How did the whale get his throat? Why was the lazy camel lumbered with a hump? And how did the elephant's insatiable curiosity earn him a trunk? Kipling first invented these delightful stories about the beginning of the world and the first animals in it for his own daughter, Josephine, who tragically died when she was six. Devastated by her loss, Kipling compiled the stories they had shared together into a treasury, which was first published in 1902....

Black Beauty enjoys a carefree upbringing in a pleasant meadow with his mother, where his gentle first master trains him well until he is reluctantly forced to sell him. Through a long and varied life, Black Beauty passes from one owner to the next; some treat him well, others are so cruel that they inflict lasting damage. Anna Sewells biographical novel about a horse is one of the bestselling books of all time, and her depiction of Victorian society's...

As a result of a wager made at his London club, Phileas Fogg accepts a challenge to make a world tour in no more than 80 days (an incredible feat for anyone living in the Victorian era). Accompanied by his French valet, Passepartout, he sets out in a wild race against time; and with superhuman effort -- along with loads of cool reserve in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles -- the resourceful Englishman and his loyal servant circle the globe...