A doctor, an architect, an engineer, and a geologist step into a space car. In their new invention, they set off on an expediton to Mercury, planning to visit Venus on the return voyage. On Mercury they find a strange city eerily abandoned. Sculptures of giant figures alarm them. In a building they discover a machine. The engineer gets it running, and blaring out of the machine a thundering voice speaking Mercurian begins to sound in a way that conveys to them that it is telling a story. After an enormous effort the men translate the audio book...

All work and no play makes 14-year-old Joe Gaston run away. He's also falsely branded as a horse-thief by his own father. This heart-warming story tells of Joe's wanderings and life on the tow-path, of finding Old Charlie and the real horse-thief, how his name is cleared, and his return home. This book, published in 1892, is the third written by Homer Greene, whose primary profession was law. His novels generally include a legal transgression with an interrogation or court-room scene.

A poor family is surprised with an infant on their doorstep on New Year’s Eve with a note and monetary support requesting them to raise the child. Eight years later, the child is stolen and the family is put into more trouble trying to find her. This is a story of how love and good morals are reward with a fairy tale “happily ever after” ending.

In this third installment from the “Ragged Dick” series by Horatio Algers, Jr., the reader is reacquainted with some old friends and meets young Mark Manton. Mark is a match boy plagued by bad luck and an even worse guardian. But, with new friends, hard work, and smart choices, Mark may just find his luck taking a turn for the better. summary by tfaulder

Join Rough and Ready for his adventure on the streets of New York City. Working as a newsboy, Rough and Ready tries to support himself and his sister on his meager earnings. Unfortunately, their stepfather is seeking to kidnap little Rose, getting an education is hard work, swindlers are trying to trick him out of his money, and thieves are planning nefarious deeds. Luckily for Rough and Ready, he makes some good friends along the way. Summary by Tori Faulder

Guy Fenwick is a bright boy of 16 who lives with his clergyman father near New Bedford, Massachusetts. Guy receives permission from his father to examine the contents of an old chest in the attic where Guy discovers clues to the location of a pirate treasure buried on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. Guy would dearly love to find the treasure to help financially support his father. Luckily, Guy’s father has a friend who is a sea captain and happens to be heading to Bombay. Guy travels to Bombay as a passenger and, while in Bombay, a life-changing event occurs...

The story of little Otto, a gentle, peace-loving child born into the heart of turmoil and strife in the castle of a feuding robber baron in medieval Germany. (Summary by Arctura)

Due to Uncle Wiggily's rheumatism being so very bad, Dr. Possum prescribes a journey to help him move around, have a change of air, and a good long bout of traveling to get more exercise. So Uncle Wiggily packs his valise and sets forth!

"Baseball Joe" Matson has recently moved to Riverside with his family, in this opening volume of Baseball Joe series. Joe is a wide-awake country boy who enjoys playing baseball. We follow his career in the series, and his adventures, as he joins Riverside's local nine and makes good, playing the position he most enjoys - that of pitcher, are recounted here. When not on the diamond, Joe is assisting his father against foes who are trying to steal Mr. Matson's machinery patents.Lester Chadwick is one of dozens of house pseudonyms created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate in the early to mid 1900's, to "author" children's series...

The seventeenth book in the popular "Motor Boys" series sees our heroes as college freshman. Written under the house pseudonym of Clarence Young. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

The delightfully eccentric Doctor Dolittle, rendered immortal on screen by the gifted Rex Harrison, has remained a firm favorite with generations of children ever since he made his debut in an earlier novel, The Story of Doctor Dolittle. In his second outing titledThe Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, the maverick physician takes on a new assistant, Tommy Stubbins. The story is structured as a first person account given by Tommy, who is now a very old man. The boy who was the son of the village cobbler first meets Doctor Dolittle when he takes a hurt squirrel to the doctor for treatment...

An adventurous children’s novel, The Story of Doctor Dolittle is the first book in the Doctor Dolittle series. The novel depicts the many adventures of Dr. John Dolittle as he learns the language of animals and takes on various feats including exotic travel, a dangerous encounter with pirates, and a mission to set right from wrong. The novel begins with the introduction of Dr. John Dolittle, an animal lover and respected physician, who lives in the small English town of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh with his unmarried sister...

While working in Africa, the eminent naturalist John Dolittle sets out to create the best post office on earth, using his bird friends to carry messages and packages anywhere in the world in record time. Along the way, he also manages to foil a slave trader, enrich a kingdom, save a ship, and meet the oldest living creature on earth! - Summary by Devorah Allen Cast: Doctor Dolittle: ToddHWSpeedy the Swallow: TJ BurnsDab-Dab the Duck: Leanne YauJip the Dog: Rafe BallGub-Gub the Pig: Campbell SchelpThe...

Ian Holborn was on board the RMS Lusitania when it was torpedoed, and as it sank he rescued a 12 year old girl named Avis Dolphin. She later complained that books for girls were not very interesting, so he decided to write one for her "as thrilling as any book written for boys!" This book is dedicated to her. From the Preface: This story is not written for grown-ups, and if they want to know why it begins with such a gruesome first chapter, let them ask the children. Children like the horrors first and the end all bright. Many grown-ups like the tragedy at the end. But perhaps the children are right and the grown-ups are standing on their heads. - Summary by Beth Thomas

Five hundred thousand years ago, Og has been separated from his people during a volcano eruption. This story follows Og on his journey to find his people and the many adventures he experiences along the way.

His name has become a metaphor for one who will never grow old. Peter Pan by JM Barrie is the story of a boy who remains a boy while the world around him changes. Sir James Mathew Barrie was a Scottish playwright and novelist whose works were received with great critical and commercial success in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He discovered the main inspiration for his creative genius in his friendship (and later guardianship) with the children of Arthur and Sylvia Llewellyn-Davies...

