Full catalogue

Alice, a curious little girl, follows a white rabbit in a great hurry and falls down a rabbit hole that leads her to a strange land. There she grows, shrinks, and meets the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and a queen who wants to cut off everyone's head. Between dream and nonsense, this tale plays endlessly with words and logic, and is just as enjoyable at any age. Its simple sentences and lively dialogue make it an ideal first classic to read in the language you are learning.

Carried off by a tornado with her little dog Toto, Dorothy, a girl from Kansas, lands in a marvellous country. To get home, she must go and see the great Wizard of Oz, and she travels with a scarecrow who would like a brain, a Tin Woodman who would like a heart and a lion who would like some courage. This tale full of fantasy is about friendship, courage and self-confidence. Simply written, in short sentences, it is an ideal first classic to read in the language you are learning.

An English inventor explains to his friends that time is a dimension like any other, then sets off in a machine he has built himself. On his return, exhausted, he describes a very distant future in which the Eloi, a frail and carefree people, live among gardens, while other creatures hide underground. It was with this book that time travel became a great subject for fiction. H. G. Wells imagines what would become of humanity if the gap between rich and poor kept widening for thousands of years. Told like a story among friends, this short novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In an old sailor's sea chest, young Jim Hawkins finds the map of an island where a pirate has hidden his treasure. He sails as cabin boy aboard the Hispaniola, but part of the crew, led by the one-legged cook Long John Silver, has plans of its own. Treasure maps, mutinies, a parrot on the shoulder: this is the novel that fixed for ever the image of the pirate in our imagination. Full of action and twists, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

An American family buys an old English castle, haunted for three centuries by the ghost of Sir Simon. But the newcomers are afraid of nothing: they scrub away the bloodstain he makes reappear every night, and offer him oil for his noisy chains. A ghost story turned upside down, in which it is the ghost who ends up terrified, full of humour and, little by little, of tenderness. You can read this short story by Oscar Wilde in one sitting in the language you are learning.

After her parents die in India, Mary, a lonely and spoilt little girl, is sent to live with an uncle in a large, isolated manor house in Yorkshire. There she hears of a garden that has been locked for ten years, and at last she finds its door, hidden under the ivy. At night, crying echoes through the corridors of the house. A radiant story, in which a garden coming back to life in spring helps children heal from loneliness. Tender and absorbing, the story is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

After the Trojan War, Odysseus wants to return home to his island of Ithaca. But it will take him ten years of wandering: he faces the Cyclops, escapes the song of the Sirens and resists the charms of the enchantress Circe. Meanwhile, his wife Penelope fends off the suitors who have overrun her palace. It is the greatest adventure in literature, so much so that its title has become a word: an odyssey. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great tale in the language you are learning.

In this collection of twelve stories, Rudyard Kipling explains to a child he calls “Best Beloved” how the whale got his throat, the camel his hump, the leopard his spots and the elephant his trunk. We also learn how the first letter and the alphabet were invented. Full of sound games, refrains and made-up words, these funny, mischievous tales are made to be read aloud, to children and grown-ups alike. Short and rhythmic, these stories can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

These two St Petersburg stories each follow a minor civil servant. Akaky Akakievich, a copying clerk mocked by his colleagues, goes without for months to have a new overcoat made. Kovalyov, for his part, wakes up one morning without his nose, and soon meets it in the street, in uniform and of a higher rank than his own. Gogol mixes laughter and pity, in a city where the absurd rules. Dostoevsky is credited with a famous line: “We all came out of Gogol's Overcoat.” You can read each of these short stories in one sitting in the language you are learning.

A man-cub, lost in the Indian jungle, is adopted by a family of wolves who call him Mowgli. Baloo, the old bear, teaches him the Law of the Jungle, and Bagheera, the black panther, watches over him. But the tiger Shere Khan claims the child, and he is biding his time. The book also includes other famous stories, such as that of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the little mongoose who fights two cobras to protect a family. Kipling gives each animal its own character, voice and wisdom. Full of action, these stories can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

In 1866, an unknown sea monster is reported on every ocean. Professor Aronnax sets out to hunt it down, with his servant Conseil and the harpooner Ned Land. Thrown into the sea, they are taken aboard the Nautilus, an extraordinary submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Prisoners of this man who has broken with the world, they travel the oceans of the globe with him and discover the wonders of an undersea world then unknown. But who is Nemo really, and why does he flee dry land? Full of adventure and discovery, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who hates the festive season, is visited by the ghost of his former partner, chained for all eternity. Then three spirits come for him, one after another, to show him his past, his present and his future. Dickens turns a ghost story into a warm fable about generosity and the possibility of change. This tale did a great deal to shape the spirit of Christmas as we still celebrate it today. Full of life and humour, this short tale is easy to read in the language you are learning, and ideal for a winter's evening.

Ishmael, a young sailor, signs on at Nantucket aboard the Pequod, a whaler commanded by Captain Ahab. Ahab lost a leg to a white sperm whale, Moby Dick, and has only one idea left: to find it and kill it. This novel made the white whale the symbol of every obsession, and its first line, “Call me Ishmael”, is one of the most famous in literature. With the translation always in front of you, you can experience this great sea adventure in the language you are learning.

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, King Agamemnon takes from Achilles the captive woman who was his prize. Furious, the greatest warrior of the Greeks withdraws to his tent and refuses to fight. Without him, the Greek army falls back, and the Trojan Hector leads his men right up to the wall that protects the ships. The poem opens with the “wrath” of Achilles, and the whole story flows from it. It is the first great story of European literature, and some scenes, such as Hector's farewell to his wife Andromache, are still moving today. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great poem in the language you are learning.

Paris, 1482: during the Feast of Fools, the beautiful Esmeralda dances in the Place de Grève. Quasimodo, the cathedral's hunchbacked bell-ringer, and the archdeacon Claude Frollo, who brought him up, are both overwhelmed by her. From the Court of Miracles to the pillory, the young woman becomes the object of dangerous passions. Hugo brings medieval Paris back to life around the cathedral. The novel made Quasimodo one of the most famous characters in literature, and helped to save the cathedral, which was then badly run down. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great novel by Victor Hugo in the language you are learning.

In Hamburg, Professor Lidenbrock, a hot-tempered scientist, deciphers an old parchment with his nephew Axel. In it, an Icelandic alchemist claims to have gone down to the centre of the Earth through the crater of a volcano. The professor sets off at once for Iceland with Axel, who is not at all reassured, and there hires Hans, a guide as calm as he is sturdy. Underground, they discover endless tunnels, a vast sea and creatures long extinct. Jules Verne blends science and imagination so well that you believe in every stage of the journey. Told by Axel, with humour and suspense, the novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Albert Einstein himself explains relativity to the general public. To make himself understood, he uses everyday examples: a train running along a platform, two flashes of lightning striking at the same moment, a stone dropped from the window of a railway carriage. You do not need advanced mathematics to follow him, from the speed of light to the curvature of space. At last you understand why time and space are not what we thought, and it is Einstein himself who explains it. Written in a clear style, with short chapters, the book is easy to read in the language you are learning.

One winter evening, Alice climbs through the drawing-room mirror and finds a house where everything is reversed. Outside, the countryside forms a huge chessboard, which Alice must cross square by square to become a queen. On the way she meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty sitting on his wall, and a Red Queen who keeps running just to stay in the same place. In this sequel to “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, the games with words and logic are even more plentiful. It is here that the famous poem “Jabberwocky” appears. Its simple sentences and lively dialogue make it an ideal classic to read in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together nine fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. A golden statue and a swallow help the poor of the town, a nightingale wants to give a red rose to a student in love, and a selfish giant sees his garden stay locked in winter. We also meet a young king, an Infanta and a fisherman ready to give up his soul. Written for children as much as for adults, these poetic and ironic tales still move readers more than a century later. You can read each tale in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In the forest along the Paraná River, the animals talk, work and quarrel. In these eight tales, a giant turtle carries the man who had once nursed it all the way to the city, flamingos go to a ball in snakeskin stockings, and the crocodiles go to war against a ship. Horacio Quiroga wrote these stories for his children, in the forest where he lived. They are funny, sometimes cruel, and one of them explains why flamingos have red legs. Short and written in simple sentences, these tales can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together forty tales gathered by the Brothers Grimm: Snow White and the queen's magic mirror, Hansel and Gretel lost in the forest, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and lesser-known ones such as “The Blue Light”. Here we meet witches, talking animals and clever young heroes. These are the tales children have been told for two centuries, here in the text of the Grimms' last edition, from 1857, which is often darker than the versions we know. Short and simply written, they can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

John Carter, a former officer from Virginia, takes refuge in a cave in Arizona and suddenly finds himself on Mars. Because gravity there is weaker, he makes huge leaps and becomes astonishingly strong. Captured by giant green warriors, he wins their respect, then meets Dejah Thoris, a princess who is a prisoner like him. This novel, the first in a long series of adventures on Mars, has inspired generations of science fiction writers. Fights, friendship and love follow one another without a dull moment. Told by John Carter himself, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

The secret son of King Uther, young Arthur is brought up by the knight Ector without knowing anything of his birth. At fifteen, he pulls from a stone the sword that no lord had been able to move, and becomes king. Around the Round Table, Lancelot, Tristram and Galahad set off on adventures and on the quest for the Grail. Merlin, Excalibur, Camelot: these legends, retold here from Thomas Malory, have inspired countless stories of knights. Told in a clear, lively style, they are a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

In the Spain of old legends, a hunter finds a woman with green eyes beside a hidden spring. A young poet runs through the night after an unknown woman who may be nothing but a moonbeam. Elsewhere, a blind organist plays music that lives on after death. This collection brings together six of these tales, somewhere between dream and shiver. Bécquer, a great poet of Spanish Romanticism, tells them as if by the fireside, in a simple, musical style. Each tale is short and can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.