Usborne Illustrated Classics for Children (2011)

  1. E. Nesbit: The Railway Children (1906): Peter, Phyllis, Bobbie: children; their father who works for the government is suddenly taken away on Peter’s birthday party; Mother tells them they have to leave London & play being poor for a while; they move to the countryside next to the railway, children wave to passengers every day, an old gentleman waves back; Mother writes stories to earn money; can’t afford to burn coal all day during winter; Peter decides he is the man in the family & should take care of the situation; he steals coal from the station; is one day caught by Mr. Perks the station master; Mother gets very sick, no money to pay for medicines; Bobbie writes a letter about their situation & asks for help from the old gentleman on the 9:15 train & asks Mr. Perks to hand it to him; after receiving the package they make a banner saying thank you; Mother gets angry & tells them not to tell anyone that they are poor; children ask Mr Perks to collect the magazines people leave on the train so Mother could read it; one day they decide to climb down the cliff & walk to the station along the track; suddenly rocks collapse on the railway track in a landslide; children decide to make red flags from their clothes to warn the driver; managed to save the passengers’ lives; Railway Company rewarded them; Phyllis invites the old gentleman for a tea & brings the collected magazines home; while old man chats with Mother Bobbie finds out their father was sentences to 5 years in prison for being a spy but is convicted of his innocence; Mother thinks one man in his office planted the papers on Father’s desk so he can be falsely accused; Bobbie and Mother agree not to tell Peter and Phyllis to avoid upsetting them; Bobbie writes to the old man again but asks for help on behalf of their Father & help find out who committed the crime; on her birthday Bobbie is very sad & decides to walk to the station where Mr Perks congratulates her about the good news: his Father is released & is about to arrive soon; Bobbie is overjoyed to meet his Father again who told how the old man helped catch the real spy; family is reunited in a happy moment
  2. Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost (1887): Mr Otis decides to buy the castle from Lord Canterville who warns him: it is haunted (his family had to move out after his great-aunt had seen a skeleton); they move in 4 weeks later with their children: Washington, Virginia and the twins; are greeted by Mrs Umney the housekeeper; Virginia finds a poem in the library window: “If a child will enter the secret room and stay till the dead of the night // then at least Sir Simon can sleep in his tomb and at the Canterville all will be right”; Mrs Otis finds a blood stain on the carpet; Mrs Umney tells her that Sir Simon Canterville murdered his wife Lady Eleanor Canterville 500 years ago & disappeared 7 years later; Washington tries to clean the stain but it reappears the next day; Mr Otis wakes up at midnight by strange noise; meets the ghost of Sir Simon in front of his door; asks him oil his chains as they are very rusty; the ghost runs away, the twins try to hit him with a pillow; the ghost decides to take revenge; Washington keeps removing the stain every day; the ghost is frightened when he meets another pumpkin ghost; later finds out it was a trick; makes him even more furious & swore revenge; decides to appear as his most terrifying character, Reckless Rupert the Headless Earl; when trying to trick the twins, a jug of icy water tipped over him; weeks later Virginia meets the ghost in the Tapestry Room & tries to comfort him & points out it was wrong for him to kill his wife; Sir Simon agrees but tells there was no reason for her brothers to starve him to death; Virginia confronts the ghost because he stole her paint for the blood stain; Virginia wants to help the ghost; he tells her to come to his secret chamber and pray for him; Virginia is terrified but agrees to help; her family starts looking for her; they hear a crash and a cry at midnight; Virginia reappears; tells the ghost is finally gone & he gave her a box of jewels; 4 days later they held a funeral for Sir Simon; Mr Otis wants to give the jewels to Lord Canterville but he refuses; Virginia wears the ruby necklace but never told her brothers what happened in the secret chamber; Sir Simon finally lay in peace beneath the earth
