The year is 1757. The English and the French are at war in North America. Two sisters - Cora and Alice - want to visit their father, General Munro. They begin their dangerous journey with the handsome English officer, Duncan Heyward and the Indian guide, Magua. On the way they meet friends and enemies, and many adventures. Some people will be heroes and some people will die. And what will happen to their friend Uncas, the last of the Mohican Indians?
'He's an intelligent man. He was once rich and is now poor. His wife loved him once, but she doesn't love him now. And he's thirty or forty years old.' One look at an old hat, and Sherlock Holmes can tell you a lot about its owner. He sees - and thinks - a lot more than the people around him, and when a beautiful blue diamond disappears, Sherlock is the only man in London who can find it.
'When he went home to Athens, the great prince Theseus left me on the island of Naxos. But why did he leave me? Everyone says that he was tired of me. But when we met, I was the princess of Crete and the most beautiful woman in the Aegean Sea.' Ariadne's story is one woman's tale of secret love, adventure and of escape - both from danger and from a life that she wanted to leave far behind her - many years ago in Ancient Greece...
'Are you scared, Gordon?' asks Heather. Four friends talk of ghosts in a hotel in Scotland. That night Gordon sees and hears something strange in his room. But is it really the ghost of Lord McCoy? These six stories tell of ghosts – friendly, sad, and bad – from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, America – and Egypt!
When the Emperor calls every man to join the army and fight the enemy, Mulan's father is old and ill, and cannot go. Wearing men's clothes and riding a horse, Mulan leaves her family and fights bravely for the Emperor in her father's place. She is soon a hero for all the soldiers in the Chinese army. One of them, Ye Ming, is her best friend. But does he know that she is a woman? And can Mulan fall in love with a friend?
Hal works at the zoo every day and his life isn't exciting until he meets Tim. Tim is a movie star. He has a difficult life, and he is unhappy until he meets Hal. But when they meet, and agree to change places, interesting things start to happen. And, by changing places, the two men learn what is truly important in their lives.
The year is 1717. It is a bad time to be the captain of a ship in the Caribbean because of pirates. The most frightening pirate on the sea is Edward Teach, or 'Blackbeard'. 'The Governor of Virginia wants us all dead!' Blackbeard thinks. 'But can he kill me – the most famous pirate in the Caribbean? No!' This is his story...
'Bring me something new and exciting. Bring me a BIG story!' says Rosie's editor at The Record newspaper. And, when she leaves the office, Rosie does find a story. A story that is bigger than she expects. A story that takes her across Europe, into a dangerous world of art and art thieves.
Tristan and Isolde are in love, but Isolde must marry King Mark. So a happy love story seems impossible...The lovers meet every day but then, one night, King Mark finds them together. Now Tristan must leave the castle, but he is badly hurt and dying. Only Isolde can help him. Can Isolde find Tristan in time? Can their love survive?
'Today you can go round the world in eighty days,' says Phileas Fogg. 'Do it, and I pay you 20,000 pounds,' says his friend Stuart. This is the beginning of one of Jules Verne's most exciting stories. Phileas Fogg must get back to London by December 21st or lose all his money. And with the help of his servant, Passepartout, Fogg travels in many ways - from train to elephant - and has some surprising adventures on the way.
Sinbad the sailor spends many years at sea. He visits strange countries, meets some strange people and some very frightening animals. He is sometimes rich, sometimes poor... and always in danger. But all the time he is learning from his adventures, until finally he returns home to Baghdad, an older and wiser man.
Are men cleverer than women? Is a poor man cleverer than a rich man? And what about teachers? Are they always cleverer than their students? The people in these six well-known folk tales from around the world all want to be clever. But are some of them just stupid?
