesting! Three misfits, a disgraced surgeon, an ex bank robber and a former prominent businessman type all meet on the road to nowhere to team up and head to Two Palms to turn their lives around. Already there is a wealthy San Francisco businessman and his beautiful daughter the apple of everyone’s eyes. Arizona Argonauts would make a great movie! There’s intrigue, murder, mayhem, mystery and of course romance. Try it – you’ll like it! [chương_files]
Sky Island (1912) was the second of three titles written by Baum featuring a spunky girl from California, Trot, and her companion, the old sailorman, Cap’n Bill. Baum had hoped to end the Oz series in 1910 and the following year he introduced Trot and Cap’n Bill in The Sea Fairies. In Sky Island, they journey to an island in the sky by means of an enchanted umbrella belonging to Button Bright, a character who first appeared in The Road to Oz (1909). The trio is then captured by the Boolaroo of the Blues, a monarch who is both comical and dangerous, escape to the country of the “Pinks”, and eventually regain the magic umbrella and return back to earth. This is one of Baum’s best fantasy books and contains enough not-so-veiled commentary on race and politics to interest adults as well. However, it (and The Sea Fairies) did not sell as well as the Oz books and Baum resumed writing them in 1913. He subsequently brought Trot and Cap’n Bill to Oz in 1915 in The Scarecrow of Oz. (Summary by Judy Bieber) [chương_files]
In Winnetou III hat Old Shatterhand diverse Auseinandersetzungen mit Banditen und Indianern und besteht zusammen mit Winnetou und einigen Gefährten neue Abenteuer. Winnetou und Old Shatterhand verfolgen auch den Mörder Santer weiter. – Summary by Katharina21 [chương_files]
In this Journal, Joseph Banks records almost daily observations of the journey of the ship the Endeavour on the first of James Cook’s voyages to the Pacific during the years 1768-1771. There are also more detailed accounts of the events, people, flora, fauna and geology of the places (except Brazil) where they landed. They landed at Brazil, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Batavia, Cape Town and St. Helena. Joseph Banks was one of the naturalists on the Endeavour, appointed by the Royal Society. The joint Royal Society, Royal Navy journey of the Endeavour was overtly a scientific expedition with the stated purpose of observing the transit of Venus from Tahiti. The other purpose of the journey was to attempt the discovery of the postulated Southern Continent (Terra Australis). In addition to himself, Banks funded the inclusion on the voyage of two other naturalists (Solander and Spöring) and two artists (Parkinson and Buchan). Joseph Banks became famous upon the return to Britain of the Endeavour and went on to be a highly influential person in Britain. Banks was President of the British Royal Society for more than 40 years; and was a strong advocate for the settlement of New South Wales as a convict settlement. Along with James Cook, he was responsible for representing the Australian continent as terra nullius (“nobody’s land”) even though he observed the occupation of the land by the indigenous Australians, which misrepresentation contributed to the colonization of Australia by the British. Now, 250 years after the Endeavour’s […]
Horatio Alger, Jr. was well known for his best-selling series of books highlighting “the American Dream” of poor boys making good and becoming rich and successful through “luck and pluck”. Ragged Dick was the first in this niche, and follows the adventures of Dick Hunter, a ragged bootblack as he makes the decision to “grow up ’spectable”, and how he goes about achieving his goals through the help of his friends, his inherent honesty, and his belief in hard work and study. (Summary by Alice) [chương_files]
Adaptation of the story of Robinson Crusoe for grammar school children. Tells how the shipwrecked sailor makes a new life for himself on the island, providing shelter, food, and clothing for himself from the few tools he rescued from the ship and what he is able to find on the island. He lives on the island over twenty years before he is finally rescued and during that time must re-invent almost everything necessary for daily sustenance. (Summary from The Baldwin Project.) [chương_files]
The Emerald City of Oz (1910) was the sixth Oz book written by L. Frank Baum, a title he hoped would be the last. In this book, Dorothy and her impoverished Uncle Henry and Aunt Em are on the brink of losing their Kansas farm. Consequently, Ozma invites them all to live in the Emerald City. They then explore the countryside, visiting a series of strange beings including the Cuttenclips, the Fuddles, the Rigmaroles, the Flutterbudgets, and the residents of Utensia, Bunbury and Bunnybury. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry also meet old friends like the Wizard, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Jack Pumpkinhead and H. M. Wogglebug T. E. The travelers’ idyll is brought short by the plot of an old enemy, the Nome King. Seeking revenge for the loss of his magic belt, the Nome King has an underground tunnel built so he can invade and plunder Oz and enslave its peoples. Our friends manage to defeat the Nome King and his allies, but sobered by this threat, Glinda and Ozma decide to cut off Oz from the outside world forever. Happily for Oz fans, forever lasted only three years. Baum invented a way to reopen communications with Oz and eight more Oz books were published between 1913-1920. (Summary by Judy Bieber) [chương_files]
The Story of a Stuffed Elephant is… well, the story of a Stuffed Elephant and the little boy who owns him, and his sister, and all their adventures. A delightful children’s book by the author of The Bobbsey Twins series. (Summary by Vlooi and Kara) [chương_files]
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