The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County


Book Description

The great American humorist first came to national attention with the 1865 publication of this tall tale of a gambler and his high-jumping frog. Includes French translation and Twain's amusing re-translation.




The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County


Book Description

The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: Illustrated by Mark Twain. Written in 1865, this short story by Mark Twain was an overnight success and reprinted all over the country. In fact, this is the piece of writing that launched Mark Twain into fame. "The Notorious Jumping Frog" focuses on a narrator from the East suffering through a Western man's tall tale about a jumping frog. In it, the narrator retells a story he heard from a bartender, Simon Wheeler, at the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, about the gambler Jim Smiley. Twain describes him: "If he even seen a straddle bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get to wherever he going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road."




The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain


Book Description

For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettable characters, and language that brilliantly captures the lively rhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to Mark Twain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twain’s inimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the biting satire of his later years. Every one of his sixty stories is here: ranging from the frontier humor of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” to the bitter vision of humankind in “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” to the delightful hilarity of “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” Surging with Twain’s ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant summation of the career of–in the words of H. L. Mencken–“the father of our national literature.”




Sketches New and Old


Book Description




The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County


Book Description

The story goes something like this: Jim Smiley was a man who would bet on anything. He turned a frog into a pet and bet a stranger that his frog, Dan'l Webster, could jump higher than any other frog. While Smiley wasn't looking, the stranger filled Dan'l Webster with quail shot, and Smiley lost the bet. By Mark Twain, the story poses a moral distinction between honest and dishonest cleverness. It also shows that you don't necessarily have to be educated and well spoken to be clever, nor is a good education a defense against getting fooled.







There's Nothing to Do!


Book Description

A Bank Street College of Education 2018 Best Children's Book of the Year In another hilarious book from the I Don’t Want to be a Frog series, young Frog learns an unexpected lesson about how NOT to be bored. Perfect for fans of Mo Willems’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back! Frog is bored. He can’t find ANYTHING to do—even when his animal friends make good suggestions, like sleeping all day, licking between his toes, or hopping around and then staring off into space. Will he find a fun and exciting way to spend his day? Featuring the beloved characters from I Don’t Want to Be a Frog and I Don’t Want to Be Big, this new story is sure to bring a smile to every kid who’s ever said “There’s nothing to do!” And look for the other books starring Frog: I Don't Want to Be a Frog, I Don't Want to Be Big and I Don't Want to Go to Sleep. ★ "Snappy, spot-on dialogue pairs ideally with the outsize drama of Boldt’s artwork; reading this book belongs on families’ to-do lists."—Publishers Weekly, starred review "In a structured, overstimulated world, downtime needs to be appreciated, and this small amphibian shows the way."—Kirkus




No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger


Book Description

Originally published: Berkeley, Calif; London: University of California Press, 1969.




The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain


Book Description

This unique collection of Twain’s essential short stories and semiautobiographical narratives is a testament to the author’s vast imagination. Featuring popular tales such as “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” and “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” as well as some delightful excerpts from The Diaries of Adam and Eve, this compilation also includes darker works written in the author’s twilight years. These selections illuminate the depth of Twain’s artistry, humor, irony, and narrative genius.