Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty

Summary: Parables From Nature is a collection of short stories which were originally published as 4 separate volumes. They are inspired from Nature and written for children. Nevertheless, Gatty uses children’s literature because she knows that in doing so, she can reach a wider group of readers and point out problems from the Victorian Age. (Summary by sailormoon for Librivox)

Read this book online

Download as a zipped file

Subscribe in iTunes

Internet Archive Page

Total running time: 11 hours, 14 minutes

Preface

A Lesson of Faith

The Law of Authority and Obedience

The Unknown Land

Knowledge Not the Limit of Belief

 

Training and Restraining

The Light of Truth

Waiting

A Lesson of Hope

A Circle of Blessing

The Law of the Wood

Active and Passive

Daily Bread

Not Lost but Gone Before

Mates in the Sunbeam

Red Snow

Whereunto?

Purring When You’re Pleased

The Voices of the Earth

The Master of the Harvest

The Deliverer

Inferior Animals

The General Thaw

The Light of Life

Gifts

Night and Day

Kicking

Imperfect Instruments

Cobwebs

Birds in the Nest

 

 

King of the Golden River by John Ruskin


Summary: When three brothers mortally offend Mr. Southwest Wind, Esquire, their farm is laid waste and their riches lost. Desperate for money, the brothers become goldsmiths and melt down their remaining treasures . . . only to find that the spirit of the King of the Golden River resides with a molded tankard, and knows the secret of the riches of the Golden River. (Introduction by Xenutia for Librivox)

Read this book online or on a Kindle

Download as a zipped file

Subscribe in iTunes

Internet Archive Page

Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

 

The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Read this book online or follow along on your Kindle or e-reader.

Download as a zipped file

Subscribe in iTunes

Internet archive page

Total running time: 12 hours, 22 minutes

To hear this book, click play in the box below or click on the chapter links.

00 ? Preface

01 ? The Twelve Dancing Princesses

02 ? The Princess Mayblossom

03 ? Soria Moria Castle

04 ? The Death of Koshchei the Deathless

05 ? The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen

06 ? The Master Thief

07 ? Brother and Sister

08 ? Princess Rosette

09 ? The Enchanted Pig

10 ? The Norka

11 ? The Wonderful Birch

12 ? Jack and the Beanstalk

13 ? The Little Good Mouse

14 ? Graciosa and Percinet

15 ? The Three Princesses of Whiteland

16 ? The Voice of Death

17 ? The Six Sillies

18 ? Kari Woodengown

19 ? Drakestail

20 ? The Ratcatcher

21 ? The True History of Little Goldenhood

22 ? The Golden Branch

23 ? The Three Dwarfs

24 ? Dapplegrim

25 ? The Enchanted Canary

26 ? The Twelve Brothers

27 ? Rapunzel

28 ? The Nettle Spinner

29 ? Farmer Weatherbeard

30 ? Mother Holle

31 ? Minnikin

32 ? Bushy Bride

33 ? Snowdrop

34 ? The Golden Goose

35 ? The Seven Foals

36 ? The Marvellous Musician

37 ? The Story of Sigurd

Viking Tales by Jennie Hall

Summary: Viking tales are tales from Iceland, featuring the king Halfdan and his son Harald. (Summary by Nadine)

Read this book online or on your Kindle or other e-reader.

Internet archive page

Download as a zipped file

Subscribe in iTunes

Total running time:? 3 hours, 30 minutes

To hear this book, click play in the box below or click on the chapter links.

00 – What the Sagas Were

01 – Part I, The Baby

02 – Part I, The Tooth Thrall

03 – Part I, Olaf’s farm

04 – Part I, Olaf’s fight with Havard

05 – Part I, Foes’-Fear

06 – Part I, Harald is King

07 – Part I, Harald’s Battle

08 – Part I, Gyda’s Saucy Message

09 – Part I, The Sea Fight

10 – Part I, King Harald’s Wedding

11 – Part I, King Harald Goes West-Over-Seas

12 – Part II, Homes in Iceland

13 – Part II, Eric the Red

14 – Part II, Leif and His New Land

15 – Part II, Wineland the Good

16 – Descriptive Notes

17 – Suggestions to Teachers

18 – A Reading List

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children by Edith Nesbit

Titania by Henry Meynell Rheam

Download as an Mp3 zipped file

Internet archive page


Subscribe in iTunes

To read this book online, click here.