  3. L. Frank Baum: The Wizard of Oz (1900): Dorothy lives on farm in Kansas with Uncle Henry & Aunt Em & little dog Toto; one day a cyclone takes their house with Dorothy and Toto to the land of Oz; upon landing the house kills the Wicked Witch of the East; strangers give her silvery shoes to Dorothy; she wants to go back to Kansas but the strangers don’t know the way; they suggest to ask the Great Wizard for help who lives in the Emerald City at the end of the yellow brick road; on the way Dorothy is joined by a scarecrow who has no brain & a tinman whom she helps by oiling his joints and has no heart; Toto attacked by a lion but reprimanded by Dorothy because of his cowardice; he also joins them to get courage; their way barred by deep ditch which they successfully cross using a tree as a bridge; a tiger monster almost gets them but the tinman chops away the tree & monster fells into the ditch; later the lion helps them crossing a wide river on a raft; the tinman and the scarecrow help the lion and Dorothy who fall asleep in the poppy field; they finally arrive to the Emerald City; gatekeeper gives them green glasses & leads them to the Great Wizard; they go in one by one and present their request to the Wizard; she tells each of them to kill the Wicked Witch of the West first; wicked witch sends them wolves, crows and bees to kill them but neither is successful; witch puts on a magic cap that grants her her wish for magic monkeys whom she also sends to kill everyone except the lion; unbeknownst to her, Dorothy is protected by her shoes which the witch plans to steal from her; Dorothy pours water over the witch and kills her; her friends are restored and go back to the Great Wizard to claim their reward; they find out that the Great Wizard is a little old man called Oz who is not a real wizard but had arrived with a hot-air balloon that went off-course; Oz gives pins to scarecrow to make him smart, heart-shaped cushion to tinman & green bottle of courage to lion; he also mended the hot-air balloon and wanted to take Dorothy home but Toto ran away and the rope snapped; using the cap’s third wish they are taken to Good Witch Glinda uses the wishing cap to fulfill the friends’ wishes; she tells Dorothy to use her silver shoes to go home; she knocks the heels three times & finally taken back to Kansas
  4. Anna Sewell: Black Beauty (1877): personal story of black horse called Black Beauty (BB), sold at age four to a man called Squire Gordon, taken to Birtwick Park, meets a pony called Merrylegs and a chestnut mare called Ginger (who had been sold several times because she bites); BB paired with Ginger to pull the carriage who told him her life story (was whipped & tail cut off, forced to wear bearing rein); Mrs Gordon falls ill, John (groom) takes BB to fetch the doctor, stops before bridge that turns out to be destroyed; BB gets cold, Joe (new groom) nearly kills him by mistreating his illness; after Mrs Gordon recovers they have to sell everything; BB & Ginger sold to Lord & Lady Richmore; Lady Richmore asks Reuben (new groom) to put bearing rein in both of them, Ginger kicks the carriage & taken away forever; Reuben takes BB for a ride drunk, Reuben falls from BB, ppl think it was his fault → sold to Jerry Barker as a cab horse, had to work hard but was treated kindly, calls BB Jack; meets Ginger who has been treated cruelly, overworked & starved, soon dies; Jerry offered a new job as a groom, has to sell BB; new owner is a cruel man, who whips and hardly feeds him, BB gets exhausted & collapses, helped by a kind horse doctor; finally sold to two sisters; new groom turns out to be Joe; they decide to never sell him again; finds home forever
  5. Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden (1911): Mary Lennox: young girl in India; parents die in cholera; ends up with a relative Mr Craven; has to move to a manor in the middle of nowhere & take care of herself (↔ in India she had servants); hears a child sobbing but housekeeper (Mrs Medlock) prohibits her to explore the house; meets the gardener Ben; discovers secret garden (Mr Craven buried the key after the death of his wife); Ben tells about Dickon (brother of a maid); robin shows the key to Mary; finds the door & enters the garden & starts gardening; meets Dickon & shows him the garden; one night meets Colin (Mr Craven’s son): his father hates him because his wife died when he was born; too weak & dying; Mrs Medlock tries to send Mary out but Colin insists her to stay; go into the garden with Dickon & Mary in a wheelchair; gradually gets well & starts to walk; his father called home by a dream; happy to see his son & the garden became alive
  6. Jules Verne: Around the World in Eighty Days (1873): Phileas Fogg: leads quiet & predictable life; bet £20000 with a friend that he can travel around the world in 80 days; promised to be back on Dec 21; asked his butler, Passepartout to pack; inspector Fix mistakes him for a runaway thief who stole £50000 from the Bank of England; follows them to India; they ride an elephant through the jungle; Fogg decides to save Princess Aouda from being burned alive with her dead husband; butler steals the princess by disguising himself as the dead prince; arrested in Calcutta because of a fight the butler started at the temple; released on bail after Fogg agrees to pay £2000 to the court; sail to Hong Kong; nearly missed next ship to Japan due to storm; Fogg set of to find Aouda’s cousin, thinking their ship leaves tomorrow; butler hears from the captain they are leaving that evening, wants to find his master but falls asleep after Fix invites him & gets him drunk; Fogg & the princess leave with Fix the