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Fifty Famous Stories Retold
 
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Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Kindle Edition)

by James Baldwin (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

CONCERNING THESE STORIES:

There are numerous time-honored stories which have become so incorporated into the literature and thought of our race that a knowledge of them is an indispensable part of one's education. These stories are of several different classes. To one class belong the popular fairy tales which have delighted untold generations of children, and will continue to delight them to the end of time. To another class belong the limited number of fables that have come down to us through many channels from hoar antiquity. To a third belong the charming stories of olden times that are derived from the literatures of ancient peoples, such as the Greeks and the Hebrews. A fourth class includes the half-legendary tales of a distinctly later origin, which have for their subjects certain romantic episodes in the lives of well-known heroes and famous men, or in the history of a people.

It is to this last class that most of the fifty stories contained in the present volume belong. As a matter of course, some of these stories are better known, and therefore more famous, than others. Some have a slight historical value; some are useful as giving point to certain great moral truths; others are products solely of the fancy, and are intended only to amuse. Some are derived from very ancient sources, and are current in the literature of many lands; some have come to us through the ballads and folk tales of the English people; a few are of quite recent origin; nearly all are the subjects of frequent allusions in poetry and prose and in the conversation of educated people. Care has been taken to exclude everything that is not strictly within the limits of probability; hence there is here no trespassing upon the domain of the fairy tale, the fable, or the myth.

That children naturally take a deep interest in such stories, no person can deny; that the reading of them will not only give pleasure, but will help to lay the foundation for broader literary studies, can scarcely be doubted. It is believed, therefore, that the present collection will be found to possess an educative value which will commend it as a supplementary reader in the middle primary grades at school. It is also hoped that the book will prove so attractive that it will be in demand out of school as well as in.

CONTENTS:

King Alfred and the Cakes 5
King Alfred and the Beggar 8
King Canute on the Seashore 10
The Sons of William the Conqueror 12
The White Ship 17
King John and the Abbot 21
A Story of Robin Hood 28
Bruce and the Spider 33
The Black Douglas 35
Three Men of Gotham 39
Other Wise Men of Gotham 42
The Miller of the Dee 46
Sir Philip Sidney 49
The Ungrateful Soldier 51
Sir Humphrey Gilbert 53
Sir Walter Raleigh 54
Pocahontas 58
George Washington and his Hatchet 59
Grace Darling 61
The Story of William Tell 64
Arnold Winkelried 66
The Bell of Atri 69
How Napoleon crossed the Alps 75
The Story of Cincinnatus 76
The Story of Regulus 82
Cornelia's Jewels 85
Androclus and the Lion 87
Horatius at the Bridge 91
Julius C?sar 95
The Sword of Damocles 96
Damon and Pythias 100
A Laconic Answer 102
The Ungrateful Guest 103
Alexander and Bucephalus 106
Diogenes the Wise Man 108
The Brave Three Hundred 110
Socrates and his House 112
The King and his Hawk 113
Doctor Goldsmith 118
The Kingdoms 119
The Barmecide Feast 123
The Endless Tale 127
The Blind Men and the Elephant 130
Maximilian and the Goose Boy 132
The Inchcape Rock 137
Whittington and his Cat 140
Casabianca 153
Antonio Canova 156
Picciola 162
Mignon 167



About the Author
Born in 1841 in a small Quaker settlement in the backwoods of Indiana, James Baldwin rose to become a highly-respected author and textbook editor. Largely self-educated, Baldwin became a teacher at 24, then served as superintendent of the graded schools of Indiana for 18 years before moving into the publishing world. As an editor of school books, first with Harper and Brothers and later with the American Book Company, he selected the best of our literary heritage and cast it into a form that delighted children of all ages. His influence in the first decades of the twentieth century was broad because of all the grammar school books in use in the United States at that time over half had been written or edited by him. He is remembered most for the books of introductory historical sketches he wrote for younger students and his retellings of the legends of the heroes for older students.

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Product Details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 1537 KB
  • Print Length: 132 pages
  • Publisher: Evergreen Review, Inc. (January 18, 2008)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0012RMVI4
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,683 in Kindle Store (See Bestsellers in Kindle Store)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #1 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Baldwin, James
    #1 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > African American > Baldwin, James
    #56 in  Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Fiction > Short Stories
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My girls love this book, April 14, 2006
By living book lover (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
This is a great book to read aloud to your children. My girls (age 8 and 6) love this book. They took it with them for their vacation at Grandma's and made Grandma read nearly the whole book in the week they were there.

The fifty stories are short 2 or 3 page stories of famous persons, mostly real, a few fiction.

This book is a GREAT way to introduce important historical figures and a love of history to your children. This would be a great book for a dad to read to his child that would keep them all (dad included) interested.

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An important book, December 5, 2007
By Kurt A. Johnson (Marseilles, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This wonderful little book was first published in 1896 (at least that's the one I have). It contains fifty short stories that were originally considered indispensable for the education of truly literate and well-rounded children. The fifty stories are classics of American culture, and as such are almost completely forgotten in today's America.

The stories teach such lessons as perseverance, self-sacrifice, compassion, diligence, and much more. And they star such once-well-known people as King Alfred of Britain, Pocahontas, Sir Walter Raleigh, Leonidas and the 300 Spartans, and Socrates.

So, if you have a young person who you would like to read truly educational stories to, then you really should consider getting this book. It was an important book then, and it is an important book now. I give it my highest recommendations!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fifty Famous Stories Retold, May 15, 2007
I have been reading these stories to my preschooler. She has such a adventurous spirit and loves stories of "heroes". This is a perfect collection to inspire true heroism while opening her mind to beautiful stories of Julius Caesar, King Alfred and others. Each story is short, but well told. I am very happy I bought this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book
This wonderful little book was first published in 1896 (at least that's the one I have). It contains fifty short stories that were originally considered indispensable for the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Kurt A. Johnson

5.0 out of 5 stars Great action book!
I was thrilled to start this book with my eight year old son. It just seems like more books are geared for girls' interests. I highly recommend it! Read more
Published 5 months ago by A Mother

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick stories, good for bedtime
As an American, my 6 year old twins are a bit lost with some of the olde english words and sayings. I usually change the words to more modern phrases or stop and explain their... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Michael E. Welch

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to learn from
We use this book as part of our home school curriculum (Ambleside Online) and love it... the stories are short, some illustrated and have historical significance (pulled from many... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Cristian J. Martinez

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for Cultural Literacy but Weird Hyphenation
"50 Famous Stories Retold" provides an excellent and age-appropriate introduction to many of the well-known tales from Western Civilization especially Greek and Roman history... Read more
Published 14 months ago by CrimsonGirl

1.0 out of 5 stars All about male heroes
Looking at the table of contents, this book is almost exclusively about male heroes and adventurers. Not good inspriation for young girls?
Published 20 months ago by Practical shopper

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for history
We use this as part of our homeschooling cirriculum and the kids always love the stories. So do I! I'm often telling my husband about what we read in the evenings.
Published 21 months ago by K. Deruelle

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful short stories
Great wholesome short stories that are also educational. A joy to read aloud to my children.
Published on July 8, 2007 by Mathew Price

5.0 out of 5 stars Improve reading skills and historical knowledge.
This book has many short stories that are written in such a way that students in my first grade class like to read this, despite the fact that it has no pictures. Read more
Published on January 11, 2007 by Lisel

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting stories
This book is interesting to adults and children alike. Some stories are familiar, and some, though old stories, will be new to modern readers. Read more
Published on November 9, 2006 by Carolyn

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