Books in Wordsworth's Children's Classics series

Little Women is one of the best-loved children's stories of all time, based on the author's own youthful experiences. It describes the family life of the four March sisters living in a small New England community, Meg, the eldest, is pretty and wishes to be a lady; Jo, at fifteen is ungainly and unconventional with an ambition to be an author; Beth is a delicate child of thirteen with a taste for music and Amy is a blonde beauty of twelve. The story of their domestic adventures, their attempts to increase the family income, their friendship with the neighbouring Lawrence family, and their later love affairs remains as fresh and beguiling as ever. Good Wives takes up the story of the March sisters, some three years later, when, as young adults, they must face up to the inevitable trials and traumas of everyday life in their search for individual happiness.

Its eyes were on long horns like a snail's eyes... it had ears like a bat's ears, and its tubby body was shaped like a spider's and covered with thick, soft fur... and it had hands and feet like a monkey's. 'It' was the Psammead, the grumpy sand-fairy that could, if in the mood, grant a wish a day. When the five children befriend him they find that each wish granted often has a sting in its tail. Golden guineas are too difficult to spend, wings let them down in a most inconvenient way, and when they wish for Red Indians, the children forget that they can sometimes be a little warlike.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the classic American tale, starring Gayle Hunnicutt. When Pollyanna's father dies, she is sent to live with her only surviving relative, the rich but stern Aunt Polly. Pollyanna's joy soon turns to disappointment when her spinster aunt gives her a cold greeting and tells her she is to stay in the attic. It's not the welcome Pollyanna expected, but she soon regains her spirits, playing the ‘glad game’ her father taught her. Nancy, the maid, is charmed by Pollyanna and soon the girl's infectious optimism wins the hearts of everyone in town from the reclusive Mr Pendleton to the shy Dr Chilton. Everyone, that is, except Aunt Polly, who refuses to succumb to her young niece's charm. It is not until a tragic accident occurs, which leaves even Pollyanna struggling to find a way to feel glad, that her maiden aunt finally unwraps her heart from years of bitterness. This BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation retains the spirit of childlike innocence and optimism that has made Pollyanna a favourite amongst generations of children and adults.

Introduction and Notes by Dr T.C.B. Cook Following the success of Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby was hailed as a comic triumph and firmly established Dickens as a 'literary gentleman'. It has a full supporting cast of delectable characters that range from the iniquitous Wackford Squeers and his family, to the delightful Mrs Nickleby, taking in the eccentric Crummles and his travelling players, the Mantalinis, the Kenwigs and many more. Combining these with typically Dickensian elements of burlesque and farce, the novel is eminently suited to dramatic adaptation. So great was the impact as it left Dickens' pen that many pirated versions appeared in print before the original was even finished. Often neglected by critics, Nicholas Nickleby has never ceased to delight readers and is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic masterpieces of nineteenth-centure literature.

Interest in supernatural phenomena was high during Charles Dickens lifetime. He had always loved a good ghost story himself, particularly at Christmas time, and was open-minded, willing to accept, and indeed put to the test, the existence of spirits. His natural inclinations toward drama and the macabre made him a brilliant teller of ghost tales, and in the twenty stories presented here, which include his celebrated A Christmas Carol, the full range of his gothic talents can be seen. Chilling as some of these stories are, Dickens has managed to inject characteristically grotesque comedy as he writes of revenge, insanity, pre-cognition and dream visions, he indulges also in some debunking of contemporary credulity.

"The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,And the highwayman came riding-Riding-riding-The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door."In Alfred Noyes's thrilling poem, charged with drama and tension, we ride with the highwayman and recoil from the terrible fate that befalls him and his sweetheart Bess, the landlord's daughter. The vivid imagery of the writing is matched by Charles Keeping's haunting illustrations which won him the Kate Greenaway Medal. This new edition features rescanned artwork to capture the breath-taking detail of Keeping's illustrations and a striking new cover.

This book contains over forty of the best-loved fairy stories, beautifully illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Favourites such as Jack the Giant-killer, Jack and the Beanstalk, Dick Whittington, The Three Little Pigs and The Babes in the Wood are all here among many others, but stories from different traditions also make their appearance, including The Three Bears and Little Red Hiding Hood.

Introduction and Notes by Norman Vance, Professor of English, University of Sussex Jude Fawley is a rural stone mason with intellectual aspirations. Frustrated by poverty and the indifference of the academic institutions at the University of Christminster, his only chance of fulfilment seems to lie in his relationship with his unconventional cousin, Sue Bridehead. But life as social outcasts proves undermining, and when tragedy occurs, Sue has no resilience and Jude is left in despair.