"A children's book, sharp social commentary and sad psychological thriller about a man's search for a sense of belonging. All in one amazing and lyrical collection. This is the first book in which Peter Pan starts to appear. His adventure in Kensington Gardens are first narrated here. Other than that, it offers a magical portrait of contemporary London, and a realistic tale of a family to which every one of us could have belonged."

The Northern Spy, written in the 1800s, is a lively story about a Union soldier who infiltrates a Confederate battalion in order to aid in the conquering of South Carolina. The novel was very popular, so much so that allegedly Northern Spy apples were named for the hero of the story. - Summary by A. Gramour

The hilarious diary of a young man's recruitment into, and service in a navy, which, though well equipped and disciplined, remains woefully ill prepared for his arrival and dubious contribution. (Introduction by Nigel Boydell)

First volume of an adventure series for young adults - Summary by kathrinee

Twin sixteen year-old brothers, Guy and Walter Burton are the “Radio Boys” headed for another adventure. Travels take Guy from their home in New England to London where he meets another radio enthusiast, Glennon. There are city adventures before they find themselves on an old steamer headed for disaster. Can the wireless radio help them in their time of need? And, where is Walter? - Summary by Larry Wilson

These 12 stories give a personal portrait of twelve famous soldiers from the past two centuries. Each story explores the early life of the solder —to trace his career up from boyhood through the formative years. Such data serves to explain the great soldier of later years. Summary compiled from the preface of the book. (Summary by philchenevert)

A maritime classic acclaimed for its exciting adventure, The Sea Wolf offers a thrilling tale of life at sea, while exploring the many difficulties that may erupt on board a ship captained by a brutally hedonistic and controlling individual. Additionally, the psychological adventure novel covers several themes including mutiny, existentialism, individualism, brutality, and the intrinsic will to survive. The novel sets into motion when its protagonist, the soft and cultivated scholar Humphrey van Weyden, is witness to a precarious collision between his ferry and another ship...

This is the story of a voyage of a sailing ship from Baltimore to Seattle, east-to-west around Cape Horn in the winter. It is set in 1913 and the glory days of “wooden ships and iron men” are long over. The Elsinore is a four-masted iron sailing vessel carrying a cargo of 5000 tons of coal. She has a “bughouse” crew of misfits and incompetents. This book was published in 1915 and some actions of some of the characters seem odd to us today. There is romance, but it is strangely platonic. Two important characters disappear with no real explanation...

This book by Jack London was published under the name of "The Jacket" in the UK and "The Star Rover" in the US. A framing story is told in the first person by Darrell Standing, a university professor serving life imprisonment in San Quentin State Prison for murder. Prison officials try to break his spirit by means of a torture device called "the jacket," a canvas jacket which can be tightly laced so as to compress the whole body, inducing angina. Standing discovers how to withstand the torture by entering a kind of trance state, in which he walks among the stars and experiences portions of past lives...

Jack London wrote at least four stories about boxing; A Piece of Steak (1909), The Mexican (1911), The Abysmal Brute (1911), and The Game (1905). The Game is told, in part, from the point of view of a woman, the fiancée of one of the competitors. This is to be his last fight and they are to be married on the morrow. Against her better judgment, she agrees to watch the bout. (Introduction by Tom Crawford)

Burning Daylight, Jack London's fictional novel published in 1910, was one of the best selling books of that year and it was his best selling book in his lifetime. The novel takes place in the Yukon Territory in 1893. The main character, nicknamed Burning Daylight was the most successful entrepreneur of the Alaskan Gold Rush. The story of the main character was partially based upon the life of Oakland entrepreneur "Borax" Smith. (Wikipedia)

This collection of Jack London's short stories touches on a variety of topics, from his love of boxing, to relationships between criminals, to the trials of life and travel on many frontiers, to an allegory about a king who desired a nose. London is considered a master of the short story, a form much more to his liking and personality than his novels. He was active and quick of mind and the short story suited him well.

5 Exciting short stories by one of Americas best story tellers

In Jack London's first novel, he tells the story of Frona Welse, a strong and interesting heroine, "a Stanford graduate and physical Valkyrie," who heads to the Yukon gold fields after creating a stir in her hometown by being strong and forthright and by befriending the town's prostitute. In the course of her adventures, she finds herself at the distaff point of a love triangle. This novel contains very overt racial and gender stereotypes and as such reflects the attitudes growing in society at the time it was written. It is the practice at Librivox to record works as they stand, without judgment.

Jack London was quoted as saying, "I've never written a line that I'd be ashamed for my young daughters to read, and I never shall write such a line!" After his death in 1916, his wife Charmian assembled a collection of stories, most of which he had written for young readers, but at least one of which was for more mature readers, "Whose Business is to Live." Like most of London's work, his short stories could be read by young readers and then again when they were older with mature minds. These stories draw from London's own extensive experience in the world and demonstrate the dictum that "good writing is good writing" no matter for whom it was written.

Wildest among the fisher-folk may be accounted the Chinese shrimp-catchers. It is the habit of the shrimp to crawl along the bottom in vast armies till it reaches fresh water, when it turns about and crawls back again to the salt. And where the tide ebbs and flows, the Chinese sink great bag-nets to the bottom, with gaping mouths, into which the shrimp crawls and from which it is transferred to the boiling-pot. This in itself would not be bad, were it not for the small mesh of the nets, so small that the tiniest fishes, little new-hatched things not a quarter of an inch long, cannot pass through...