Rudyard Kipling's story of how the elephant got its trunk has always delighted children with its playful use of language and sense of high adventure. Never has there been a more satisfying rendering of Kipling's most beloved "Just So" story, which explains what the world was like "in the beginning of years when the world was new and all..." Ages five and up. Narrated by Jack Nicholson with musical accompaniment by Bobby McFerrin.

In the yellow hues of the African plains, hunting was easy for the leopard, whose light coat served as camouflage. When all the animals moved away, the hungry leopard had to follow them to the striped, splotchy, spotted forest. But he didn't stand a chance of survival unless, of course, he acquired spots himself.

This playful tale, in which a Parsee man seeks revenge on the nasty piggish rhino, is among the best known of Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories.

Just So Stories is a collection of contemporary children's stories by Rudyard Kipling. Many of the stories are fictitious explanations for natural occurrences, including the stories How the Whale Got His Throat and How the Camel Got His Hump. These stories will keep children entertained for hours.

Take a rollicking ride through the Wild, Wild West with the original cowboy, Pecos Bill. Raised by coyotes to brave the great frontier, Pecos rides his wild mustang Widow-Maker and invents the first rough-and-tumble cattle drive. Then he mounts a runaway cyclone like a buckin' bronco to create the Great Salt Lake.

Through the sands of the scalding deserts of India, two loafing vagabonds follow a half-scribbled map, heading for a land they hope to conquer.

Big as a mountain and stronger than a grizzly bear, Paul Bunyan was the greatest lumberjack ever to swagger through the North American forests. All the larger-than-life characters in Paul's supporting cast are here, including Babe the Blue Ox, eating her ton of grain a day, and Hotbiscuit Sally, with her acre-and-a-half griddle. The outrageous adventures of this quintessential American hero represent the very best in the proud tradition of American storytelling.

Finn McCoul is the greatest champion in all of Ireland, but when he discovers that the brutish giant Cucullin is after him, even the great Finn gets a wee bit nervous. But with some ingenious culinary magic on the part of his clever wife, Finn manages to get out of the scrape with his dignity intact. Well, most of it! This rollicking version of a beloved Celtic legend, read by actress Catherine O'Hara, with music by Boys of the Lough, will light up your ears.

Actress Kathleen Turner narrates this popular Grimm's fairy tale in which a king tells a young woman that she must spin a roomful of straw into gold by morning, or die. To complete this impossible task, she is forced to promise her firstborn child to a mysterious little man in return for his gold-spinning ability. Years later, he returns to claim what is his, only to find that he has underestimated the power of a mother's love.

Crockett is the ultimate American backwoods legend. Actor Nicolas Cage narrates this lively tale, which follows the original ring-tailed roarer of the western woods through a series of outlandish adventures, including his campaign for Congress and the Battle of the Alamo, where he literally brags himself into American history.

Tiny Tom, no larger than his father's thumb, embarks on a series of fantastical adventures that lead him to King Arthur's court. After saving King Arthur from the clutches of an evil sorcerer, he becomes a member of the Knights of the Round Table, and the darling of Queen Guinevere.

Hop on board the biggest ship ever built and hold on tight for the story of Captain Stormalong, the saltiest sailor to sail the seven seas. Actor John Candy narrates the tallest fish tale any landlubber has ever heard, and your family will be hooked on this hilarious tribute to American's Golden Age of Sail. An original score by NRBQ compliments this hilarious telling. Ages four and up. Part of the award-winning Rabbit Ears series, American Heroes and Legends.

"When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become real." First published in 1922, Margery Williams' enchanting story about a toy rabbit is a classic of children's literature. This gentle rendition comes alive through Meryl Streep's soothing narration and George Winston's beautiful music score. Ages four and up.

This is the touching story of the benevolent naturalist who roamed the Ohio valley in the early 1800s, planting apple orchards, making friends, and spreading goodwill along his way. Known to early settlers as a gentle soul with a reverence for all life, Johnny never missed a chance to save an abandoned animal or to savor a delicious apple pie. Garrison Keillor's narration is accompanied by original music by Mark O'Connor. Ages five and up.

Actress Glenn Close reads Washington Irving's eerie tale of romantic rivalry along the Hudson. The story pits the new schoolmaster Ichabod Crane against the local hero and bully, Brom Bones, for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel. This haunting drama climaxes with the appearance of one of the great, legendary ghosts of all time: the headless horseman.

