Jamel Akib

"Widely acknowledged as the first English novel, Daniel Defoe's adventure story of a shipwrecked sailor became an instant classic upon its publication in 1719 and the yardstick for countless castaway narratives to follow." "Robinson Crusoe, an English sailor, finds himself marooned on a desert island after the rest of his shipmates drown in a terrible wreck. He survives on the island for nearly three decades, domesticating livestock, cultivating plants,...

"Jonathan Harker is travelling to Castle Dracula to see the Transylvanian noble, Count Dracula. He is begged by locals not to go there, because on the eve of St. George's Day, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will come full sway. But business must be done, so Jonathan makes his way to the Castle - and then his nightmare begins. His beloved wife Meena and other lost souls have fallen under the Count's horrifying spell....

An abridged version of the tale of orphaned, eleven-year-old Pollyanna, who comes to live with austere and wealthy Aunt Polly, bringing happiness to her aunt and other members of the community through her philosophy of gladness. Pollyanna knows the secret to finding a smile -- even when really bad things happen. From the moment she arrives in Beldingsville, she shares her Glad Game with everyone around her. But the person who needs Pollyanna's help...

An abridged version of the story that relates the fortunes of a shipwrecked family as they imaginatively adapt to life on an island with abundant animal and plant life.

"A biography of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who from a young age was determined to make difference in the world and eventually revolutionized global antipoverty efforts by developing the innovative economic concept of micro-lending. Includes an afterword and author's sources"--

An abridged version of the Mark Twain classic in which young Edward VI of England and a poor boy who resembles him exchange places and each learns something about the other's very different station in life.

Eight-year-old Arun waits impatiently while international adoption paperwork is completed so that he can meet his new baby sister from India.

A child describes waiting for the monsoon rains to arrive and the worry that they will not come.

An abridged version of an adventure in seventeenth-century France, when young d'Artagnan initially quarrels with, then befriends, three musketeers and joins them in trying to outwit the enemies of the king and queen.

An abridged version of the tale set in the spring of 1863 when, while engaged in the fierce battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia, a young Union soldier matures to manhood and finds peace of mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions about war.