HardPress Classic Books Series

Excerpt from The Sunbonnet Babies in Italy"See that smoking mountain, Molly! Look! I believe it is a volcano. It is Mount Vesuvius Yes, I know it is Mount Vesuvius!"May, the Sunbonnet Baby, was talking with Molly, her little Sunbonnet Baby sister. They were standing on the deck of a great ocean steamer. They had been sailing on the steamer for days and days. They had sailed more than four thousand miles away from their home in America. Now they were almost at the end of their journey. They would very soon be in Italy.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

For Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, life has not been a fairy tale. After the mysterious disappearance of their parents, the sisters are sent to live with their grandmother--a woman they believed was dead! Granny Relda reveals that the girls have two famous ancestors, the Brothers Grimm, whose classic book of fairy tales is actually a collection of case files of magical mischief. Now the girls must take on the family responsibility of being fairy tale detectives.

McKenna's cast is coming off soon, but she still has to get through tryouts for the Shooting Star competitive gymnastics team. She's finally doing better in school, thanks to Josie's tutoring. When Josie needs help facing her fear of horseback riding, McKenna wants to be there for her friend. Only that causes trouble with her gymnastics teammate Toulane, who seems jealous when McKenna spends time with Josie. McKenna desperately wants to be true to both of them. But how can McKenna cheer for Josie at the riding center, support Toulane at the gym, and work toward her own goal of making the competitive team?

Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters; Or, Battling with Flames from the Air By , Victor Appleton

Lady Abigail Moran and her partner Simon Thorne are, not to put too fine a point upon it, thieves. Well-born, well-mannered, well-dressed, well at home in 1880s London, but thieves all the same. How else can they keep Simon in waistcoats? Their latest caper involves pearls, a squealing beauty, and the most amazing magician of all time. Really. One has but to ask him.[Co-authored with Amy, Kevin, and Dana Rushton]You know how there are a zillion Christmas movies, books, and TV specials with titles like “The Christmas” plus something else? It occurred to the authors that the formulas used in these stories could probably be applied – or shattered – using just about any noun in a title like that. So we came up with a new tradition.The rules are simple:1. Open a Christmas book and point to a random spot on a random page.2. Scan along the text until you come to a noun. 3. Write that story.Check back each year to get the latest stories!

A tale set in ancient Cornwall and the lost world of Aeden, about a man and his wife, and the man's quest for Truth at any cost - and for the Perfect Woman. He finds her, and she teaches him to honour the Goddess in his wife, and to return to her. But she has been taken far away. He must find her and win her back. Only then will they fulfill their remarkable destiny - and at last find true love.A tale set in ancient Cornwall and the lost world of Aeden, about a young swordsmith named Calibur, and his wife, Rosa. It also features a rat, a rose, an anklebiter, a colony of icon-makers, a goatherd, a muse, a monastery, and a goddess.Calibur's troubles all begin one morning at the local market. He is selling swords to make ends meet, as usual, when a stranger's glittering wares catch his eye. He rashly trades all his swords for a little wisdom book - and an icon of a mysterious holy woman of great beauty. Bewitched by the book's promise of ultimate Truth, and maddened by a vision of the woman in the icon, he leaves Rosa to go into the mountains on a quest for Truth at any cost - and for the Perfect Woman of the icon. In the mountains he joins a hermitage, but becomes disillusioned with the ascetic quest for truth. He leaves the hermits to their disputations, and sets out for home. He becomes lost in the wilderness. There he is rescued by the woman of the icon whom he adores, but to his sorrow she commands him to honour the Goddess in his wife, and to return to her. He reluctantly obeys. But she has been taken far away, beyond the borders of the world, by the Boatman of Avalon. He must find the boatman, and prove that he is worthy to be ferried across to that other place. There he must find Rosa and with the help of Ainenia, the mysterious Lady of Aeden, and win her back from a Thorn Convent run by the Aghmaath. These are from the darkened world of Phangkor, and teach the absolute relinquishment of the will to life, and hate and despise the Goddess and love. Only together will Calibur and Rosa fulfill their remarkable destiny back on Earth - and at last find true love.The Icon of Ainenia can be read alone, but it refers to things more fully dealt with in the epic The Apples of Aeden, In the telling of the story of the Icon, it was inevitable that some greater matters should be mentioned, concerning the ancient Order of the Makers and the Nine Worlds. If this becomes a distraction, my apologies in advance; if (as I hope will be the case) you find yourself wishing to know more about Ainenia, Anklebiters, the Aghmaath, Avalon and the whole World of Aeden, there is a remedy: the 'Apples of Aeden' epic, set in the present time and based on the historical source book, 'The Ennead of Aeden', and the Diary of Shelley Arkle. Volume one, The Girl and the Guardian, is now available as an ebook.

