Thirty More Famous Stories Retold - Couverture souple

Baldwin, James

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1599150085 ISBN 13 : 9781599150086

Editeur : Yesterday's Classics, 2005

Synopsis

This volume was written by the author in answer to the requests of hundreds of children for more stories like the ones they had enjoyed in "Fifty Famous Stories Retold." Since this book is intended for slightly older students (ages 7 to 10), the anecdotes related have a greater spirit of adventure matching the interests of these older students. We hear of the explorers Columbus, Balboa, Drake, and Ponce de Leon and their adventures in the New World. We see scientists at their moment of inspiration: Newton pondering the fall of an apple, Galileo observing the swinging lamps, and Archimedes yelling "Eureka!" We observe the persistence of Gutenberg in improving the printing press and James Watt in harnessing the energy of steam. We thrill to the exploits of the heroes at the fall of Troy and rejoice with Penelope at Odysseus's homecoming. We follow the fortunes of Rome from its founding through its wars with Carthage. We travel eastward with King Richard and Frederick Barbarossa during the Crusades. We applaud when King John signs the Magna Charta at Runnymede. The richer vocabulary and more complicated plot elements in these stories of historical events, scientific discoveries, and legendary heroes, gradually accustom children to following a longer narrative.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

COLUMBUS AND THE EGG CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS discovered America on the 12th of October, 1492. He had spent eighteen years in planning for that wonderful first voyage which he made across the Atlantic Ocean. The thoughts and hopes of the best part of his life had been given to it. He had talked and argued with sailors and scholars and princes and kings, saying, "I know that, by sailing west across the great ocean, one may at last reach lands that have never been visited by Europeans." But he had been laughed at as a foolish dreamer, and few people had any faith in his projects. At last, however, the king and queen of Spain gave him ships with which to make the trial voyage. He crossed the ocean and discovered strange lands, inhabited by a people unlike any that had been known before. He believed that these lands were a part of India. When he returned home with the news of his discovery there was great rejoicing, and he was hailed as the hero who had given a new world to Spain. Crowds of people lined the streets through which he passed, and all were anxious to do him honor. The king and queen welcomed him to their palace and listened with pleasure to the story of his voyage. Never had so great respect been shown to any common man. But there were some who were jealous of the discoverer, and as ready to find fault as others were to praise. "Who is this Columbus?" they asked, "and what has he done? Is he not a pauper pilot from Italy? And could not any other seaman sail across the ocean just as he has done?" One day Columbus was at a dinner which a Spanish gentleman had given in his honor, and several of these persons were present. They were proud, conceited fellows, and they very soon began to try to make Columbus uncomfortable. "You have discovered strange lands beyond the sea," they said. "But what of that? We do not see why there should be so much said about it. Anybody can sail across the ocean; and anybody can coast along the islands on the other side, just as you have done. It is the simplest thing in the world." Columbus made no answer; but after a while he took an egg from a dish and said to the company, "Who among you, gentlemen, can make this egg stand on end?"

Présentation de l'éditeur

It is now more than a year since you read my Fifty Famous Stories. Tliose stories, as you will remember, are quite short and easy. Before you had finished your second year at school you could read every one of them without stopping to study the meaning of the words. Many thousands of children have read those fifty stories, and then they have asked for more; and this is my excuse for the present volume. You are older now, and you have learned many things which you did not know when we first became acquainted. You are able to read almost everything. And so, in telling you Thirty More Famous Stories, I have chosen more difficult subjects and have not been so careful to select the shortest and easiest words. Still, you will not find this book hard to read, neither do I think it will prove to be less interesting than the earlier volume. Nearly all the stories are true, and there are not more than three or four that might not have happened. In every one there is something worth learning and remembering.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Yesterday's Classics
• Date d'édition: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1599150085
• ISBN 13: 9781599150086
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 236