Twelve-year-olds Duncan Dorfman, April Blunt, and Nate Saviano meet at the Youth Scrabble Tournament where, although each has a different reason for attending and for needing to win, they realize that something more important is at stake than the grand prize

This volume collects three sea-going travel narratives by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., that span 25 years of maritime history, from the age of sail to the age of steam. Two Years Before the Mast (1840) is the classic account of his voyages around Cape Horn and time ashore in California in the decade before the Gold Rush. Written with an unprecedented realism that challenged the romanticism of previous maritime literature, Dana's narrative vividly portrays the daily routines and hardships of life at sea, the capriciousness and brutality of merchant ship captains and officers, and the beauty and danger of the southern oceans in winter

This book describes a group tour of "Europe and the Holy Land" Samuel Clemens experienced and reported about 100 years ago. He describes, in a way that only Mark Twain can, the people he meets and the places they go from the point of view from the American West. One memorable example of his American perspective is a comparison of Italian mountains, lakes and rivers with his beloved Rockies, Tahoe, and Mississippi. He also paints humorous portraits of the tour guides and his fellow travelers

During his wide travels John Dos Passos witnessed and wrote about many of the tumultuous events of the early 20th century. This volume collects the vibrant and insightful travel books and essays. Rosinante to the Road Again collects essays on Spanish life, literature, and art. Orient Express describes a journey in 1921 through Turkey, the Soviet Caucasus, Persia, and Iraq

In these three influential works, Washington Irving helped shape American conceptions of the western frontier. A Tour on the Prairies is Irving"s account of his month-long journey through what is now eastern Oklahoma. His descriptions of wild landscapes, rugged inhabitants, and dramatic chases and hunts display an eye for romantic sublimity and keen appreciation of the frontiersman"s "secret of personal freedom"

The Phantom Tollbooth is a remarkable story whose humor, irony, sense, and nonsense make it one of the most unusual and appealing books of the twentieth century

This is a delightful fable in the great tradition. The long-tailed field mouse who is the hero of the story, was involved - and this is true - in a programme of field research and while scientists observe him he observes man and the rest of nature. This enchanting book reads like a fairy tale, but the author has indeed built a bridge from fairyland to science, and there is profound meaning in this story which will be a delight to people of all ages who care about man and nature

Tuck Everlasting is a fantasy children's novel by Natalie Babbitt. The book explores the concept of immortality and the reasons why it might not be as desirable as it appears to be

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963

The pinnacle of classical drama in Greece, the three-part, 2,500-year-old Oedipus cycle remains a touchstone of Western culture. Near perfect technically, the plays feature headstrong heroes, intense plots, and breathtaking imagery that have influenced generations of artists, philosophers, and statesmen. These fresh, historically faithful renditions by renowned translator Peter Constantine bring new life to civilization`s most meaningful dramas