Mother Earth is celebrated wordwide on Earth Day, April 22nd. Have a great party with 10 gems from our catalogue!

No feat(ure) of nature is so widely discussed, praised and condemmed as – the weather. J. G. M’Pherson explains all its details in his 1905 science book Meteorology.

Mostly monotone weather is expected by Mary, who spends her Christmas vacation in dry Arizona. But she’s up for a surprise in Ethel Twycross Foster’s charming children’s book Little Tales of the Desert.

Another lovely read for children is The Book of Nature Myths, where Florence Holbrook collected stories told by the North American Indians to explain the secrets of nature and her animals.

A similar goal on a much higher level was Charles Darwin’s when he wrote his seminal book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Simply a must read!

Not quite so natural is the selection a gardener has to make to guarantee a satisfying outcome. In Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim, the protagonist learns gardening – and writes a diary about it.

But what to do with all the things you don’t want in your garden? Mother Nature will take care of it in The World’s Lumber Room. Selina Gaye wrote what can be seen as the story of the world’s rubbish – and it is fascinating!

None of those issues worry little Mary Lennox who is simply delighted about the Secret Garden she finds at her uncle’s place. This is our brand new dramatic reading of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic.

Freckles, the orphan, is not so lucky – he finds himself in Limberlost Swamp as guard for timber. But he soon begins to love the harsh environment in the novel by Gene Stratton-Porter.

Stewart Edward White tells a similar story about early lumbermen in Michigan. While focusing on the life of newcomer Harry Thorpe, the vanishing wilderness also plays a major part in The Blazed Trail.

The River Duddon once formed the boundary between Lancashire and Cumberland in north-west England. This is a collection of more than 40 Sonnets written about it by William Wordsworth.

Enjoy – and go outdoors!

On the equinox both day and night are 12 hours long. The following 10 gems from our catalog are concerned with differences – and equality.

Photogen is a boy who never saw the moon. Nycteris is a girl who never saw the sun. Find out what happens when The Day Boy and the Night Girl overstep their boundaries set by the witch Watho and meet – in the lovely novel by George MacDonald.

Also like day and night, or rather like Tempest and Sunshine are the two sisters Fanny and Julia. Mary Jane Holmes weaves her story of the life of the different siblings in the pre-civil war South of the US.

The South of England is the home of Margaret, but circumstances force her family to move to an industry town in the North. Elizabeth Gaskell’s second social novel North and South focuses on the views of the employers.

All of Charles Dickens‘ novels can be considered as social critiques. So is The Old Curiosity Shop, where young Nell lives with her old grandfather until they lose all their money and are foced to live as beggars. We also have a Dutch version of this book.

Had Robin Hood been around, he would certainly have provided for them – with money stolen from the rich. Read J. Walker McSpadden’s book about the hero from Sherwood and decide for yourself whether he was a real person.

But money is not everything, as Gwendolyn already knows in the novel by Eleanor Gates. Left by her rich parents in the care of negligent servants, The Poor Little Rich Girl takes the wrong medicine – and promptly finds herself in a strange world…

From rags to riches only works if the outside appearance is matched by the speech of the person. At least that’s what Prof. Higgins believes in George Bernard Shaw’s famous play Pygmalion, as he tries to have poor Eliza pass as lady of society.

Mark Twain, with his sharp wits had a great time commenting – in disguised literary form – on current events. Sketches new and Old is a collection of his shorter writings.

Always old and always new – every religion is reinterpreted by every generation. In Henry Scougal’s letter The Life of God in the Soul of Man he dwells on his definition of true religion.

The English poet William Blake had his own view on religion. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell he describes a visit to hell, which he sees as source of energy, as opposed to a more regulated vision of heaven.

Enjoy the attraction of the opposites!

It’s that time of the year again: the holidays are coming up! To ease your kid’s anxiety (and your own), try the following 10 gems from our catalog.

There is nothing worse than having to stay at school during the holidays! The boring time expected by Gerald, James and Kathleen turns into a series of adventures in The Enchanted Castle, when they find a magical ring… Read the novel by Edith Nesbit to find out more.

Heidi also has lots of places to explore when her aunt brings her to the Swiss mountain hut where she will stay with her grandfather. The story is about how the lives of both Heidi and the Alm-Öhi change with her arrival – and is beautifully told by Johanna Spyri. This book is also available in French.

While Heidi soon settles in, Dorothy will try everything to return to Kansas. To do this, she must see The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and so she starts out on the yellow brick road… Read all about Dorothy and her new found friends in our dramatic reading of L. Frank Baum’s classic for children.

How life was on a station more than 100 years ago is told by Mary Grant Bruce in A Little Bush Maid, which is set in Australia. The daily life and small adventures of Norah are interrupted by an extra enjoyable trip to see the circus…

Many people would certainly pay a lot of money to see My Father’s Dragon. The book by Ruth Stiles Gannett starts when Elmer runs away to rescue a baby dragon from Wild Island. Will he succeed? And what will they be up to next?

Were the people who invented dragons aware of dinosaurs? While they could not breathe fire, those Mighty Animals would rule the Earth for millions of years before the mammals came, an impressive feat detailed in lovely small book by Jennie Irene Mix.

Before the discovery of America, numerous Indian Tribes inhabited the lands. Alexander Charles Eastman tells about their day to day lives of boys and girls in his childhood reminiscences Indian Child Life, when he was called Ohiyesa.

Not only his, but the whole Story of Mankind is highly interesting. Hendrik van Loon explains it all: from prehistoric man to the invention of Hieroglyphs, from the great nation of the Greeks to the crusades, from the reformation to the age of Science.

Jennie Hall picks a small part of that story. Her Viking Tales from Iceland focuses on the great sagas of King Halfdan and his son Harald, and who knows where the grain of truth is hidden there…

Telling the truth is generally a good idea, but somehow, being naughty seems to be more fun. What happens to naughty children is the topic of Heinrich Hoffman’s famous Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures. We also have a recording in the original German.

Enjoy – and Happy Holidays!