Best of Children's Classics (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)

Lyman Frank Baum began writing at a young age. After working as a journalist and businessman, Baum began writing stories for children. Mother Goose in Prose, a collection of twenty-two children's stories, was published in 1897. In 1899, he published Father Goose: His Book. This collection of nonsense poetry for children was a great success. The next year, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published by the George M. Hill Company. Following its success, Baum wrote thirteen more novels in the series. A storyteller par excellence, Baum continues to be remembered for his timeless children's stories.In 1868, Frances Hodgson Burnett's first story was published in Godey's Lady's Book. She had begun writing for a livelihood and wrote non-stop. That Lass o' Lowrie's, her first full-length novel, was published in 1877. She started writing children's fiction after meeting Louisa May Alcott and Mary Mapes Dodge--the editor of St. Nicholas, a children's magazine. In the winter of 1887, she published Sara Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin's in the United States. A Little Princess, an expanded version of Sara Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin's, was published in book form in September 1905. A huge success, it is still considered among children's all-time favourite novels. Burnett published The Secret Garden in 1911. A classic of children's literature, it became one of her most popular novels.J. M. Barrie published his first work of fiction, Better Dead, in 1887. This was followed by When a Man's Single (1888) and My Lady Nicotine (1890). Excessively sentimental, these novels failed to sell.With the beginning of the twentieth century, Barrie concentrated on theatre. The Little White Bird, a fantasy fairy tale, was first published in 1902. It introduced the character of Peter Pan, a naughty young boy who can fly and never grows up. Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up was first staged in 1904. It was published in novel form with the title Peter and Wendy in October 1911 by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Charles Scribner's Sons in the USA. It is Barrie's most famous work, and continues to remain widely popular.