When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn't know what to expect. She's ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents "volunteer" Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna -- and that stubborn cow, Zora.

Timid and small for her age, nine-year-old Elizabeth Ann discovers her own abilities and gains a new perception of the world around her when she goes to live with relatives on a farm in Vermont.

"Its been five years since Anne came to Green Gables and shes quite grown-uppish now. True shes more interested in writing about love than falling in it, and her nose still has seven freckles. But as the new teacher at her old school, shes left her days of breaking slates and walking ridgepoles behind. Shes determined not to get into any more trouble. Then again, one cant get over the habit of being a little girl all at once" --

When Chester asks his mother about the tiny lights he sees in the tall grass one summer, she teaches him the firefly song, which he keeps singing even in the fall, after the fireflies are gone.

First published anonymously in 1872, "Under the Greenwood Tree" is Thomas Hardy's story of the romantic entanglement between church musician, Dick Dewey, and the attractive new school mistress, Fancy Day. A pleasant romantic tale set in the Victorian era, "Under the Greenwood Tree" is the first of Hardy's "Wessex" novels and is one of his most gentle and pastoral stories. Dick falls in love with the beautiful and talented Fancy the moment he meets...

Anne is marrying Gilbert Blythe! While she's deliriously happy to finally be with her version of Prince Charming, she's devastated when she learns that they will be making their new home miles away from her beloved Avonlea. But Anne is always up for an adventure, especially when she has Gilbert by her side. The newlyweds settle right in to their house of dreams. Anne couldn't be more content-the house is darling and fits all of her lofty requirements:...

In Rainbow Valley, Anne's children grow up alongside theose of Reverent John Meredith. With a distracted father and no mother, the Meredith children get into so much trouble they decide to form a Good-ConductClub to bring themselves up and punish themselves when they do wrong. Unfortunately this only makes things worse. What they really need is a stepmother, but everyone know stepmothers are wicked. Just ask Mary Vance. -- Adapted from page [4] cover....

When Kent Meyers was sixteen years old, his father died of a stroke. There was corn to plant, cattle to feed, and a farm to maintain. Here, in a fresh and vibrant voice, Meyers recounts the wake of his father's death and reflects on families, farms, and rural life in the Midwest. Meyers tells the story of growing up on the farm, from the joys of playing in the hayloft as a boy to the steady pattern of chores. He describes the power of winter prairie...