Books like 'Ordinary Jack'
Readers who enjoyed Ordinary Jack by Helen Cresswell also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical 20th century humor classics family children realistic literary-fiction sword-sorcery
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The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBorn into a basket of clean sheets—ruining a perfectly good load of laundry—Emmeline never quite fit in on her family's rural Nova Scotian farm. After suffering multiple losses in the First World War, her family became so heavy with grief, toxicity, and mental illness that Emmeline felt their weight smothering her. And so, she fled across the Atlantic and built her life in England... -
When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThis is the first book of A.A. Milne's verses for children, with Ernest H. Shepard's line illustrations in colour...Categorized as:
children classics family humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure animals -
Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke, Mark Doty
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRilke is one of the most widely read poets of the 20th century. In his poetry, Rilke addresses the problems of death, God, and "destructive time," and attempts to overcome and transform these problems into an indestructive inner world...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies fiction historical literary -
Life With Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt is old Bertie Wooster's habit to land in the soup from time to time. To get into a spot of bother. Circumstances, aided and abetted by Aunt Agatha, Aunt Dahlia, Bingo Little, Tuppy, Sippy and others, seem to conspire against him, and a frightful muddle ensues.Enter Jeeves, the source of all solace. Jeeves of the infinite sagacity... -
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The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWelcome to Noisy Village! Go crayfishing in the summer at Nocken, "dipping in the pot" at Christmastime with Lisa and Karl, and join Britta and Anna who know the best way to go about "nutting" for the New Year... -
The Complete Stories and Poems by Lewis Carroll
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThis commemorative oversized volume of the complete collection of stories and poems of Lewis Carol showcases his ingenious use of word play, inverted logic and satire. Lewis Carroll was the pen name and, it could be claimed, the alter ego of the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematician, writer and photographer...Categorized as:
children classics humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure anthologies children-books -
Betsy's Wedding by Maud Hart Lovelace
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBetsy returns from Europe to marry Joe Willard—and soon learns that beloved friend Tacy is expecting a baby! It's wartime in America, but Betsy, Joe, and their wonderful circle of friends brave their hardships together... -
Πούσι by Nikos Kavvadias, Νίκος Καββαδίας
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsΤο Πούσι είναι η δεύτερη ποιητική συλλογή του Νίκου Καββαδία και εκδόθηκε για πρώτη φορά το 1947 από τον Α. Καραβία. Έκτοτε εκδόθηκε 4 φορές στις εκδ. Γαλαξίας (1961-1971), 16 φορές στις εκδ. Κέδρος (1975-1989) και, από τον Οκτώβριο 1989 μέχρι τον Δεκέμβριο 2000, 13 φορές στις εκδ. Άγρα... -
The Stoic by Theodore Dreiser
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Stoic is a novel by Theodore Dreiser, first published in 1947. It is the conclusion to A Trilogy of Desire, his series of novels about Frank Cowperwood. The book was published posthumously... -
Kinfolk by Pearl S. Buck
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsKinfolk is the story of a Chinese family. Dr. Liang moves to America in search of a better life, but his children long to return to China. Each responds to their new life in China differently, providing rich insight into the struggles between Eastern and Western culture, and the differences between generations...Categorized as:
classics family literary-fiction fiction historical-fiction historical 20th-century politics -
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFirst published in 1956, this much sought-after autobiographical recollection of Truman Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic. We are proud to be reprinting this warm and delicately illustrated edition of A Christmas Memory--"a tiny gem of a holiday story" (School Library Journal, starred review)... -
Madeline and the Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Spanish Ambassador has moved next door, and Madeline knows right away that his son, Pepito, is bad news... -
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey, Frank Scardino
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsWith their mothers, a little girl and a bear cub pick blueberries in the country. Wandering astray, however, each one mistakes the other's mother for her own...Categorized as:
children classics family humor literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Body and Soul by Frank Conroy
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the dim light of a basement apartment, six-year-old Claude Rawlings sits at an old white piano, picking out the sounds he has heard on the radio and shutting out the reality of his lonely world.The setting is 1940s New York, a city that is "long gone, replaced by another city of the same name... -
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Run with the Horsemen by Ferrol Sams
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPorter Osborne Jr. is a precocious, sensitive, and rambunctious boy trying to make it through adolescence during the depression years. On a red-clay farm in Georgia he learns all there is to know about cotton chopping, hog killing, watermelon thumping, and mule handling. School provides a quick course in practical joking, schoolboy crushes, athletic glory, and clandestine sex... -