Through the sands of the scalding deserts of India, two loafing vagabonds follow a half-scribbled map, heading for a land they hope to conquer.

Red Dog is a West Australian, a lovable friendly red kelpie who found widespread fame as a result of his habit of travelling all over Western Australia, hitching rides over thousands of miles, settling in places for months at a time and adopting new families before heading off again to the next destination and another family – sometimes returning to say hello years later.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. Guts, glory, danger, and sacrifice are all in a day's work for Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security. While investigating a murder on the ranch, Hank finds himself the number-one suspect.

Raised on a ranch in northern California, Jody is well-schooled in the hard work and demands of a rancher's life. He is used to the way of horses, too; but nothing has prepared him for the special connection he will forge with Gabilan, the hot-tempered pony his father gives him. With Billy Buck, the hired hand, Jody tends and trains his horse, restlessly anticipating the moment he will sit high upon Gabilan's saddle. But when Gabilan falls ill, Jody discovers there are still lessons he must learn about the ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man.

The Moody family moves from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Experience the pleasures and perils of ranching in 20th Century America, through the eyes of a youngster.

Bobby Hale is a Union veteran several times over. After the war, he sets his sights on California, but only makes it to Montana. As he stumbles around the West, from the Wyoming Territory to the Black Hills of the Dakotas, he finds meaning in the people he meets - settlers and native people - and the violent history he both participates in and witnesses.

Abby Lovitt has been riding horses for as long as she can remember, but Daddy hasn't let her name a single one. He calls all their geldings George and their mares Jewel and warns her not to get attached. The horses are there on the ranch to be sold, plain and simple. But with all the stress at school (the Big Four - Linda, Mary A., Mary N., Joan - have turned against her) and home (nothing feels right with her brother, Danny, gone), Abby can't help but seek comfort in the Georges and the Jewels, who greet her every day with soft nickers.

For years, the Empress of Namorn has pressed her young cousin, Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, to visit her vast lands within the Empire's borders. Sandry has avoided the invitation for as long as it was possible. Now, Sandry has agreed to pay that overdue visit. Sandry's uncle promises guards to accompany her. But they're hardly a group of warriors! They're her old friends from Winding Circle: Daja, Tris, and Briar. Sandry hardly knows them now. They've grown up and grown apart.

A Penguin Classic. First published in 1938, this volume of stories collected with the encouragement of his longtime editor Pascal Covici serves as a wonderful introduction to the work of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck. Set in the beautiful Salinas Valley of California, where simple people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world, these stories reflect Steinbeck’s characteristic interests: The tensions between town and country, laborers and owners, past and present.

Mr. Chesney operates Pilgrim Parties, a tour group that takes paying participants into an outer realm where the inhabitants play frightening and foreboding roles. The time has come to end the staged madness...but can it really be stopped?

Ten-year-old Jerry Pye wants a dog more than anything. He has a puppy picked out, but someone else wants him, too. Jerry and his sister must hurry to earn enough money to buy him. When they get Ginger home, strange things start to happen. A sneaky stranger in a yellow hat starts following them everywhere. When their precious Ginger disappears on Thanksgiving Day, they start looking for the man in the yellow hat. If they find him, they'll probably find their pup.

His second major venture into nonfiction (after Death in the Afternoon, 1932), Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway's lyrical journal of a month on safari in the great game country of East Africa, where he and his wife, Pauline, journeyed in December of 1933. Hemingway's well-known interest in - and fascination with - big-game hunting is magnificently captured in this evocative account of his trip.

The author tells the story as told to him of Anne Hobbs, a woman who went to Alaska in the 1920s to teach, but who had trouble due to her kindness to the Indians there.

This is the unabridged audio recording of M R James' excellent ghost story "A Neighbour's Landmark". Read by David Collings, this is sure to scare and delight in equal measure.

Audie Award, Literary Fiction, 2016. The story of Jack Crabbe, raised by both a white man and a Cheyenne chief. As a Cheyenne, Jack ate dog, had four wives, and saw his people butchered by General Custer's soldiers. As a white man, he participated in the slaughter of the buffalo and tangled with Wyatt Earp.