Favorite book

   

Dragon Girl                                                                                      

by Melissa Nichols

      Ever since birth, I have been different.
I have the ability to transform myself, at will, into a dragon.I realize this sounds like a blessing - After all who wouldn't mind transforming into a three-story tall, fire-breathing, flying lizard? - But the reality is the exact opposite. It’s a curse. Everyone who knows about "the dragon" rejects and hates me, dooming me to a lifetime of distrust and solitude. No, this is no blessing.For all of my seventeen years, I have thought I was the only one of my kind and the only ones who truly understood me were the moon and the night sky.At least, that's what I thought until I met the man who would change my life forever.

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

  

The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. It begins just before the Hundred Days period (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centres on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exacting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. His plans have devastating consequences for both the innocent and the guilty.

Black Beauty

by Anna Sewell

   

     The story is narrated in the first person as an autobiographical memoir told by the titular horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a colt on an English farm with his mother, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a good deal of verisimilitude. 

20000 Leagues Under the Seas         

by Jules Verne 

      They originally encounter the Nautilus in the Pacific Ocean as part of an expedition to find out what species of undiscovered whale has been damaging world shipping. However, far from encountering a whale that has wrecked world shipping, they soon find themselves on the iron plating of a new kind of vessel, a submarine. From there, the three find themselves below decks, with Arronax an honored guest of the vessel's commander, Captain Nemo.As the book progresses, the men hunt underwater, fight sharks, encounter Atlantis, and fight off giant squid. However, after sinking a warship belonging to a country that caused the death of his family, Nemo loses control on his sanity. He realizes that despite his best efforts to the contrary, he is just as uncivilized as those who oppressed him in the past. Like those oppressors, he relied on advanced technology to gain the upper hand. In short, Nemo finds out that he's as cruel as his opponents, causing him to go over a psychological cliff. Guiding the submarine into a whirlpool off the coast, the vessel and all aboard seem destined for doom until Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land sneak into a boat and escape the Nautilus.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

by J. K. Rowling

   Harry Potter has been living an ordinary life, constantly abused by his surly and cold aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley and bullied by their spoiled son Dudley since the death of his parents ten years prior. His life changes on the day of his eleventh birthday when he receives a letter of acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, delivered by a half-giant named Rubeus Hagrid after previous letters had been destroyed by Harry's Uncle Vernon and his Aunt Petunia. Hagrid explains Harry's hidden past as the wizard son of James and Lily Potter, who were a wizard and witch respectively, and how they were murdered by the most evil and powerful dark wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort, which resulted in the one-year-old Harry being sent to live with his aunt and uncle. Voldemort was not only unable to kill Harry, but his powers were also destroyed in the process, forcing him into exile and sparking Harry's immense fame among the magical community.Hagrid introduces Harry to the wizarding world, bringing him to places such as Diagon Alley, a hidden street in London where Harry uncovers a fortune left to him by his parents at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, gets his owl Hedwig, various school supplies, and his wand. There, he is surprised to discover how famous he truly is among witches and wizards. A month later, Harry leaves the Dursleys' home to catch the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross railway station's secret Hogwarts platform, Platform ​9 3/4. On the train, he quickly befriends fellow first-year Ronald Weasley and the two boys meet Hermione Granger, whose snobbiness and affinity for spells initially causes the two boys to dislike her. There, Harry also makes an enemy of yet another first-year, Draco Malfoy, who shows prejudice against Ron for his family's financial difficulties.

  ³⁄₄. On the train, he quickly befriends fellow first-year Ronald Weasley and the two boys meet Hermione Granger, whose snobbiness and affinity for spells initially causes the two boys to dislike her. There, Harry also makes an enemy of yet another first-year, Draco Malfoy, who shows prejudice against Ron for his family's financial difficulties

Lucky's Will
by Helen Gibbs Pohlot

 Nothing will keep Lucky from protecting her beloved Will—not even frigid temperatures and mounting snow.
When Will slumps over in the car, Lucky, his little dog, sets off in search of help. She braves icy conditions and dangerous highways, but help is nowhere around. With no other choice, Lucky returns to the car to watch over her lifelong friend.
Lucky survives against tremendous odds only to face an uncertain future when rescue finally arrives eighteen days later. At 20 years old, Lucky’s future looks bleak until one little boy stands up to fight for her life.
Lucky's Will is an inspiring true story that demonstrates the determination and wisdom of a child and the extraordinary resilience of a loyal little dog.

IF

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,                              

But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thought your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings:

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be Man, my son!

Three Men in a Boat

byJerome K. Jerome

     The story begins by introducing George, Harris, Jerome (always referred to as "J."), and Jerome's dog, named Montmorency. The men are spending an evening in J.'s room, smoking and discussing illnesses from which they fancy they suffer. They conclude that they are all suffering from "overwork", and need a holiday. A stay in the country and a sea trip are both considered. The country stay is rejected because Harris claims that it would be dull, the sea-trip after J. describes bad experiences of his brother-in-law and a friend on sea trips. The three eventually decide on a boating holiday up the River Thames, from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford, during which they will camp, notwithstanding more of J.'s anecdotes about previous mishaps with tents and camping stoves.

They set off the following Saturday. George must go to work that day, so J. and Harris make their way to Kingston by train. They cannot find the right train at Waterloo station (the station's confusing layout was a well-known theme of Victorian comedy) so they bribe a train driver to take his train to Kingston, where they collect the hired boat and start the journey. They meet George further up river at Weybridge.

                                                                

The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles opens with a mini mystery—Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson speculate on the identity of the owner of a cane that has been left in their office by an unknown visitor. Wowing Watson with his fabulous powers of observation, Holmes predicts the appearance of James Mortimer, owner of the found object and a convenient entrée into the baffling curse of the Baskervilles.Agreeing to take the case, Holmes and Watson quickly discover that Sir Henry Baskerville is being trailed in London by a mysterious bearded stranger, and they speculate as to whether the ghost be friend or foe. Holmes, however, announces that he is too busy in London to accompany Mortimer and Sir Henry to Devonshire to get to the bottom of the case, and he sends Dr. Watson to be his eyes and ears, insisting that he report back regularly.n a dramatic final scene, Holmes and Watson use the younger Baskerville as bait to catch Stapleton red-handed. After a late supper at the Stapletons', Sir Henry heads home across the moors, only to be waylaid by the enormous Stapleton pet. Despite a dense fog, Holmes and Watson are able to subdue the beast, and Stapleton, in his panicked flight from the scene, drowns in a marshland on the moors. Beryl Stapleton, who turns out to be Jack's harried wife and not his sister, is discovered tied up in his house, having refused to participate in his dastardly scheme.Back in London, Holmes ties up the loose ends, announcing that the stolen shoe was used to give the hound Henry's scent, and that mysterious warning note came from Beryl Stapleton, whose philandering husband had denied their marriage so as to seduce and use Laura Lyons. Watson files the case closed.