TR Classics

Swift’s contribution to satire was published in 1726 and tells the tale of Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon on a merchant ship, who is shipwrecked on the island of Lilliput, whose remarkable inhabitants are only six inches tall. Swift fires his satirical arrows at a wide range of targets: royalty and pomp, politics and religion, philosophers, science and just generally people who take themselves too seriously. Although this book was written over three hundred years ago, many of Swift’s biting observations hold true today.

First published in 1914, this romantic novel has remained influential over the years, both as a book and in films and a television series. The reader must recognize that Tarzan is a product of its age and contains outmoded imagery and simplistic depictions of other cultures and species: bloodthirsty natives, chatty chimps, roaring lions, stalking beasts. In some respects Tarzan is a caricature of itself and life in an African jungle.

Based loosely on the true story of the real-life sailor Alexander Selkirk, Defoe's classic tale of human strength and survival in the face of a hostile and lonely world can be understood on many different levels. Defoe is a figure for all times, either alone as he is literally stripped bare to confront the basic elements of life, or with “his man” Friday, who joins Crusoe after 26 years of solitariness. Defoe's work is both suitable and meaningful for readers of all ages.

Published in 1886, this book, along with The Secret Garden, cemented
Burnett's reputation as a leading children's author. The title
character of this book was based on Burnett's second son, Vivian and has
been said to embody the author's belief that "nothing in the world is so
strong as a kind heart." Briefly put, the story relates to the life of
Young Cedric Errol, who lives in New York with his mother. Cedric's
English father dies and the young lad is summoned by his grandfather the