Showing results by author "L. Baum" in All Categories

Have you seen the man in the moon? Do you think it must get lonely up there? In this story the Man in the Moon decides to come to earth in search of porridge and some company.

Little Tommy Tucker was a waif on the streets. He never remembered having a parent or guardian, and so he learned to care for himself. He ate whatever he could get, and slept wherever night overtook him--in an old barrel, a cellar, or, when fortune favored him, he paid a penny for a cot in some rude lodging-house. His life on the streets taught him early how to earn a living by doing odd jobs, and he learned to be sharp in his speech and wise beyond his years. One morning Tommy crawled out from a box in which he had slept overnight and found that he was hungry. But Tommy was a plucky boy with a lively wit and a way of making his way. Listen and find out how he ended up.

Little Jack Horner lived in an old, tumble-down house at the edge of a big wood. Many generations of Horners had lived there before him and had earned their living by chopping wood. Jack was an orphan, and he lived with his grandparents, who took great pains to teach him all that a boy should know.

Why did Tom steal the pig? Was he a bad boy? Not according to the story behind this rhyme. Tom was the only son of a good-for-nothing who could only play the pipes and that very badly.

Yes, her house did look like a shoe and she did have a LOT of children and she often did not know what to do. But she was a prudent and loving lady who took all 16 of them in and they somehow managed to not just grow, but thrive and grow healthier on the little food she could afford. That and of course the spanking they all got to help them grow. She may be short on food and their beds may be cramped and their clothes patched and old, but there was never a lack of love for any of them in her 'shoe' home.

This beloved nursery rhyme tells a story that is both a bit scary (she lost her sheep!) and funny (they lost their tails!). The poor tiny girl, trying to do a job that is quite hard for her with her short legs, becomes bewildered. But help is there in the shape of an old lady who plays a trick on her, telling her that her sheep have lost their tails which she must find and somehow put them back on. Will the distraught little BoPeep find the missing tails? And if she does will she be able to re-attach them? Listen and learn!

Old King Cole was not always a king, nor was he born a member of any royal family. It was only chance that made him a king at all. He had always been a poor man, being the son of an apple peddler, who had died and left him nothing but a donkey and a fiddle. But that was enough for Cole, who never bothered his head about the world's goods, but took things as they came and refused to worry about anything. So begins the story of how this happy soul became the king of a country by accident.

This delightful story tells of the Little Bun Rabbit who is befriended by Dorothy, a little girl. She knows the rhyme and asks the little rabbit about it. Bun Rabbit tells her that indeed, he sees Santa every year as he drives by in his sleigh loaded with toys. One year Santa stopped to talk with him and ask if he would come to his workshop at the North Pole so he could use him as a model to make toy rabbits for little babies. He agrees and this is his exciting adventure with Santa. That is why so many stuffed bunny rabbits are made and given at Christmas to be loved by children everywhere.

This odd little nursery rhyme is familiar to us all but have you ever wondered, like I have, about what Miss Muffet was thinking as she sat dreamily eating her curds and whey? And what are curds and whey, anyway? Her tuffet? Would that be a piece of furniture or a piece of her anatomy? And of course the large spider, what was she thinking?

Mary was the beloved daughter of a sailor and his wife who lived on a hill close to the sea. She was called "Mistress Mary, quite contrary" because she was a contrary child who often did the exact opposite of what she was told. But her parents loved her and knew that she would someday grow out of this peevish behavior. One day her father and brothers set off on a long sea journey and she asked him when he would return. He replied that they would be away for the time that it took for a garden of cowslips, dingle bells, and cockle shells to sprout, grow, blossom, and wither and die away again.

Within the hollow wall of an old brick mansion, away up near the roof, there lived a family of mice. It was a snug little home, pleasant and quiet, and as dark as any mouse could desire. Mamma Mouse liked it because, as she said, the draught that came through the rafters made it cool in summer, and they were near enough to the chimney to keep warm in wintertime.

Gilligren was an orphan and lived with an uncle and aunt who were very unkind to him. They cuffed him and scolded him upon the slightest provocation, and made his life very miserable indeed. Gilligren never rebelled against this treatment, but bore their cruelty silently and with patience, although often he longed to leave them and seek a home amongst kinder people.

The Black Sheep is very young so he is curious about why the farmer cuts their wool off every year. "The man and his wife spin our wool into clothes to keep them warm" was the reply of a wise old ram. The little black sheep then meets the boy who lives down the lane and hears that his mother has no money to buy him a coat and he is cold in the winter so the kind little sheep asks the farmer if he will grow enough wool for 3 bags instead of the normal two, could he have one. The farmer agrees and so this is what happens. A wonderful story all around.

That wonderful storyteller Baum, of Wizard of Oz fame, tells us the delightful story behind this little rhyme and we all will feel much better knowing that the little boy had excellent reasons to be asleep that morning. Listen and enjoy the whole nifty story. Many of our most loved nursery rhymes are complete tales in themselves, telling their story tersely but completely; others are but bare suggestions, leaving the imagination to weave in the details of the story.

A selection of magical stories to entertain your children whilst you are waiting at the airport and are flying to your holiday.

When a storm blows Dorothy overboard on an ocean voyage to Australia, she washes ashore in the Land of Ev, which has been taken over by the evil Nome King. If she and her companions (Billina the Talking Hen, Princess Ozma of Oz, and Tik-Tok the Mechanical Man) can't find a way to defeat the Nome King's powerful magic, they'll all be turned into ornaments for his collection!

Betsy Bobbin and her mule Hank find themselves on the shores of Oz after a storm. While trying to find their way home, they wander into the Rose Kingdom and are held prisoner by the Royal Gardener. Just in the nick of time, Shaggy Man falls through the roof of the greenhouse and tries to convince the Gardener to let the pair go, using his powerful Love Magnet. Unable to convince them, the trio is instead banished with Ozma's cousin, Princess Ozga, in tow.

Presented here are three of the most popular children's books of all time: The Wizard of Oz, The Reluctant Dragon, and Five Children and It.

Dieses Buch ist für Kinder geschrieben. Ich schäme mich nicht einzugestehen, dass ich, der es schrieb, auch ein Kind bin; denn so weit ich mich zurückerinnern kann, bekam ich immer große Augen bei erstaunlichen Erzählungen, und mein Herz ist noch daran gewöhnt, heftig zu klopfen, wenn ich von unmöglichen Abenteuern lese. Es ist die Natur der Kinder, Realitäten zu verachten, die sich allzu rasch mit fortschreitenden Jahren in ihr Leben drängen. Kindheit ist die Zeit für Märchen, für Träume, für Spaß.

"Dorothy und der Zauberer in Oz" ist ein Kinderbuch des US-amerikanischen Schriftstellers Lyman Frank Baum. Die Erzählung erschien 1908 unter dem Originaltitel "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" mit Illustrationen von John R. Neill. Dabei handelt es sich um den vierten Band des Oz-Zyklus, der in den USA zu den beliebtesten Kinderbüchern gehört und zum Teil auch in deutscher Sprache verlegt wurde. Dorothy kommt mit dem Zug und ihrer Katze Eureka nach Hugson in Kalifornien, wo sie Onkel Bill Hugson besuchen will, bei dem sich gerade Onkel Henry aufhält.