Synopses & Reviews
An enchanting--and twisted--tale of two sisters' quest to find their parents
When their parents disappear in the middle of the night, young sisters Summer and Bird set off on a quest to find them. A cryptic picture message from their mother leads them to a familiar gate in the woods, but comfortable sights quickly give way to a new world entirely--Down--one inhabited by talking birds and the evil Puppeteer queen. Summer and Bird are quickly separated, and their divided hearts lead them each in a very different direction in the quest to find their parents, vanquish the Puppeteer, lead the birds back to their Green Home, and discover the identity of the true bird queen.
With breathtaking language and deliciously inventive details, Katherine Catmull has created a world unlike any other, skillfully blurring the lines between magic and reality and bringing to life a completely authentic cast of characters and creatures.
Synopsis
An iconic classic, The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum is a must-read for adults and children alike.
Follow the yellow brick road
Dorothy thinks she is lost forever when a terrifying tornado crashes through Kansas and whisks her and her dog, Toto, far away to the magical land of Oz. To get home Dorothy must follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City and find the wonderfully mysterious Wizard of Oz. Together with her companions the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion whom she meets on the way, Dorothy embarks on a strange and enchanting adventure.
With a charming introduction by award-winning Cornelia Funke, The Wizard of Oz is one of the twenty wonderful classics relaunched in Puffin Classics in March 2015.
***PLUS a behind-the-scenes journey, including an author profile, a guide to who's who, activities and more...***
Frank L. Baum (1856-1919) was born in New York. He enjoyed making up stories, particularly for his own children. The Wizard of Oz, based on their favourite bedtime story about a land of Oz, was published in 1900 and it immediately became a huge international success. He wrote several sequels and numerous other kinds of books under a pseudonym.
The Puffin Classics relaunch includes:
A Little Princess
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass
Anne of Green Gables
Black Beauty
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
Heidi
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Little Women
Peter Pan
Tales of the Greek Heroes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of King Arthur
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Call of the Wild
The Jungle Book
The Odyssey
The Secret Garden
The Wind in the Willows
The Wizard of Oz
Treasure Island
Synopsis
Dorothy thinks she is lost forever when a terrifying tornado crashes through Kansas and whisks her and her dog, Toto, far away to the magical land of Oz. To get home Dorothy must follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City and find the wonderfully mysterious Wizard of Oz. Together with her companions the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion whom she meets on the way, Dorothy embarks on a strange and enchanting adventure. With a charming introduction by award-winning Cornelia Funke, The Wizard of Oz is one of the twenty wonderful classics being relaunched in Puffin Classics in March 2015.
Synopsis
After being transported by a cyclone to the land of Oz, Dorothy and her dog are befriended by a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion, who accompany her to the Emerald City to look for a wizard who can help Dorothy return home to Kansas.
Synopsis
Follow the yellow brick road!
Dorothy thinks she's lost forever when a tornado whirls her and her dog, Toto, into a magical world. To get home, she must find the wonderful wizard in the Emerald City of Oz. On the way she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. But the Wicked Witch of the West has her own plans for the new arrival will Dorothy ever see Kansas again?
Synopsis
Do you believe in fairies? One night Peter Pan flies into the home of the Darling children, and so begins a magical adventure with Peter, the fairy Tinker Bell, the lovely Wendy, and the evil Captain Hook.
Synopsis
Taking the beloved symbol of merriment out of his conventional trappings and into the world of imaginative folklore, Baum gives Santa Claus an exciting life that evokes all the charm, warmth, and fantasy that made his Oz stories American classics.
About the Author
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll, was a man of diverse interests - in mathematics, logic, photography, art, theater, religion, medicine, and science. He was happiest in the company of children for whom he created puzzles, clever games, and charming letters.
As all Carroll admirers know, his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), became an immediate success and has since been translated into more than eighty languages. The equally popular sequel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, was published in 1872.
The Alice books are but one example of his wide ranging authorship. The Hunting of the Snark, a classic nonsense epic (1876) and Euclid and His Modern Rivals, a rare example of humorous work concerning mathematics, still entice and intrigue today's students. Sylvie and Bruno, published toward the end of his life contains startling ideas including an 1889 description of weightlessness.
The humor, sparkling wit and genius of this Victorian Englishman have lasted for more than a century. His books are among the most quoted works in the English language, and his influence (with that of his illustrator, Sir John Tenniel) can be seen everywhere, from the world of advertising to that of atomic physics.