Orwell's 1945 fable about the power struggles among animals on a farm parallels the situation in Russia at the time as Orwell saw it; the characters include the ruthless pig Stalin, his idealistic Trotsky-like adversary, and the simple, kindly horse who represents the common man. All animals are equals but some animals are more equal than others. George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is the account of the bold struggle, initiated...

"Black Beauty is a perennial children's favourite, one which has never been out of print since its publication in 1877. It is a moralistic tale of the life of the horse related in the form of an autobiography, describing the world through the eyes of the creature. In taking this anthropomorphic approach, the author Anna Sewell broke new literary ground and her effective storytelling ability makes it very easy for the reader to accept the premise that...

Imagine growing up among wolves, being friends with a panther and a bear, and hunting the most fearsome animal in the wild-the man-killing tiger Shere Khan. These are the stories of Mowgli ""the frog,"" a man-cub raised by wolves, and his journey to adulthood with the help of Baloo the bear, and Bagheera the black panther. The Jungle Book is collections of short stories. Each story begins with a few lines of poetry. The best known of these jungle...

Wilbur, the pig, is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider friend, Charlotte, decides to help him.

After she falls headfirst into a bird's nest, a baby bat is raised like a bird until she is reunited with her mother.

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm. This Newbery Medal-winning novel by bestselling author Katherine Paterson is a modern classic of friendship and loss.Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in...

Dogs go by skates, bike, skis, a blimp, a boat, a car, and on foot to get to a special party being held on top of a tree.

September 1940, as German bombs fall on Britain, fears grow of an impending invasion. Since losing her parents as a child, Susan Shepherd has raised homing pigeons with her grandfather, Bertie. All her birds are extraordinary to Susan, but none more so than Duchess, with whom she shares a special bond. When a young pilot named Ollie Evans travels to Britain to join the Royal Air Force, his quest brings him to the National Pigeon Service, where Susan...

Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.

A toy velveteen rabbit longs to be loved, and he begins to experience this when a boy adopts him as his favorite toy. But the rabbit wonders about "real" after meeting two rabbits with feet that pad softly on the ground and with noses that twitch. He learns that he cant jump like the other rabbits and that he smells different. Its only when a mysterious nursery fairy kisses him that the velveteen rabbit learns finally what its...