The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsConsidered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people's lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels... -
All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt's the turn of the century in New York's Lower East Side and a sense of adventure and excitement abounds for five young sisters - Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie. Follow along as they search for hidden buttons while dusting Mama's front parlor, or explore the basement warehouse of Papa's peddler's shop on rainy days... -
The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright, Pamela Dillman
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSYNOPSIS: Meet the Melendys! Mona, the eldest, is thirteen. She has decided to become an actress and can recite poetry at the drop of a hat. Rush is twelve and a bit mischievous. Miranda is ten and a half. She loves dancing and painting pictures. Oliver is the youngest. At six, he is a calm and thoughful person...Categorized as:
children classics family humor literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsWith Father in Washington and Cuffy, their housekeeper, away visiting a sick cousin, almost anything might happen to the Melendy kids left behind at the Four-Story Mistake. In the Melendy family, adventures are inevitable: Mr... -
A Part of Speech by Joseph Brodsky, Иосиф Бродский
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA Part of Speech contains poems from the years 1965-1978, translated by various hands... -
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume II - The Guermantes Way & Cities of the Plain by Marcel Proust
Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIncluding THE GUERMANTES WAY and CITIES OF THE PLAIN... -
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsMaurice Sendak, the Caldecott Medal-winning creator of the iconic Where the Wild Things Are, created a warmly loved classic book of months, in verse, with Chicken Soup with Rice.This rhyming book cleverly uses a little boy’s love for soup to teach children the months of the year and features Sendak’s imaginative drawings and lyrical verses... -
They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings'They Were Sisters is a compulsively readable but often harrowing novel by one of Persephone's best writers, who always manages to make the ordinary extraordinary,' writes Celia Brayfield. This, the second Dorothy Whipple novel we have republished as a Classic, is, like the others, apparently gentle but it has a very strong theme, in this case domestic violence...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction family fiction historical-fiction historical female-author marriage -
The Little Red Caboose by Marian Potter
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAll aboard! This classic Little Golden Book, originally published in 1953, tells the tale of a charming red caboose who wants nothing more than to be as popular as the big steam engine at the front of the train. Boys and girls will love the inspiring tale and the colorful illustrations by Tibor Gergely...Categorized as:
children classics family 20th-century action-adventure book children-books female-author -
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Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings by Daniil Kharms, Matvei Yankelevich
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDaniil Kharms has long been heralded as one of the most iconoclastic writers of the Soviet era, but the full breadth of his achievement is only in recent years, following the opening of Kharms' archives, being recognized internationally... -
Fortress Besieged by Qian Zhongshu
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFortress Besieged is a classic of world literature, a masterpiece of parodic fiction that plays with Western literary traditions, philosophy and middle class Chinese society in the Republican era. The title is taken from an old French proverb, "Marriage is like a fortress besieged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out"... -
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume III - The Captive, The Fugitive, & Time Regained by Marcel Proust
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe third and final volume includes THE CAPTIVE, THE FUGITIVE, and TIME REGAINED...Categorized as:
classics family literary-fiction 20th-century anthologies fiction historical literary -
Telephone Tales by Gianni Rodari
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsReminiscent of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights, Gianni Rodari's Telephone Tales is many stories within a story. Every night, a traveling father must finish a bedtime story in the time that a single coin will buy... -
Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World by Richard Scarry
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratings33 lively stories about everyday life around the world... -
Cavalerii florii de cireș by Constantin Chiriță
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNiciun roman pentru copii și tineret nu se poate compara, la noi, ca audiență și ca forță de fascinație, cu Cireșarii. Cireșarii sunt personajebine alese și atent construite de către părintele lor. Se știe, de altfel, că Victor, Lucia și Tic au fost creați prin asemănare cu cei trei copii ai autorului... -
What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsEveryone is busy in Busytown - from train drivers to doctors, from mothers to sailors, in police stations and on fire engines. Follow lots of busy people working through their busy days. With plenty to spot on every page, this book is a timeless classic, written and illustrated by the author... -
Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever! by Richard Scarry
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the cheery sun on the first page, to the sleepy moon on the last, and throughout all 290 pages in between, there are stories, rhymes and fun with the one-and-only Richard Scarry. Classic tales, alphabet and counting stories, lots of new words and concepts, and visits around town, to the airport, and across the world make this essential book that will captivate even the most restless child... -