Read the book and see the pictures on your Kindle or in EPUB format on another e-reader device.

Click here to see downloadable CurrClick materials which could be used in a study of Shakespeare. Clicking this link will take you away from My Audio School.

You may also stream this content by clicking this play box, or chapter by chapter using the links throughout this post.

Shakespeare Émile_Bayard_-_As_you_like_it

Preface and a Brief Life of Shakespeare

Chapter 1 A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Chapter 2 The Tempest

Chapter 3 As you Like it

Chapter 4 The Winter’s Tale

Chapter 5 King Lear

Cordelia by William Frederick Yeames

Chapter 6 Twelfth Night

Chapter 7 Much Ado about Nothing

Chapter 8 Romeo and Juliet

Juliet by Philip_H._Calderon

Chapter 9 Pericles

Chapter 10 Hamlet

Chapter 11 Cymbeline

Chapter 12 Macbeth

"Macbeth seeing the ghost of Banquo" by Théodore Chassériau

Chapter 13 Comedy of Errors

Chapter 14 Merchant of Venice

Chapter 15 Timon of Athens

Shakespeare Death_of_Desdemona Othello

Chapter 16 Othello

Chapter 17 The Taming of the Shrew

William Hunt's Claudio and Isabella from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure

Chapter 18 Measure for Measure

Chapter 19 Two Gentlemen of Verona

Chapter 20 All’s Well that Ends Well

Our Island Story Part 1 by H. E. Marshall

Cividale scorciodal Pontedeliavolo, photo released into the public domain by its author, Sebi1

Read this book online OR Read in EPUB format on an e-reader or on your Kindle device

Download as a zipped file

Internet archive page

Subscribe in iTunes

Part two of this book is also available. Click here to go to Our Island Story part 2.

To hear this book, click play in the box below, or click on the chapter titles in this post.

Click here to view downloadable curriculum from CurrClick which could be used for a study of the Middle Ages. This link will take you away from My Audio School.

Jacques-Louis David,  Oath of the Horatii 1784

Our Island Story: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Stories of Albion and Brutus

Chapter 2: The Coming of the Romans

Chapter 3: The Romans Come Again

Caligula depositing the ashes of his mother and brother in the tomb of his ancestors

Chapter 4: How Caligula Conquered Britain

Chapter 5: The Story of a Warrior Queen

Chapter 6: The Last of the Romans

Chapter 7: The Story of St. Alban

OIS 1 Merlin reads his prophecies to King Vortigern by Cotton Claudius

Chapter 8: Vortigern and King Constans

Chapter 9: The Coming of Hengist and Horsa

Chapter 10: Hengist’s Treachery

OIS 1 Hengist of Kent by John Speed, 1611

Chapter 11: How the Giant’s Dance was Brought to Britain

Chapter 12: The Coming of Arthur

King Arthur Holy Grail Tapestry, The Arming and Departure of the Knights

Chapter 13: The Founding of the Round Table

Chapter 14: Gregory and the Pretty Children

Chapter 15: How King Alfred Learned to Read

Chapter 16: King Alfred in the Cowherd’s Cottage

Chapter 17: More About Alfred the Great

King Alfred (The Great)

Chapter 18: Ethelred the Unready

Chapter 19: How Edmund Ironside Fought for the Crown

Chapter 20: Canute and the Waves

Chapter 21: Edward the Confessor

Chapter 22: Harold

Chapter 23: The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Battle of Stamford bridge

Chapter 24: The Battle of Hastings

Chapter 25: William the Conqueror

Chapter 26: Death of the King

Chapter 27: William the Red

Chapter 28: The Story of the White Ship

Chapter 29: The Story of King Stephen

Chapter 30: Gilbert and Rohesia

Chapter 31: Thomas a Becket

Earliest known portrayal of Thomas Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral

Chapter 32: Conquest of Ireland

Chapter 33: Richard Coer de Lion

Chapter 34: How Blondel found the King

Chapter 35: Prince Arthur

John of England signs Magna Carta from Cassell's history of England

Chapter 36: The Great Charter

Chapter 37: Hubert de Burgh

Chapter 38: Simon de Montfort

Chapter 39: The Story of the Poisoned Dagger

Chapter 40: The Little War of Chalons

Chapter 41: The First Prince of Wales

The Trial of William Wallace at Westminster by Maclise

Chapter 42: The Hammer of the Scots

Chapter 43: Robert the Bruce and Bohun

Chapter 44: The Battle of Bannockburn

Chapter 45: The Battle of Sluys

Battle of Crecy

Chapter 46: The Battle of Crecy

Chapter 47: The Siege of Calais

The Siege of Calais

Chapter 48: The Battle of Poitiers

Chapter 49: Wat Tyler’s Rebellion

Death of Wat Tyler by Froissart

Chapter 50: How King Richard II Lost His Throne

Chapter 51: The Battle of Shrewsbury

Chapter 52: How Prince Hal was Sent to Prison

Chapter 53:  The Battle of Agincourt

Chapter 54: The Maid of Orleans

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Peter Pan 1915 cover 2

Internet archive page

Download as a zipped file

Subscribe in iTunes

Read this book

Running time: 5 hours, 4 minutes

Click here to see a selection of downloadable curriculum resources from CurrClick which could be used while reading this book. This link will take you away from My Audio School.

This unabridged version of Peter Pan is darker than the well-known Disney version, and is more appropriate for older children than younger ones.

Click play in the box below or on the chapter titles to listen to this book.

Peter Pan cover 1911

Peter Breaks Through

The Shadow

Come Away! Come Away!

The FlightThe Island Come True

Peter Pan pipes by Francis Donkin, 1911

The Little House

The Home Under the Ground

The Mermaids Lagoon

The Neverbird

The Happy Home

Peter Pan Wendy Darling

Wendy’s Story

The Children are Carried Off

Do You Believe in Fairies

The Pirate Ship

Captain Hook by F. D. Bedford

Hook or Me This Time

The Return Home

When Wendy Grew Up

Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess

Northern Cardinal, Male

Download as a zipped file

Internet archive

Subscribe in iTunes

To read this book for yourself, click here.

Click here to view downloadable curriculum resources from CurrClick relating to a study of birds.

You can also click play in the box below to hear this book, or click on the chapter titles in this post.

Preface

winter wren

Jenny Wren Arrives

The Old Orchard Bully

Jenny Has a Good Word for Some Sparrows

white throated sparrow

Chippy, Sweetvoice and Dotty

Peter Learns Something He Hadn’t Guessed

An Old Friend in a New Home

Camille Pissarro, Le verger (The_Orchard), 1872

The Watchman of the Old Orchard

Old Clothes and Old Houses

Longbill and Teeter

 Redwinged blackbird

Redwing and Yellow Wing

Drummers and Carpenters

Some Unlike Relatives

More of the Blackbird Family

Western Meadowlark

Bob White and Carol the Meadow Lark

A Swallow and One Who Isn’t

A Robber in the Old Orchard

More Robbers

Forest, a painting by Paul Cézanne, circa 1902-1904

Some Homes in the Green Forest

A Maker of Thunder and a Friend in Black

A Fisherman Robbed

A Fishing Party

Some Feathered Diggers

Some Big Mouths

Nashville and Tennessee Warblers

The Warblers Arrive

Three Cousins Quite Unlike

Peter Gets a Lame Neck

A New Friend and an Old One

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Peter Sees Rosebreast and Finds Redcoat

The Constant Singers

Jenny Wren’s Cousins

Voices of the Dusk

Peter Saves a Friend and Learns Something

A Royal Dresser and a Late Nester
Mourning Dove

Mourner the Dove and Cuckoo

A Butcher and a Hummer

Male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

A Stranger and a Dandy

Farewells and Welcomes

Honker and Dippy Arrive

Peter Discovers Two Old Friends
Birdseed mixture in feeder

Some Merry Seed-Eaters

Some More Friends Come with the Snow

Peter Learns Something about Spooky

Queer Feet and a Queerer Bill

More Folks in Red

Hunters in Snow, Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. 105
Hunters in Snow, Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.

Peter Sees Two Terrible Feathered Hunters

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Just so Camel 3

For this book’s internet archive page, click here.

Download as a zipped file

Subscribe in iTunes

To read it yourself online, click here.

To listen, click play in the box below or click on the chapter titles.