next day on a small boat; can’t find the butler; manage to catch the steamer to Japan; butler decides to join acrobats to go to the US; meets Fogg in the circus; keeps quiet about Fix who joins them crossing America by train; train attacked by Sioux warriors, butler unhookes engine & stop near a station; Fogg frees butler from the Sioux but miss the train; Fix gets a land yacht & manage to catch up with the train but miss the ship to England; they take a ship to France, Fogg orders to burn parts of the ship to keep the engine running; Fix finally arrests Fogg but releases him after finding out the real thief was caught 3 days ago; arrives at 8:55 in London; misses deadline by 10 minutes; princess and Fogg decide to get married; butler finds out they gained an extra day → Fogg won the bet; he had to pay £19000 out of the £20000 to cover the expenses of the trip but he founda wife and happiness
  7. Johanna Spyri: Heidi (1880): Heidi left at his grandfather by her aunt (she had taken care of her until now but got a job in Frankfurt); grandfather doesn’t want her but aunt leaves; she decides to sleep upstairs in the hay; joins Peter the goat boy to find pastures in the mountain; Heidi gets to like the place; one day her aunt comes & takes her to Frankfurt so a sick girl called Clara can have company; grandfather is sad because his wife died, then his son wasted his money & died → now he shut himself up in the mountain; Heidi promises herself to come back; invites a street boy to play for Clara & cheer her up with cats; housekeeper (Mrs Rotenmeyer) wants to stop; maid sees a ghosts walking at night → turns out to be Heidi who is sleepwalking because she is homesick; Clara’s father allows her to return to grandfather but Clara joins her too in her wheelchair; Peter is jealous to Clara because Heidi has to stay with her & cannot go with him; Peter destroys Clara’s wheelchair hoping Clara would leave; he is found out & apologizes; Clara slowly learns to walk; her father is surprised & very thankful; grandfather is also thankful for Heidi for making him happy again
  8. John Meade Falkner: Moonfleet (1898): story told by John Trenchard (15-year old boy); Moonfleet: village; strange noises during Sunday service coming from the vault under the church; thought to be Blackbeard (ghost of rich noble who owned the village long ago & believed to have buried treasure before he died); John finds a dark tunnel leading under the church; grabs a candle, wait until his aunt falls asleep, returns to the vault hoping to find the treasure; discovers a smuggler’s hideout; hides from smugglers (Elzivir & Ratsey); finds Blackbeard’s coffin & small peace of paper with writing of prayer in silver locket hung around his neck; entrance is locked, can’t get out; collapses; Elzivir & Ratsey find him & rescue him (but they are not angry at him); aunt kicks him out; has to stay with them; Elzivir’s son David was shot by Maskew (magistrate) because of smuggling; lived alone ever since; John tells everything to Maskew’s daughter Grace whom she likes; Maskew kicks Elzivir out from the inn (Why Not) he had been renting; Elzivir tries to get money through smuggling & invites John to join; he agrees & tells the news to Grace & promises to do it only once; Grace promises to keep a candle until he returns; they go to Hoar Head Bay to help Elzivir unload smuggled cargo from ship; they catch Mr Maskew who has been spying on them; while Mr Maskew is pleading for his life, soldiers attack them, accidentally kill Mr Maskew & shoot John in the leg; Elzivir takes the wounded John with him, hides him in a cave & takes care of him until he recovers; John is scared & reads Blackbeard’s prayer to guard against evil spirits; discovers the prayer contains the location of the treasure: 80 feet down inside the well in Carisbrook Castle; they bribe prison guard who agrees to let them in secretly; they lower John down to 80 feet; he finds a huge diamond behind a brick; when he returns the guard wants to take it away & threatens to kill him; Elzivir pushes him in the well, manage to escape; they go to Holland to sell the diamond; Elzivir thinks the diamond is cursed; jeweller tells them it’s fake; Elzivir throws it out the window; John is convinced jeweller lied to them & smashes the window to take the diamond back; guards take them to prison; jeweller accuses them to try to steal his diamond; they are sentenced to chain work; have to work on a fortress for 10 years; then sent to a slave colony in Java afterwards; finds Elzivir & apologizes him; ship gets in a storm & starts sinking; guards leave them for good; they realize they are in Moonfleet Bay; had to abandon ship & try to swim to shore; villagers save Elzivir by throwing ropes; he gets back to save John but disappears → gave up his life to save John; meets Grace & Ratsey; tell their story; receives letter from jeweller who left his wealth for John to turn away the curse the diamond brought to his life; John married Grace & agreed not to keep any of the wealth to himself but to help others