Books in Tale Blazers series

Featuring 27 sketches the author wrote while living in California and Nevada, Mark Twain's first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was published in May 1867, and has been out of print for well over a century. As Roy Blount Jr. observes in his introduction, Jumping Frog isnot just the seed from which the Mark Twain empire sprang, it is his most devilish and quicksilver book, the one that made the fewest concessions to the book-buying market of the day--the work of a man who had profited, artistically, from the company of roughnecks. In his Afterword, Richard Buccinotes that Mark Twain rebelled against everything that was obscure in art, and everywhere sought to deepen and broaden his audience. His cause was not merely to deflate and criticize, but to create, in a new and democratic artistic language. The Jumping Frog book is only a small moment on his pathto remaking American fiction, but it is the beginning moment--reason enough to justify the book's reappearance now, after one hundred twenty five years. Grand historical significance aside, however, not a few of the sketches in this book still sparkle with their original humor and insight into thehuman condition.

Do your students enjoy a good laugh? Do they like to be scared? Or do they just like a book with a happy ending? No matter what their taste, our Creative Short Stories series has the answer.We've taken some of the world's best stories from dark, musty anthologies and brought them into the light, giving them the individual attention they deserve. Each book in the series has been designed with today's young reader in mind. As the words come to life, students will develop a lasting appreciation for great literature.The humor of Mark Twain...the suspense of Edgar Allan Poe...the danger of Jack London...the sensitivity of Katherine Mansfield. Creative Short Stories has it all and will prove to be a welcome addition to any library.

The sexton stood in the porch of Milford meeting-house, pulling busily at the bell-rope. The old people of the village came stooping along the street. Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on week days. When the throng had mostly streamed into the porch, the sexton began to toll the bell, keeping his eye on the Reverend Mr. Hoopers door. The first glimpse of the clergymans figure was the signal for the bell to cease its summons.

Do your students enjoy a good laugh? Do they like to be scared? Or do they just like a book with a happy ending? No matter what their taste, our Creative Short Stories series has the answer.We've taken some of the world's best stories from dark, musty anthologies and brought them into the light, giving them the individual attention they deserve. Each book in the series has been designed with today's young reader in mind. As the words come to life, students will develop a lasting appreciation for great literature.The humor of Mark Twain...the suspense of Edgar Allan Poe...the danger of Jack London...the sensitivity of Katherine Mansfield. Creative Short Stories has it all and will prove to be a welcome addition to any library.