Just so whale

How the Whale Got His Throat

Just so Camel

How The Camel Got His Hump

How The Rhinoceros Got His Skin

Just so rhino

How the Leopard Got His Spots

The Elephant’s Child

The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo


The Beginning of the Armadillos

How the First Letter was Written

capital K

How The Alphabet Was Made

The Crab that Played with the Sea

The Cat that Walked by Himself

The Butterfly that Stamped

Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin

Diogenes by John William Waterhouse

For this book’s internet archive file on Librivox, click here.

Subscribe in iTunes

Download as a zipped file

To read this book online, click here OR Read it on your Kindle or on another handheld device in EPUB format

To listen to this book, click play in the box below or click on the chapter titles in this post.

King Alfred (The Great)

Concerning These Stories

King Alfred and the Cakes

King Alfred and the Beggar

King Canute on the Seashore

The Sons of William the Conqueror

The White Ship

King John and the Abbott

Robin Hood and Little John by Louis Rhead, 1912

A Story of Robin Hood

Bruce and the Spider

The Black Douglas

Three Men of Gotham

Other Wise Men of Gotham

The Miller of the Dee

Sir Philip Sidney

Ungrateful Soldier

Sir Humphrey Gilbert

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh

Pocahontas

Pocahontas Marriage of Pocahontas

George Washington and His Hatchet

Grace Darling

The Story of William Tell

Arnold Winkelried

The Bell of Atri

Napoleon Bonaparte Crossing the Alps by Delaroche

How Napoleon Crossed the Alps

The Story of Cincinnatus

The Story of Regulus

Cornelia’s Jewels

Androclus and the Lion

Horatius at the Bridge

Divico und Caesar

Julius Caesar

The Sword of Damocles

Damon and Pythias

A Laconic Answer

The Ungrateful Guest

The Taming of Bucephalus

Alexander and Bucephalus

Diogenes the Wise Man

The Brave Three Hundred

Socrates and His House

The King and His Hawk

Doctor Goldsmith

The Kingdoms

The Barmecide Feast

The Endless Tale

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Maximilian and the Goose Boy

The Inchcape Rock

Richard Wittington and his Cat

Whittington and His Cat

Casabianca

Antonio Canova

Picciola

Mignon

Our Island Story Part 2 by H. E. Marshall

Lady Jane Grey Preparing for Execution, painted by George Whiting Flagg in 1835

To stream these chapters online or to download to MP3, click here.

To read the text yourself, click here .

The first half of this book is also available. Click here for Our Island Story Part 1.

To hear this book, click play on the box below, or click on the chapter titles throughout this post.

Tudor rose.

Summary from Librivox:
Our Island Story was first published in 1905 and became an instant classic. Beginning with the Romans and following the triumphs and foibles of the good, not so good and the downright despicable figures of history; we are treated to a dazzling montage of kings, queens, barons, knights, explorers, movers and shakers that have played a key role in the history of England.

Marshall freely mixes folk tale with historical fact and in so doing paints a very vivid picture of the past in a style reminiscent of all that is finest in the children’s story-telling tradition. This is the second section of that work and will carry you from the convoluted and bloody Wars of the Roses up to the death of Queen Victoria and the resolution of the Boer War.

Please be advised that this book was written in the early years of the 20th century and there will be words and phrases used then, in all innocence, that are considered politically incorrect in this age. It’s perfectly fine for children to listen to but please ensure there is someone on hand who can explain these terms in a mature fashion.(Summary by Jim, for Librivox.org)

Wars of the Roses

55 The red rose and the white

56  Queen Margaret and the Robbers

57 The King Maker

58 Edward V – The King Who was Never Crowned

Edward V by Wenceslas Hollar

59 The Two Little Princes in the Tower

60 Henry VII – Story of the Make-Believe Prince

61 Another Make-Believe Prince

62 Henry VIII and The Field of the Cloth of Gold

HenryXIII

63 How the King Became the Defender of the Faith

64 Henry VIII: The Story of the King’s Six Wives

65 The Story of a Boy King

66 The Story of Lady Jane Grey

Hatfield House, where Queen Elizabeth held her first council of state, photo by Allan Engelhardt CCAS2 license

