Showing results by author "Mentor New York" in All Categories

The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Mark Twain, showcasing his signature wit, satire, and keen observations on human nature. The title story follows a couple who fantasize about inheriting a fortune, only to let their dreams consume them. The collection includes tales of greed, absurdity, and irony, often critiquing societal norms, wealth, and human folly. Twain’s humor and sharp storytelling make this an entertaining and thought-provoking read, blending comedy with deeper reflections on life and ambition. Summary by Mentor New York

This novel tells the story of Anthony Patch, a 1920s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune; the relationship with his wife Gloria, his service in the army, and alcoholism. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale is filled with allusions to Dodgson's friends. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the "literary nonsense" genre, and its narrative course ...

"Baseball Joe" Matson has recently moved to Riverside with his family, in this opening volume of Baseball Joe series. Joe is a wide-awake country boy who enjoys playing baseball. We follow his career in the series, and his adventures, as he joins Riverside's local nine and makes good, playing the position he most enjoys - that of pitcher, are recounted here. When not on the diamond, Joe is assisting his father against foes who are trying to steal Mr. Matson's machinery patents.Lester Chadwick is one of dozens of house pseudonyms created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate in the early to mid 1900's, ...

"Baseball Joe" Matson's great ambition is to become a professional baseball pitcher. The Baseball Joe series follows his career as he seeks to attain his goal. In this fifth volume, Joe is drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the major leagues. A successful season of pitching is marred by mishaps beginning with a request for a loan by a has-been ball player and ending with the kidnapping of our hero. Lester Chadwick is one of dozens of house pseudonyms created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate in the early to mid 1900's, to "author" children's series. Contract writers (whose identities were to ...

You can call me Dr. Fathom. Or Count Fathom. But I'm not who I say I am. And can you blame me? My mother was a soldiers' harlot who pocketed extra loot by wandering through the battlefield stripping the dead and dying of valuables. I don't even know who my father was, except he must have had my handsome looks. People liked looking at me. And people liked how I talked too. Early on, I learned that telling the truth didn't get you the same quick reward as telling them what they wanted to hear, being assiduously charming, dissimulating. In a word, lying. I became good at it. And I became the ...

From Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky to limericks written by Anonymous, some of the crankiest, most logical and lyrical people turn common sense upside-down. May they inspire the child inside of you to find your way through the most challenging situations with a new set of eyes! Josephine Dodge Daskam, aka Josephine Daskam Bacon, selected these nonsense verses with the permission of their authors Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, W.S. Gilbert, Guy Wetmore Carryl, Charles E. Carryl, Oliver Herford, Gelett Burgess, George du Maurier, and Rudyard Kipling. (Grace Buchanan)

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do ..." .. and from that moment onward we drift with Alice into another world. When she sees a White Rabbit as it runs through the tall grass (looking worriedly at the watch it takes from its waist-coat pocket), she runs after it and drops into a strange dream. The world is full of chatty animals, from a rather stand-offish hookah-smoking caterpillar to the friendly Cheshire Cat which only sometimes goes to the bother of having a body. And everyone seems to be ordering her about ... or telling...

I met the ex-pickpocket and burglar whose autobiography follows soon after his release from a third term in the penitentiary. For several weeks I was not particularly interested in him. He was full of a desire to publish in the newspapers an exposé of conditions obtaining in two of our state institutions, his motive seeming partly revenge and partly a very genuine feeling that he had come in contact with a systematic crime against humanity. But as I continued to see more of him, and learned much about his life, my interest grew; for I soon perceived that he not only had led a typical thief's ...

The Adventures of Old Man Coyote is another in the long list of children's books by conservationist Thornton W. Burgess. In this book, the residents of The Green Pasture and The Green Forest are concerned about a strange newcomer, Old Man Coyote. Old Many Coyote matches wits with Old Granny Fox and has encounters with Reddy Fox and Peter Rabbit, and a particularly sharp confrontation with Prickly Porky. - Summary by John Lieder

A collection of nine enchanting short stories filled with curious beasts and unexpected endings. Included are The Bee-Man of Orn; The Griffin and the Minor Canon; Old Pipes and the Dryad; The Queen's Museum; Christmas Before Last: Or, The Fruit of the Fragile Palm; Prince Hassak's March; The Battle of the Third Cousins; The Banished King; and The Philopena(summary by Gryphon Perkins)

A satirical look at early biblical events from the point of view of someone who was there to witness most of them: the oldest man in recorded history.

Frederick Irving Anderson was a New York newspaperman who had a second career writing mystery stories for the "slick" magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post. The Infallible Godahl is a collection of some of his first stories. Godahl is a clever gentleman thief, who might be thought of as an American version of Raffles or Arsene Lupin. - Summary by Winston Tharp

The poem begins with the beloved god Balder, thought to be invulnerable, dead at the hands of the inoffensive blind god Hoder, in a game. Loki, whose deceit brought about this catastrophe, is promptly punished with exile, and Odin, Balder's father, sponsors a heroic quest to rescue his son from the land of the dead. This desperate venture unexpectedly meets with partial success, a conditional agreement to release Balder if everyone in the land of the living mourns his death. And even though over every hope hangs the threat of the ultimate end of the reign of the Norse gods, the mother of the ...

John Woodhouse Audubon (1812-1862), son of the famous painter John James Audubon and an artist in his own right, joined Col. Henry Webb's California Company expedition in 1849. From New Orleans the expedition sailed to the Rio Grande; it headed west overland through northern Mexico and through Arizona to San Diego, California. Cholera and outlaws decimated the group. Many of them turned back, including the leader. Audubon assumed command of those remaining and they pushed on to California, although he was forced to abandon his paints and canvases in the desert…. Throughout the whole of this ...

"Although it is still a crude machine—in view of the perfected apparatus which is the aim of thoughtful designers—the aeroplane has demonstrated, in a conclusive way, its value as an instrument of war." - Summary by Authors

The estimable gentleman, Chunder Bindabun Bhosh, ESQ., B.A., travels from his native India to England, with his impeccable English and manners, which immediately mark him as a foreigner, and embarks on an enviable program of escapades. These stories are the product of the fertile imagination of Hurry Bungsho Jabberjee, B.A., a nom de plume for the humorist F. Anstey, which is a further nom de plume for Thomas Anstey Guthrie. Whether rescuing a nubile maiden from a charging bull or falling in love with said nubile maiden, Mr. Bosh, B. A. cannot help but perform with the requisite humor to ...

Mary and Ned Boyne have fled their dreary life in Wisconsin for a home in rustic Dorsetshire. But you can only run so far, and some things - some secret things - may follow you. A creepy and tragic ghost story from one of the masters. (Summary by John Silence)

This "as told to" autobiography of Jules Turnour is based on a popular article that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1909. Turnour relates through Marcosson his personal history and that of the circus, both in Europe and the United States. By recounting touching, amusing, and heartbreaking events that he experienced or witnessed, he demonstrates his love of circus life and his craft. "As soon as I hear the music of the band...and the indescribable movement of the crowd toward the big tent...I am stirred to action, the weariness falls away like magic, and I am young again." Photographs ...

This is the first book in the Betty Baird Series of boarding school books, a genre which was popular among young girls in the early 1900s. Our heroine, Betty Baird, who is herself obsessed with reading boarding school books, is sent away to The Pines, a boarding school where at first she is ridiculed by some of the wealthier and more popular students. As time goes on, Betty silences her foes with her unique and captivating personality, and she and her new friends have many lighthearted adventures during their days at The Pines. Anna Hamlin Wikel (pen name Weikel) was herself raised by a ...