Extraordinary Voyages

A letter from a sea captain, signed only with cryptic initials, directs an experienced sailor to built and outfit a ship, and to assemble a crew to sail on a dangerous adventure. The voyage starts towards a northerly destination with, as far as anyone knows, no captain aboard. After some time at sea, the captain finally appears and announces his identity, and his plan to sail to the North Pole. The crew faces dangers and hardship as they fight their way through the icy seas, while the captain drives them with single-minded focus to find a passage ever farther north. In his usual style, Verne includes lots of history and scientific explanations in the story. The Adventures of Captain Hatteras was first published in 1864 under the title Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras. At the time, the polar regions hadn't been fully explored; with the story set in 1861, it would be nearly fifty years before an explorer reached the pole.

These literary masterpieces are made easy and interesting. This series features classic tales retold with color illustrations to introduce literature to struggling readers. Each audiobook retains key phrases and quotations from the original classics. Take a journey into the future of science and imagination, as seen through the eyes of Jules Verne. The adventures of Henry, Hans, and Professor Von Hardwigg take the reader from the surface of a planet they know to a world alien to them located deep inside the earth. Verne shows man's ability to survive even in the most adverse conditions and proves that survival is man's most basic instinct. He brings out the adventurer in all of us.

Originally published in 1864, Journey to the Center of the Earth, written by Jules Verne, is a science fiction adventure novel that follows German professor Otto Lidenbrock. After translating an ancient runic manuscript, he claims to have discovered a route that would allow a man to reach the center of the Earth, by descending into a volcano. Accompanied by his nephew Axel and a guide named Hans, they travel down the Icelandic volcano where they encounter many dangers, including prehistoric animals. Their journey is ultimately cut short when the three are put in a dangerous situation that may result not only in the end of the adventure, but also the end of their lives!

The adventure begins in London on Tuesday, October 1st, 1872, when rich British gentleman Phileas Fogg gets in an argument with a group of friends. He enters a wager that sets him on a race to make it around the world in eighty days. Although the trip begins as planned with his valet Jean Passepartout, he is quickly mistaken as a bank robber by Scotland Yard detective Fix. Now being pursued on his journey, Fogg must quickly travel in order to win the wager, see the world, and avoid being apprehended for a crime he did not commit in the ultimate adventure story.

Mr. Kazallon thought that booking passage on a cargo ship from Charleston to Liverpool would be a charming way to return to his English homeland. If he only knew! A crazed sea captain, a disaster in the hold, storms, oppressive heat, sharks, and starvation are just some of the many travails that beset both passengers and crew. Will any of them survive the wreck of the Chancellor?

A courier of the Czar must be dispatched to warn the Governor-General of Sibera at once: Ivan Ogareff has allied himself with the fierce and ambitious Feofar-Khan. The Tartar chiefs are pouring their men into Siberia and fomenting rebellion. Should Ivan Ogareff and his allies succeed, the Siberian provinces will be wrested away from Russian control.No man is more capable of handling such a dangerous mission than Michael Strogoff. A native of Siberia, he knows the people and their languages, the challenging terrain, and how to survive the harsh winters. His great strength and courage are also matched by a kind and generous heart. Hunger, fatigue, capture, torture-nothing except death will stop him from completing his mission.