The Jungle Book

First published over a century ago, these three unabridged stories from THE JUNGLE BOOK about the man-cub, Mowgli, have delighted adults and children ever since. The stories tell of Mowgli’s upbringing among the wolves; his lessons in the Law of the Jungle from Baloo the bear, Bagheera the black panther, and Kaa the python; his kidnapping by the Monkey People; and his clash with the evil tiger, Shere Khan.

The Jungle Book is critiqued as presenting a colonial British view of India.

The Storm

A little boy is excited about a trip to the beach with his parents planned for the following day. But a bad storm is coming, and he has started to worry they won’t be able to go. He watches as the sky grows darker through the afternoon. His mother and father close the shutters and bring the potted plants indoors. Then the storm arrives.

Dare To Disappoint

As a child in Izmir, Turkey in the 1980 and 90s, Ozge Samanci watched as her country struggled between its traditional religious heritage and the new secular westernized world of brand-name products and television stars. In Ozge’s own family, she struggled to figure out the place where she belonged, too. Her older sister was a perfect student, and her dad hoped Ozge would study hard, go to good schools, and become an engineer to find stability in their country’s uncertain economic climate. But Ozge was a dreamer and wanted adventure. Could she be a scuba diver like Jacques Costeau? Or should she become a world-famous actress? This touching memoir shows how Ozge dared to overcome both her family and her country’s expectations to find happiness by being an artist.

The Storyteller

Long, long ago, like a pearl around a grain of sand, the Kingdom of Morocco formed at the edge of the great, dry Sahara. It had fountains of cool, refreshing water to quench the thirst of the desert, and storytellers to bring the people together.

But as the kingdom grew, the people forgot the dangers of the desert, and they forgot about the storytellers, too. All but one young boy, who came to the Great Square for a drink and found something that quenched his thirst even better: wonderful stories. As he listened to the last storyteller recount the Endless Drought, and the Glorious Blue Water Bird, he discovered the power of a tale well told.