Books published by publisher LVL Editions

The Just So Stories typically have the theme of a particular animal being modified from an original form to its current form by the acts of man, or some magical being. For example, the Whale has a tiny throat because he swallowed a mariner, who tied a raft inside to block the whale from swallowing other men. The Camel has a hump given to him by a djinn as punishment for the camel's refusing to work (the hump allows the camel to work longer between times of eating). The Leopard's spots were painted by an Ethiopian (after the Ethiopian painted himself black). The Kangaroo gets its powerful hind legs, long tail, and hopping gait after being chased all day by a dingo, sent by a minor god responding to the Kangaroo's request to be made different from all other animals.How the Whale Got His Throat — why the larger whales eat only small prey.How the Camel Got His Hump — how the idle camel was punished and given a hump.How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin — why rhinos have folds in their skin and bad tempers.How the Leopard Got His Spots — why leopards have spots.The Elephant's Child/How the Elephant got his Trunk — how the elephant's trunk became long.The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo — how the kangaroo assumed long legs and tail.The Beginning of the Armadillos — how a hedgehog and tortoise transformed into the first armadillos.How the First Letter Was Written — introduces the only characters who appear in more than one story: a family of cave-people, called Tegumai Bopsulai (the father), Teshumai Tewindrow (the mother), and Taffimai Metallumai, (the daughter). Explains how Taffimai delivered a picture message to her mother.How the Alphabet Was Made — Taffimai and her father invent an alphabet.The Crab That Played with the Sea — explains the ebb and flow of the tides, as well as how the crab changed from a huge animal into a small one.The Cat That Walked by Himself — the longest story, explains how man domesticated all the wild animals except the cat, which insisted on greater independence.The Butterfly That Stamped — how Solomon saved the pride of a butterfly, and the Queen of Sheba used this to prevent his wives scolding him.The Tabu Tale

Mary Lennox is a troubled, sickly, and unloved 10-year-old girl born in India to selfish, wealthy British parents. She is primarily cared for by servants, who pacify her as much as possible to keep her out of her parents' way. She grows into a spoiled and selfish girl. Eventually, there is a cholera epidemic in India which kills Mary's parents and all the servants. Mary is discovered alive but alone in the empty house. She briefly lives with an English clergyman and his family and is then sent to Yorkshire, England, to live with Archibald Craven, an uncle she has never met, at his home called Misselthwaite Manor.At first, Mary is her usual self, sour and rude, disliking her uncle's large house, the people within it, and, most of all, the vast stretch of moor, which seems scrubby and grey after the winter. She is told that she must stay confined to her two rooms and keep herself amused without much attention. Martha Sowerby, a good-natured maid, tells Mary a story of the late Mrs. Craven and how she would spend hours in a private walled garden growing roses. Mrs. Craven fell to her death when a tree branch gave way beneath her, and the devastated Mr. Craven locked the garden and buried the key. Mary is piqued by this story and her ill manner begins to soften. Soon, she comes to enjoy the company of Martha, Ben Weatherstaff the gardener, and a friendly robin redbreast whom she assigns a human personality. Her appetite increases and she grows stronger as she plays by herself on the moor. Martha's mother buys Mary a skipping rope to encourage this, and Mary takes to it immediately. Mary occupies her time wondering about both the secret garden and the cries she hears at night. The servants claim not to hear the cries.As Mary is exploring the periphery of the gardens, her robin friend draws her attention to an area of turned-over soil. Mary finds the key to the locked garden, and eventually the door to the garden. She asks Martha for garden tools, which Martha sends with Dickon, her twelve-year-old brother. Mary and Dickon take a liking to each other, as Dickon has a kind way with animals and a good nature. Eager to absorb his gardening knowledge, Mary lets him in on the secret of the garden...

The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by English author Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893 94. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six years of his childhood there. After about ten years in England, he went back to India and worked there for about six-and-a-half years. These stories were written when Kipling lived in Vermont.

