George Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a scathing satire of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Today, it remains a powerful fable about the nature of tyranny and corruption which applies for all ages.

Anne Shirley is an eleven-year-old orphan who has hung on determinedly to an optimistic spirit and a wildly creative imagination through her early deprivations. She erupts into the lives of aging brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a girl instead of the boy they had sent for.

When the Cuthberts send to the orphanage for a boy to help them at their farm Green Gables, they are astonished when a talkative little girl steps off the train. Anne, an incurable romantic causes chaos at Green Gables and at the village, but her good nature endears her to the residents.

Widely censured at the time of its publication in 1899, Kate Chopin's The Awakening is an evocative story of self-discovery and female emancipation that has since become one of the most popular classics in the American canon.

Guy de Maupassant was a master of the short story. This collection displays his lively diversity, with tales that vary in theme and tone, ranging from tragedy and satire to comedy and farce.

Set in 1797, Billy Budd is a tale of satanic treachery, tragedy and great pathos that explores human relationships and the inherently ambiguous nature of man-made justice.

Black beauty had a fine, soft black coat, one white foot and a silver star on his forehead. This tale tells of the horse's adventures and the disappointments and joys that surround him.