Books in Abridged Classics S series

In the first sequel to Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery's feisty, redheaded heroine is now sixteen and a school teacher in the small village of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. Although older, Anne Shirley isn't necessarily wiser-and she hasn't outgrown her mischievous ways. Anne learns how complicated life can be when she takes two new orphans at Green Gables under her wings, meddles in someone else's love life, and learns about romance herself when she encounters the "odd behavior" of the very handsome Gilbert Blythe.

James Fenimore Cooper was the most popular American writer of his day, but today he is best known for The Last of the Mohicans. A part of his Leatherstocking Tales, The Last of the Mohicans takes place in 1757 during the French and Indian War, when France and England battled for control of the American and Canadian colonies. It features Cooper's best-known character, the woodsman Natty Bumppo, also known as "Hawkeye" or "Leatherstocking." Hawkeye is brave, noble, honest and respects the customs of the Indians. The Last of the Mohicans follows Hawkeye and his Indian companions as they become involved in the bloody French and Indian War. It is a classic exciting adventure story full of battles, captures and rescues.

Over 100 years after its original publication, The Railway Children is still one of Edith Nesbit's most beloved and delightful stories. Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis were very happy living in a comfortable house surrounded by a cook and servants and two loving parents, until one evening when there was a knock at the door and their father was mysteriously taken away by two men. Suddenly alone, their mother moves the family to a small cottage in the countryside. There, the children begin a series of exciting adventures, from saving a train filled with passengers from a landslide, to rescuing a baby from a fire, to aiding a penniless Russian exile, to eventually unraveling the mystery of their father's disappearance. The Railway Children was first published in 1906, in a serial included with the London Magazine. It has since been made into several television adaptations and two major films, most recently in 2000.

Every child loves a story about a horse, and Black Beauty remains one of the finest, most touching ever written. Set in Victorian London, the novel follows the shifting fortunes of a horse as he moves from owner to owner. Narrated by the noble Black Beauty himself, the tale offers an animal's perspective of the world and highlights the thoughtless, even cruel treatment animals endured during that period.

The Circular Staircase is perhaps Mary Roberts Rinehart's most famous story. The tale mixes bone-chilling suspense and romance with good humor to produce an absorbing and entertaining mystery. Wealthy, middle-aged spinster Rachel Innes is persuaded by her niece Gertrude and nephew Halsey to take a house in the country for the summer. Rachel is unaware that the house hides a sinister secret, and soon unexplained happenings and murder follow.