Yei Theodora Ozaki was an early 20th-century translator of Japanese short stories and fairy tales. Her translations were fairly liberal but have been popular, and were reprinted several times after her death.According to “A Biographical Sketch” by Mrs. Hugh Fraser, included in the introductory material to Warriors of old Japan, and other stories, Ozaki came from an unusual background. She was the daughter of Baron Ozaki, one of the first Japanese men to study in the West, and Bathia Catherine Morrison, daughter of William Morrison, one of their teachers. Her parents separated after five years of marriage, and her mother retained custody of their three daughters until they became teenagers. At that time, Yei was sent to live in Japan with her father, which she enjoyed. Later she refused an arranged marriage, left her father’s house, and became a teacher and secretary to earn money. Over the years, she traveled back and forth between Japan and Europe, as her employment and family duties took her, and lived in places as diverse as Italy and the drafty upper floor of a Buddhist temple.All this time, her letters were frequently misdelivered to the unrelated Japanese politician Yukio Ozaki, and his to her. In 1904, they finally met, and soon

An Carroll's sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice once again finds herself in a bizarre and nonsensical place when she passes through a mirror and enters a looking-glass world where nothing is quite as it seems. From her guest appearance as a pawn in a chess match to her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, Through the Looking Glass follows Alice on her curious adventure and shows Carroll's great skill at creating an imaginary world full of the fantastical and extraordinary.

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.

The book is written in three parts."Book One: The Romantic Egotist"—The novel centers on Amory Blaine, a young Midwesterner who, convinced that he has an exceptionally promising future, attends boarding school and later Princeton University. He leaves behind his eccentric mother Beatrice and befriends a close friend of hers, Monsignor Darcy. While at Princeton he goes back to Minneapolis where he re-encounters Isabelle Borgé, a young lady whom he met as a little boy, and starts a romantic relationship with her. At Princeton he repeatedly writes ever more flowery poems but they become disenchanted with each after meeting again at his prom."Interlude"—Following their break-up, Amory is shipped overseas, to serve in the army in World War I. Fitzgerald had been in the army himself, but the war ended while he was still stationed on Long Island. Amory's experiences in the war are not described, other than to say later in the book that he was a bayonet instructor."Book Two: The Education of a Personage"—After the war, Amory Blaine falls in love with a New York debutante named Rosalind Connage. Because he is poor, however, this relationship collapses as well; Rosalind decides to marry a wealthy man instead. A devastated Amory is further crushed to learn that his mentor Monsignor Darcy has died. The book ends with Amory's iconic lament, "I know myself, but that is all".

The events of the story are put in motion by the marriages of three sisters. Lady Bertram married extremely well to the wealthy baronet Sir Thomas Bertram, while Mrs. Norris married a clergyman, who was given the living at the local parsonage by Sir Thomas; this allows the Norrises to live comfortably, yet far below the opulence of the Bertrams. The third sister, Mrs. Price, married a naval lieutenant who was shortly afterwards wounded in battle and left with a meager pension, scarcely enough to support their eventual household of nine children. Mrs. Norris, always wishing to appear virtuous, proposes that Lady Bertram take one of the children to live with her at Mansfield Park. They choose the eldest daughter Fanny Price, who is the protagonist of the novel. Thus, at age 10, Fanny is sent to live with her wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park.Fanny's new life is not as she might wish. Her energetic Aunt Norris, who strongly advocated the plan of bringing Fanny when it was first proposed, becomes less interested as time goes on and does little to assist with Fanny's care, except to frequently point out the bother and expense Fanny causes. Aunt Norris refuses to allow a fire to be set in Fanny's room, though Fanny is in poor health

Following Anne of Green Gables (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. This book follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, as well as new ones like Mr Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy.

In a town where a lot of poor people suffer, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", who in reality has never experienced true happiness. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The statue is then torn down and melted leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise.

In a town where a lot of poor people suffer, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", who in reality has never experienced true happiness. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The statue is then torn down and melted leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise.