A cinquant'anni dalla pubblicazione negli Stati Uniti del libro, 'Il Piccolo principe' è divenuto un longseller internazionale, un testo-chiave di formazione. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, il suo autore, era un aviatore e un umanista; adorava volare e s'interessava agli uomini. Qualche mese dopo l'apparizione del suo capolavoro, scomparve in aereo sul Mar Mediterraneo. Ma la favola del ragazzino dai capelli d'oro continua.
Since their first publication in the 1830s and 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe's extraordinary Gothic tales have established themselves as classics of horror fiction and have also created many of the conventions which still dominate the genre of detective fiction. Yet, as well as being highly enjoyable, Poe's tales are works of very real intellectual exploration. Abandoning the criteria of characterization and plotting in favor of blurred boundaries between self and other, will and morality, identity and memory, Poe uses the Gothic to question the integrity of human existence. Indeed, Poe is less interested in solving puzzles or in moral retribution than in exposing the misconceptions that make things seem "mysterious" in the first place. Attentive to the historical and political dimensions of these very American tales, this critical edition selects twenty-four tales and places the most popular -- "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Masque of the Red Death'," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Purloined Letter" -- alongside less well-known travel narratives, metaphysical essays, and political satires.
V této knize nalezneme tři slavné povídky Edgara Allana Poea: Jáma a kyvadlo (1842), Zrádné srdce (1843) a Černý kocour (1843). V povídkách uvádí Poe do děje určité nadpřirozené prvky, charakteristické pro gotický román. Nadpřirozené motivy u hlavních postav vyvolávají nejprve neklid či nervozitu, které se stupňují, až nakonec mysl hrdinů ovládne pouze hrůza. Je jen otázka času, kdy se začnou bát.
V řadě povinná četba vycházejí adaptace světových literárních děl pro malé čtenáře. Jsou zjednodušena a opatřena spoustou obrázků.
Jana Eyrová je sirotek, kterého vychovává jeho teta, paní Reedová. Teta dá malou Janu do internátní školy, kde se s dětmi nikdo nemazlí, je s nimi zacházeno přímo nelidsky. Jana si najde kamarádku Helenu, ale ta umírá. Poté, co Jana opustí školu, pracuje jako vychovatelka. Poznává pana Rochestera, majitele sídla, kde pracuje. Zamilují se do sebe. Je však jejich lásce přáno?