67 How the Princess Elizabeth Became a Prisoner

68 Mary I – How a Candle Was Lit in England

69 How the Imprisoned Princess Became a Queen

Elizabeth 1 England

70 Elizabeth – The Story of a Most Unhappy Queen

71 How England was saved from the Spaniards

72 Elizabeth–The story of Sir Walter Raleigh

73 The Queen’s Favorite

74 The Story of Guy Fawkes

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall, 1882

75 The Story of the Mayflower

76 How a Woman Struck a Blow for Freedom

77 How the King and the Parliament Quarrelled

78 The Story of How the King was Brought to His Death

Oliver Cromwell Imprisoning King Charles I

79 The Adventures of a Prince

80 The Commonwealth – The Lord Protector

81 How Death Walked in the Streets of London

82 The Story of How London was Burned

OIS2 Makasiinit_tulessa by Petteri Sulonen Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license

83 The Fiery Cross

84 The Story of King Monmouth

85 The Story of the Seven Bishops

86 William the Deliverer

87 The Story of Brave Londonderry

88 The Story of a Sad Day in a Highland Glen

british flag

89 How the Union Jack was Made

90 The Story of the Earl of Mar’s Hunting Party

91 The Story of Bonnie Prince Charlie

Bonnie Prince Charlie

92 The Story of Flora MacDonald

93 The Story of The Black Hole of Calcutta

94 The Story of How Canada Was Won

The Delaware Regiment at the Battle of Long Island

95 How America Was Lost

96 A Story of a Spinning Wheel

97 England Expects that Every Man will do his Duty

98 George III – The Battle of Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo by Robinson, circa 1820

99 The First Gentleman in Europe

100 Two Peaceful Victories

101 The Girl Queen

102 Victoria – When Bread was Dear

103 Victoria – Peace

Queen Victoria by Melville

104 Victoria – War

105 The Land of Snow

106 Victoria – The Siege of Delhi

Secundra Bagh after the Indian Mutiny

107 The Pipes at Lucknow

108 Victoria – Under the Southern Cross

109 From Cannibal to Christian

110 Victoria – Boer and Briton

111 List of Kings from Edward the Confessor

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Snow White

To download this book as a zipped file, click here.


To subscribe in iTunes, click here.

Internet archive page

To read this book yourself, click here.

To play this book, click play on the box below, or click on the chapter titles in this post.


01 – The Bronze Ring

02 – Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess

03 – East of the Sun and West of the Moon

04 – The Yellow Dwarf

05 – Little Red Riding Hood

06 – The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

07 – Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper

Aladdin saluted her with joy

08 – Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

09 – The Tale of a Youth who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was

10 – Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin

11 – Beauty and the Beast

12 – The Master – Maid

13 – Why the Sea is Salt

14 – The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots

Puss in Boots

15 – Felicia and the Pot of Pinks

16 – The White Cat

17 – The Water Lily. The Gold spinners

18 – The Terrible Head

19 – The Story of Pretty Goldilocks

20 – The History of Whittington

21 – The Wonderful Sheep

22 – Little Thumb

23 – The Forty Thieves

Arabian Nights by Benjamin-Constant

24 – Hansel and Grettel

25 – Snow-white and Rose-red

26 – The Goose Girl

27 – Toads and Diamonds

28 – Prince Darling

29 – Blue Beard

30 – Trusty John

31 – The Brave Little Tailor

32 – A Voyage to Lilliput

33 – The Princess on the Glass Hill

34 – The story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou

35 – The History of Jack the Giant Killer

36 – The Black Bull of Norroway

37 – The Red Etin

Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare

Hamlet Playscene by Harold Copping

Download as a zipped file

Internet archive page

Subscribe in iTunes

Click here to see downloadable CurrClick materials which could be used in a study of Shakespeare. Clicking this link will take you away from My Audio School.

To hear this book, click on the chapter links in this post or click play in the box below.

To read this book yourself, click here.

Miranda, The Tempest by JW Waterhouse

00 – Preface

01 – The Tempest

02 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

03 – Winter’s Tale

04 – Much Ado About Nothing

Dogberry examining Conrade and Borachio from Much Ado about Nothing

05 – As You Like It

06 – Two Gentlemen of Verona

07 – Merchant of Venice

Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Shakespeare's Shylock by Charles Buchel

08 – Cymbeline

09 – King Lear

10 – Macbeth

11 – All’s Well That Ends Well

12 – Taming of the Shrew

13 – Comedy of Errors

Juliet by JW Waterhouse

14 – Measure for Measure

15 – Twelfth Night

16 – Timon of Athens

17 – Romeo and Juliet

18 – Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Ophelia by JW Waterhouse

19 – Othello

20 – Pericles, Prince of Tyre