A short story:A toddler tries to negotiate the perfect Halloween costume in spite of her limited communication skills.Contains the first chapter of the author's novella, Thaddeus Whiskers and the DragonA short story:A toddler tries to negotiate the perfect Halloween costume in spite of her limited communication skills.Contains the first chapter of the author's novella, Thaddeus Whiskers and the Dragon

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Times has changed, says Maw to herself, says she. Things ain't like what they used to be. Time was when I worked from sunup to sundown, and we didn't have no daylight-saving contraptions on the old clock, neither. The girls was too little then, and I done all the work myself—cooking, sweeping, washing and ironing, suchlike. I never got to church Sundays because I had to stay home and get the Sunday dinner. Like enough they'd bring the preacher home to dinner. You got to watch chicken—it won't cook itself. Weekdays was one like another, and except for shoveling snow and carrying more coal I never knew when summer quit and winter come. There was no movies them days—a theater might come twice a winter, or sometimes a temperance lecturer that showed a picture of the inside of a drunkard's stomach, all redlike and awful. We didn't have much other entertainment. Of course we had church sociables now and then, or a surprise party on someone. Either way, the fun no more than paid for the extra cooking. I never seen nothing or went nowhere, and if when I was down town after the groceries I'd 'a' stepped into the drug store and bought me a lemonade—and they didn't have no nut sundaes then—they'd of had me up before the church for frivolous conduct.

This work was compiled by Various Authors and despite its age continues to be popular with modern readers

The Book That Inspired The Movie My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world. —from the Introduction Actual reader feedback: "I find it truly appalling that there are people in the world like you. You are a disgusting, vile, repulsive, repugnant, foul creature. Because of you, I don't believe in God anymore. No just God would allow someone like you to exist." "I'll stay with God as my lord, but you are my savior. I just finished reading your brilliant stories, and I laughed so hard I almost vomited. I want to bring that kind of joy to people. You're an artist of the highest order and a true humanitarian to boot. I'm in both shock and awe at how much I want to be you." Now with 16 Pages of Photos and a New Introduction

Teen loner James Sauerbaugh wants nothing more than a chance to get his act together, when the Forces That Be land him in a Shriner band as a substitute. James discovers this band of decrepit drunks play circus screamers flawlessly. An ancient trombonist helps him develop an appreciation of the old coots and their Shriner mission. A touching, fun book that links generations.Circuses and parades go wildly awry when James Sauerbaugh joins a band of Shriners as a substitute trombonist. It turns out the band members are ancient and bombed out of their minds, but James comes to relish the friendships and wild fun on the bus and on parade floats. When Moses Grand, a fellow trombonist, rescues him from death at the hands of a ruthless killer, the story takes an ironic twist. Nobody can have enough books with circuses in them.

This book is one of the classic book of all time.

Christmas Tales and Christmas VerseThe Holy Cross and Other TalesThe House, An Episode in the Lives of Reuben Baker, Astronomer, and of His WifeA Little Book of Profitable TalesThe Love Affairs of a BibliomaniacSecond Book of TalesEchoes from the Sabine FarmJohn Smith, U.S.A.A Little Book of Western VerseLove-Songs of ChildhoodSongs and Other Verse

This fierce and beautiful story charts the histories of two women: Rae, young, unmarried, and far from home, awaits the birth of her first child. Lila, a fortune-teller with no interest in the future, lost her own daughter more than a quarter of a century earlier in New York. When these two women meet in Southern California, it s earthquake weather the time when unexpected things happen. Immediately, their lives and fortunes become intertwined, as Rae tries to break away from the man she has been with since high school and Lila reaches into the past to search for the child she lost.This contemporary world is set against a series of Russian folktales told by an old woman who lives at the edge of Manhattan, in a place so well hidden it can only be found once in a lifetime." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The first ever Mayoral election is about to take place in Seagull City.Can Cecil Sneezebottom win against all hope?Can he control the egos of the rabid city councillors?What will he do about the Mall Rats who plague the city shopping centre?These stories and more bound energetically from the page in this vignette that will enthral you from Redfern Station all the way to Circular Quay.What people are saying about this book:"This is exactly the sort of thing I was trying to prevent": Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Author of the best-selling book 'The Social Contract and Discourse' (1762)."I can't believe Buddy got 52% in his English at school. In retrospect, I can see that mark was much too high": Archie Fowler, English Teacher."I particularly liked the disclaimer. Well done, son": Mrs Etna Fulldae

This is the second novel in the "Corduroy Mansions" series by Alexander McCall Smith, a serial novel exclusively for Telegraph.co.uk. A new chapter appears online each weekday beginning Monday, September 21, 2009. Audio by Andrew Sachs. Illustrations by Ian McIntosh.

A love potion in a jelly bean? Fame and fortune are surely only a swallow away when Dr. Sylvie Fontaine discovers a chemical formula guaranteed to attract the opposite sex. Though her own love life is purely hypothetical, the shy chemist's professional future is assured . . . as soon as she can find a human guinea pig. The only problem is the wrong man has swallowed Sylvie's love potion. Bad boy Lucien LeDeux is more than she can handle even before he's dosed with the Jelly Bean Fix. The wildly virile lawyer is the last person she'd choose to subject to the scientific method. When the dust settles, Sylvie and Luc have the answers to some burning questions: Can a man die of testosterone overload? Can a straightlaced female lose every single one of her inhibitions? And they learn that old-fashioned romance is still the best catalyst for love.

Perplexed Prince Dolph, Xanth's precocious shapeshifter, should be in love but isn't. Nonetheless, he must choose between two fiancees - Nada the uninterested and Electra the uninteresting - or all three of them will suffer the most dire of consequences. Luckily a convenient catastrophe has popped up to distract Dolph from his dilemma - the foal-napping of young Che Centaur by goblins. And the only one who knows where Che is is a nice but remarkably naive elflike girl named Jenny from the World of Two Moons. If anyone can save the missing centaur...she sure can't!