My Science School

            Hans Brinker and his sister have many troubles, being poor and seemingly fatherless. They are still hopeful, however, and they try to treat everyone with fairness. Their father had an accident years ago when his daughter was just a baby. Ever since, he has been ill and mindless.

            The siblings prepare to enter a skating competition with the other children. They have little chance of doing well on their handmade wooden skates, but the prospect of the race and the prize of the silver skates excite them and fire their dreams. The troubles they face, and how they overcome them, is beautifully narrated in the book ‘Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates’.

            It was written by Mary Mapes Dodge and first published in 1865. The novel takes place in the Netherlands. The book’s title refers to the beautiful silver skates to be awarded to the winner of the ice-skating race.

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               ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ tells the story of a stuffed toy rabbit made out of velveteen. For some time, the velveteen rabbit is completely ignored by his owner, a young boy.

               The rabbit spends most of his time in the company of other toys. The only friend that the velveteen rabbit has is an old toy horse. The toy horse tells the rabbit that being real and being clockwork are not the same thing. The horse goes on to explain that toys become real when children love them very much.

               When the boy rediscovers the velveteen rabbit, he quickly falls in love with him. After some time, the boy declares that the rabbit is not a toy but real. Soon afterwards, however, the velveteen rabbit finds out that, although he is real to the boy, he is not necessarily seen as such by anyone else. ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ was written by Margery Williams. The book was first published in 1922.

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               ‘A Princess of Mars’ is the first novel in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series, originally written and published  under the pseudonym Norman Bean.

               The story goes like this -John Carter was once mysteriously transported to Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabitants. Carter finds that he has great strength and superhuman agility in this new environment, as a result of its lesser gravity.

               He soon falls in with a nomadic tribe of Green Martians, or Tharks, as the planet’s warlike, six-limbed, green-skinned inhabitants are known.

               Thanks to his strength and martial prowess, Carter rises to a high position in the tribe, and earns the respect, and eventually the friendship of Tars Tarkas, one of the Thark chiefs. The Tharks subsequently capture Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium.

               Later, the inhabitants of Barsoom face a life threatening situation. To save life on Barsoom, Carter uses a secret telepathic code to enter the factory, bringing an engineer along with him who can correct the situation there. Carter then succumbs to asphyxiation (depriving oxygen), only to awaken back on Earth, left to wonder what has become of Barsoom and the princess whom he fell in love with.

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               ‘The Witches’ is a children’s fantasy horror novel by the British writer Roald Dahl. It was published in 1983 by Jonathan Cape in London, with illustrations by Quentin Blake.

               The story is set partly in Norway, and partly in the United Kingdom, and features the experiences of a seven-year-old British boy who goes to live with his Norwegian grandmother after his parents are killed in a car crash.

               The grand-mother is a wonderful story-teller. He loves all her stories, but he is enthralled by the one about witches, that she says, are horrific creatures who seek to kill human children.

               The book was published in 1983. In 2012 ‘The Witches’ was ranked number 81 among all-time children’s novels in a survey.

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               ‘The Railway Children’ tells the story of three young siblings, who live in a house near a railway station with their mother. Their father, an ex-government officer is in jail. Actually, he is an innocent man being falsely accused. The children befriend an old gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train near their home, who eventually helps the family in proving their father’s innocence, and the family is reunited.

               ‘The Railway Children’ is a children’s book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialized in The London Magazine during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906. The setting is thought to be inspired by Edith’s walks to Chelsfield railway station close to where she lived, and her observing the construction of the railway cutting and tunnel.

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