Showing results by narrator "Cindy Hardin Killavey" in All Categories

"Goody Two Shoes", published by an anonymous author in 1765, has long been one of the most popular children's stories ever written. It is the kind of story your grandmother might have told, and its message of optimism, bravery, and the rewards of honestyare giving it new popularity today.

A king, a queen, a baby's christening, an overlooked guest and a curse. Author George McDonald takes the classic motiff and turns it on it's ear when the newborn princess loses....her gravity!

"O. Henry" is the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter whose short stories are known for their wit, warm characterization and clever, unexpected endings. The Princess and the Puma is one of porter's best, and most anthologized stories.

In this story, the friendship between a young German girl and a mysterious French prisonero pen a world of possibilities for them both. When a mysterious prisoner arrives at her father's post young Gretchen's life is changed forever. What shadowy figure protects the mysterious prisoner from harm? Little Gretchen believes she knows and the thought of it opens her mind to the belief that love and loyalty can live beyond the grave.

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. His narratives are characterized by an economy of style and the efficient way in which the various threads are neatly resolved. In "The False Jewels", a man who dotes on his wife is crushed by her unexpected death and then astounded by a revelation about her costume jewelry.

Oscar Wilde was one of the most versatile writers who ever lived. He wrote classic plays, including The Importance of Being Ernest; one wildly popular and influential novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; and a number of inventive and moving stories in The Happy Prince and Other Tales.

Stories included in this volume are: "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Devoted Friend", "The Happy Prince", "The Remarkable Rocket", and "The Selfish Giant".

In this delightful tale, three animals who have been cast out by their masters, a dog, a cat, a rooster and a donkey decide to form a musical group together.Their first "concert" turns out to be not what they expeced when they run into a gang of criminals.

Here is another of O. Henry's entertaining "surprise ending" stories. A girl moves to the city looking for a friend she had lost track of and finds him in a very unusual way.

Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. As a protégé of Flaubert, his short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless resolution. A Piece of String is one of his most famous stories and deals in a very touching way with perception versus reality.

The story concerns a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who conducts a great experiment to see if he can create a living being from the body parts of corpses. Only whe the experiment is successful does he begin to think of the ethics and consequences of what he has done. The creature he created becomes embittered when he finds that no one will love him becuase of his appearance.

In this story, an old witch takes pity on a poor soldier and gives him a box with remarkable powers. As a result, he has many astounding adventures.

The Four Million was written in 1906 when roughly four million people lived in New York City. It opens with a reference to Ward McAllister's "assertion that there were only "400" people in New York City who were really worth noticing.

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story as well as one of the form's finest writers. His stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements

Rip Van Winkle is known as a good neighbor, a friend to animals and children, and a regular at the discussions held at the town tavern. His sudden disappearance causes consternation in the small town. Where did he go? What happened to him? When a lean, white bearded old man appears 20 years later, claiming to be Rip, he has a tale to tell that is quite incredible.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman is known primarily as a "feminist" and "local color" writer, for such classic tales as "The Revolt of Mother". She wrote very entertaining stories that included clear depictions of the pressures that often silenced or devalued women and their concerns. This famous story gets that message across but not without a bit of humor.

This is a selection from Kipling's The Second Jungle Book.

A town that prides itself on its honesty finds itself severely tested. One of the demons Mark Twain always set out to slay was the myth that the citizens of the American republic are inherently more virtuous than others. By the invention of an elaborate hoax, a kind of giant practical joke, Twain has his hero turn the town of Hadleyburg inside out and, in the process, teach the hypocrites who dwell there a lesson in humility and moral realism.

Here's Anderson's wonderful story of the power of persuasion.

O. Henry wrote many stories, but this, the story of two "ultimate gifts", is his most famous.

Hester Prynne commits adultery in a Puritan settlement and, as a result, is "branded" for the rest of her life by having to wear a scarlet letter "A" on her breast. Throughout the story, a complex relationship develops between Hester, her lover, her husband, and her daughter.