The "New York Times Magazine" called Bloom "a colossus among critics . . . his enthusiasm for literature is a joyous intoxicant." In this enchanting anthology, Bloom brings his love of literature to the younger generation as he presents favorite poems and stories by well-known ch...

The "New York Times Magazine" called Bloom "a colossus among critics . . . his enthusiasm for literature is a joyous intoxicant." In this enchanting anthology, Bloom brings his love of literature to the younger generation as he presents favorite poems and stories by well-known children's writers, and introduces works by authors better known for their adult classics.

"If readers are to come to Shakespeare and to Chekhov, to Henry James and to Jane Austen, then they are best prepared if they have read Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling," writes Harold Bloom in his introduction to this enchanting and much-needed anthology of exceptional stories and poems selected to inspire a lifelong love of reading. As television, video games, and the Internet threaten to distract young people from the solitary pleasures of reading, Bloom presents a volume that will amuse, challenge, and beguile readers with its myriad voices and subjects.

Here are old favorites by beloved writers of children's literature, as well as exciting rediscoveries and wonderful works penned by writers better known for their adult classics, such as Herman Melville, Leo Tolstoy, Edith Wharton, and Walt Whitman. Encompassing the natural world and the supernatural; childhood, romance, and death; pets, wild animals, and goblins; mystery, adventure, and humor; the selections reflect the passion and erudition of our most revered literary critic. Arranged by season, Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages is a must-have anthology, sure to delight readers young and old for years to come.