In Nose for St. Patrick, Tooten has a sudden dislike to another service dog. The ensuring trouble brings to light a crime that they solve in this free, delightful novella.Meet Tooten and Ter, an unlikely crime-busting duo. Terrance has been dropped into the Colorado foster system and is lucky enough to find a great foster dad. He also gets the best companion ever in Tooten, a small mixed breed dog who is in training to be a service animal. Together, Tooten and Ter stumble into shady dealings and manage to solve the cases with just a little help from Ter's foster dad, a retired police captain.In Nose for St. Patrick, Tooten has a sudden dislike to another service dog. The ensuring trouble brings to light a crime that they solve in this free, delightful novella.

A beloved classic comes to life for a new generation in the upcoming Walt Disney Studios live action Aladdin film, and this thrilling novelization invites fans to revisit Aladdin's tale over and over again.

We're surrounded by it,but forget how to see the creatures that we share the world with - from tiny insects to birds and flowers.Long ago Indian Deity Shiva fought the Demon Mahash high above the Earth until one of Shiva's knives found the Demon's heart and he fell to earth and landed deep in the South American jungle. The knife was found by a mortal man that used it's power to build and control the great empire of the Mayans until him and all his kind fell victim to it's power. Now the last of the Mayan Priests has journeyed to the Emerald City of So-Cal to reclaim the Shiv of Shiva, but when Masked Luchador Obscuro is hired to stop him everything takes a turn into pulse pounding insanity.

THE hotel carriage rolled away from Mr. Bradford\'s door with papa and mamma, the two nurses and four little children inside, and such a lot of trunks and baskets on the top; all on their way to Quam Beach. Harry and Fred, the two elder boys, were to stay with grandmamma until their school was over; and then they also were to go to the sea-side.The great coach carried them across the ferry, and then they all jumped out and took their seats in the cars. It was a long, long ride, and after they left the cars there were still three or four miles to go in the stage, so that it was quite dark night when they reached Mrs. Jones\'s house. Poor little sick Bessie was tired out, and even Maggie, who had enjoyed the journey very much, thought that she should be glad to go to bed as soon as she had had her supper. It was so dark that the children could not see the ocean, of which they had talked and thought so much; but they could hear the sound of the waves as they rolled up on the beach. There was a large hotel at Quam, but Mrs. Bradford did not choose to go there with her little children; and so she had hired all the rooms that Mrs. Jones could spare in her house. The rooms were neat and clean, but very plain, and not very large, and so different from those at home that Maggie thought she should not like them at all. In that which was to be the nursery was a large, four-post bedstead in which nurse and Franky were to sleep; and beside it stood an old-fashioned trundle-bed, which was for Maggie and Bessie. Bessie was only too glad to be put into it at once, but Maggie looked at it with great displeasure. "I sha\'n\'t sleep in that nasty bed," she said. "Bessie, don\'t do it.""Indeed," said nurse, "it\'s a very nice bed; and if you are going to be a naughty child, better than you deserve. That\'s a great way you have of calling every thing that don\'t just suit you, \'nasty.\' I\'d like to know where you mean to sleep, if you don\'t sleep there.""I\'m going to ask mamma to make Mrs. Jones give us a better one," said Maggie; and away she ran to the other room where mamma was undressing the baby. "Mamma," she said, "won\'t you make Mrs. Jones give us a better bed? That\'s just a kind of make-believe bed that nurse pulled out of the big one, and I know I can\'t sleep a wink in it.""I do not believe that Mrs. Jones has another one to give us, dear," said her mother. "I know it is not so pretty as your little bed at home, but I think you will find it very comfortable. When I was a little girl, I always slept in a trundle-bed, and I never rested better. If you do not sleep a wink, we will see what Mrs. Jones can do for us to-morrow; but for to-night I think you must be contented with that bed; and if my little girl is as tired as her mother, she will be glad to lie down anywhere."

Renowned spiritual teacher and co-founder of The Way of the Rose Perdita Finn teaches the art and healing power of connecting with the dead, as she guides readers through the magical process of conversing with the unseen world."Finn weaves a spellbinding meditation . . . an affecting ode to the power of the unseen." —Publisher's Weekly What if you could live in a world where the guidance of those who were gone was available, right at your very fingertips? It's possible, if we are open to it. Anyone can reclaim the forgotten guidance of the dead, and anyone can return to the realm of magic and miracles. In Take Back the Magic: Conversations with the Unseen World, author, spiritual teacher, and co-founder of The Way of the Rose Perdita Finn reveals that life is beginningless, love is endless, and those who have passed don’t truly go anywhere when they die. Weaving together memoir, history, and a...