The works of Henry David Thoreau contain some of the most beautifully written and inspiring observations of nature, yet most of his readers are familiar with only one of his books, Walden, Two other gems, The Maine Woods and Cape Cod, are travelogues containing some of his finest writing. Presented here are selections from the best of these two works, including Thoreau's record of his climb up Mount Katahdin, his arduous river journey by canoe down the Allegash River, the deadly shipwreck he encountered on his first trip to Cape Cod, as well as his wonderfully colorful and humorous portrait of the Wellfleet oysterman. These writings offer a vision of Thoreau struggling with the harsh realities of wild nature and how people might live in harmony with the natural world.

The Maine Woods was the second volume collected from his writings after Thoreau's death. Of the material which composed it, the first two divisions were already in print. "Ktaadn and the Maine Woods" was the title of a paper printed in 1848 in The Union Magazine, and "Chesuncook" was published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1858. The book was edited by his friend William Ellery Channing. It was during his second summer at Walden that Thoreau made his first visit to the Maine woods. It was probably in response to a request from Horace Greeley that he wrote out the narrative from his journal, for Mr. Greeley had shown himself eager to help Thoreau in putting his wares on the market. In a letter to Emerson, January 12, 1848, Thoreau writes: "I read a part of the story of my excursion to Ktaadn to quite a large audience of men and boys, the other night, whom it interested. It contains many facts and some poetry." He offered the paper to Greeley at the end of March, and on the 17th of April Greeley responded: "I inclose you $25 for your article on Maine scenery, as promised. I know it is worth more, though I have not yet found time to read it; but I have tried once to sell it without success. It is rather long for my columns, and too fine for the million; but I consider it a cheap bargain, and shall print it myself if I do not dispose of it to better advantage. You will not, of course, consider yourself x under any sort of obligation to me, for my offer was in the way of business, and I have got more than the worth of my money." But this generous, high-minded friend was thinking of Thoreau's business, not his own, for in October of the same year he writes, "I break a silence of some duration to inform you that I hope on Monday to receive payment for your glorious account of 'Ktaadn and the Maine Woods,' which I bought of you at a Jew's bargain and sold to The Union Magazine...

A summer classic by two masters, reissued and redesigned for contemporary audiences. Wendell Minor’s elegant artwork and Charlotte Zolotow’s simple, evocative prose brings a day at the beach vividly to life as a boy and his mother imagine what it would be like to spend a day at the seashore. Hunting for seashells and building sandcastles, this tribute to the power of imagination and the tenderness of a mother-child connection is also a sweet ode to summer's greatest pastimes. Perfect for storytime or bedtime.

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION! "Original, sparkling bright, and layered with feeling."--Sally Thorne, author of The Hating Game A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters. Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. They're polar opposites. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block. Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

"Familiar Burgess characters Danny Meadow Mouse, Jimmy Skunk, and Reddy Fox explore every nook and cranyy of the shoreline and learn firsthand about the habits of spider crabs, sea cucumbers, sand eels, and that strangest of little fishes--the sea horse"--Back cover.