Children and grown-ups alike will encounter fantastic characters and creatures of every stripe, from crochety old wizards and eccentric sand fairies to evil trolls and mighty dragons - with an occasional demon thrown into the mix. The heros and heroines in these stories need all of their courage, imagination and compassion to face up to the challenges which appear in their paths. When they do so, they are often rewarded with marvelous discoveries that change them forever.

Come along with young Henry as he copes with his first day at wizard school - where he is initiated into a perplexing world of magic. Follow a curious girl named Lucy when she discovers a beautiful but wintry world called Narnia, where good and evil fiercely contend for mastery. Listen to a boy's story about his father's brave battle with a man-eating troll in a small town near the Arctic Circle.

Contents:

• from The Once and Future King by T. H. White
• from The Witches by Roald Dahl
• from Wizard's Hall by Jane Yolen
• from Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit
• The Troll by T. H. White
• The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, adapted by Amy Ehrlich
• from Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
• from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• from Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
• from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
• from At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald
• from Half Magic by Edward Eager
• The Nose by Nikolai Gogol
• A Jew of Persia by Mark Helprin
• The Book of Beasts by Edith Nesbit
• from The Odyssey of Homer translated by Allen Mandelbaum
• from A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
• from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll