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Every so often, a character comes along who is so vibrant and remarkable that she seems to leap right off of the page and take on a life of her own. Anne—spelled with an E, mind you!—first delighted readers in 1908. Since then, movies, TV shows, and plays have all been made about Anne, and her popularity shows no sign of fading. This Core Classics volume presents a shortened version of the novel with background information and helpful notes.

Almost two centuries have passed since Charles Dickens introduced us to Scrooge, Marley, the Cratchits, the three Spirits, and Tiny Tim. Year after year, each holiday season, wherever Christmas is celebrated, people welcome back the wonderful characters in A Christmas Carol. This Core Classics volume presents a shortened version of Dickens’s story, with background information and helpful notes.

Imagining himself a storybook wandering knight, Don Quixote sets forth with his commonsense companion, Sancho Panza, who takes the role of the knight’s loyal squire. Since its first publication in 1605, Don Quixote has been translated into more languages than any book ever written, except the Bible.

Mary Shelley wrote her classic horror novel, Frankenstein, when she was just nineteen. Often called the first science fiction novel, Frankenstein explores questions of science and religion, life and death, good and evil. The protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, creates a creature out of corpses, and infuses it with life. Horrified by his creation, Frankenstein rejects the creature and the monster, alone and tortured by this rejection, seeks retribution. This classic tale has fascinated readers for over two hundred years, and has inspired hundreds of movies, shows, and plays. Abridged for young readers, this Core Classics© edition is faithful to the style, plot, and themes of Shelley’s original narrative.

More than an adventure story, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is also a classic satire. This edition includes Gulliver’s amazing adventures in the land of Lilliput (where Gulliver is a giant compared to the inhabitants) and in Brobdingnag (where the inhabitants are gigantic compared to Gulliver).

The two great epic poems known as the Iliad and the Odyssey come to us from ancient Greece, more than twenty-five hundred years ago. This Core Classics® edition retells selected episodes from these great epics as accessible and engaging stories for young readers.

It is hard to think of another play so funny from beginning to end as Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. What makes this “trivial comedy for serious people”—as Wilde called it—more than just a lighthearted farce is the language; while the characters’ actions are often silly, the words they speak are brilliantly witty. Wilde created a play so perfect that it remains a frequently performed favorite. This Core Classics volume presents a shortened version of Wilde’s best-known play, with background information and helpful notes.

Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have intrigued readers for more than a thousand years. Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Galahad—these and other figures live on in tales of chivalry and adventure, of honor and bold deeds.

The tales of Washington Irving have been among Americans’ favorite stories since they first appeared not long after the American Revolution. Featured in this volume are “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” in which Ichabod Crane encounters the headless horseman, and “Rip Van Winkle,” in which the title character sleeps away much of his adult life and wakes to find a world that no longer knows who he is.

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, one of America’s favorite novels for almost 150 years, tells the story of the March sisters — Beth, Amy, Jo, and Meg — as they endure hard times during the Civil War and learn about the importance of family and friends. Abridged for young readers, this edition is faithful to the style, plot, and themes of the original work.

Prepare for romantic mix-ups and mischievous magic on a night of midsummer merriment! This Core Classics® volume presents one of Shakespeare’s funniest comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, first as a short story, and then as the script for a play, perfect for readers’ theater or classroom performance, in a specially adapted, condensed version using Shakespeare’s original language. The book also provides background information on William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre.

Frederick Douglass’s devotion to learning and freedom are powerful sources of inspiration. This edition of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass has been especially prepared for young readers. The Narrative is presented in its entirety with only occasional editorial emendation, and is suitable for use in American history, social studies, and literature classes.

Ballads from the Middle Ages tell of Robin Hood and his merry band, who lived in Sherwood Forest and robbed from the rich to give to the poor. To this day, Robin Hood remains a popular hero in story and on film.

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, was thought by its first readers to be a true story. It was in fact inspired by the adventures of a real-life castaway. Defoe tells the story of the sole survivor of a shipwreck, his ingenuity, and his encounter with the man he calls Friday. The story of a man living completely alone for years holds a renewed fascination for modern-day readers in an increasingly interconnected world.

The most famous detective in fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, keeps turning up on television, in movies, and in new stories reworking the classic character who uses his keen powers of observation and deduction to solve the most puzzling cases. This volume features five of Doyle’s stories, including “The Speckled Band,” “The Red-Headed League,” and “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.”

The Squatter and the Don, first published in 1885, is a novel describing events in nineteenth century California at the end of the Mexican American War. The author, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, is considered the first Mexican American woman to write a novel in English. The novel chronicles the struggle of a Mexican rancher and the Americans who are legally taking his land under the tenants of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, based on events in Ruiz de Burton’s life.

A mix of horror tale, science fiction, and detective story, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was an immediate success when it was first published. Something about the story—something beyond the thrill of a good scare or the pull of a good mystery—keeps readers returning to it even after many generations.

Written to be accessible to middle school students, The Tempest mixes raucous comedy with moving drama in telling the story of Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, who is betrayed by his brother, Antonio. Antonio seizes the dukedom and puts Prospero and his young daughter, Miranda, aboard a boat adrift at sea. Father and daughter survive, marooned on a small island. Twelve years later, a ship nears the island. Prospero uses magic to create a tempest that capsizes the ship and sends its passengers to the shores of the island—among them, Antonio. Filled with fury, Prospero must learn to use his powers, not for vengeance, but for forgiveness.

The British writer H. G. Wells is sometimes called “the father of science fiction.” His first novel, The Time Machine—a thrilling adventure story, full of mystery, suspense, and narrow escapes—was a great success. The main character of The Time Machine, an inventor known simply as the Time Traveler, leaps past the year 800,000. In this distant future, the Time Traveler encounters a green and peaceful world where all the needs of the people seem to be mysteriously taken care of—but the mystery reveals a dark vision of the possible destiny of humankind.

Shakespeare transforms the history of the brilliant and ambitious Roman leader Julius Caesar into a powerful drama that examines the mixed motivations of the men who plotted to kill Caesar, and the unintended consequences of their violent actions. This Core Classics® volume presents a shortened version of Shakespeare’s play, first as a short story, and then as the script for a play, perfect for readers’ theater or classroom performance.

In Treasure Island, the young narrator, Jim Hawkins, discovers a treasure map and travels in search of the treasure on a distant island. The novel vividly portrays Jim’s encounters with Long John Silver and other dangerous pirates, and shows how Jim uses his wits to outsmart the pirates.

When a shipwreck separates Viola from her twin brother, she is washed ashore in an unfamiliar country. There, disguised as a young man, she falls in love with Duke Orsino. But Lady Olivia, whom the Duke loves, falls in love with the disguised Viola. The romantic mix-ups become even more comical when Viola’s twin brother appears. This Core Classics volume presents a shortened version of Shakespeare’s final and greatest comedy, with background information and helpful notes.