Complete Stories by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Dave Eggers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFeaturing five never-before-published Vonnegut stories!Here for the first time is the complete short fiction of one of the twentieth century’s foremost imaginative geniuses. More than half of Vonnegut’s output was short fiction, and never before has the world had occasion to wrestle with it all together... -
Μικρό βιβλίο για μεγάλα όνειρα by Tasos Livaditis, Τάσος Λειβαδίτης
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsΝενικήκαμενΌραμα μεγάλο πάνω απ’ τους δρόμους, σα φύλλα τουφθινοπώρου σκόρπιζαν οι ζητωκραυγές.Η πόλη είχε χαθεί κάτω απ’ τα φώτα, τις σημαίες, τηβουή. Γιορτάζαμε τη νίκη.Όμως την ίδια ώρα κάποιος σηκώνεται μες στο σιωπηλόσπίτι, δεν ανάβει φως, ντύνεται και κάθεται στοσκοτάδι.Κανείς δεν μπορεί να τον βοηθήσει... -
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Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsFrom dressing the chicken to dusting the furniture, Amelia Bedelia does exactly what Mr. and Mrs. Rogers tell her. ...But somehow things never turn out quite right... -
The Plays of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsEnglish translations of Chekhov's classic plays by a Russian-language scholar who is also a veteran Chekhovian actor... -
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet Ahlberg, Allan Ahlberg
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsViking is proud to reissue a special 25th anniversary hardcover edition of Each Peach Pear Plum, Janet and Allan Ahlberg's engaging and beloved adaptation of "I spy." A true classic, this book starring a cast of familiar nursery rhyme characters is the winner of the 1978 Kate Greenaway Medal (the U.K. equivalent of the Caldecott Medal) and an American Library Association Notable book... -
Betsy-Tacy and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThree of a Kind Betsy and Tacy are best friends. Then Tib moves into the neighborhood and the three of them start to play together. The grown-ups think they will quarrel, but they don't. Sometimes they quarrel with Betsy's and Tacy's bossy big sisters, but they never quarrel among themselves.They are not as good as they might be... -
Katherine Wentworth by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA pretty, courageous young widow, faced with the task of bringing up three children and making her way alone in the world, is the appealing heroine of this touching love story executed with D.E. Stevenson's characteristic freshness and charm... -
Wacky Wednesday by Theo LeSieg, Dr. Seuss
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIllus. in full color. A baffled youngster awakens one morning to findeverything's out of place, but no one seems to notice! Beginning readers willhave fun discovering all the wacky things wrong on each page while sharpeningtheir ability to observe, as well as to read... -
The Picts & the Martyrs: Or Not Welcome at All by Arthur Ransome
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJibbooms and bobstays! Those two Blackett sisters are back at it again, and Nancy is right there in the thick of it. Their mother (doubtless suffering from exhaustion) has gone off sailing in the North Sea with Captain Flint on a rest cure, but she has allowed her two daughters to stay a fortnight at Beckfoot on the lakeshore with their trusty cook... -
Paddington Helps Out by Michael Bond
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThat bear is back again, and in this new edition of Paddington Helps Out, his attraction for near disaster is as magnetic as ever. Who but Paddington would set out to cook dumplings only to find himself chased from the kitchen by something so nasty only his resourceful friend Mr... -
The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRobin was always wandering off (her mother's words) to get away from the confusion she felt inside her. It was not until Robin's father found a permanent job at the McCurdy ranch, after three years as a migrant worker, that Robin had a place to wander to...Categorized as:
children classics family literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure book -
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWritten in 1953, the last book by novelist Dorothy Whipple, Someone at a Distance is a story about the destruction of a marriage. Ellen is “that unfashionable creature, a happy housewife” who loves her life in the English countryside. She tends her garden, dotes on her children, and, when she remembers, visits her cantankerous mother-in-law... -
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The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber, Michael J. Rosen
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"An authentic American genius. . . . Mr. Thurber belongs in the great lines of American humorists that includes Mark Twain and Ring Lardner." --Philadelphia InquirerJames Thurber’s unique ability to convey the vagaries of life in a funny, witty, and often satirical way earned him accolades as one of the finest humorists of the twentieth century... -
Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe charming adventures of the Mama of an immigrant Norwegian family living in San Francisco. This bestselling book inspired the play, motion picture, and television series I Remember Mama... -
The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel by Isaac Babel
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFollowing the historic publication of Norton's The Complete Works of Isaac Babel in the fall of 2001, The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel appears as the most authoritative and complete edition of his fiction ever published in paperback... -
The Gift of the Magi and Other Short Stories by O. Henry
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHere are sixteen of the best stories by one of America's most popular storytellers. For nearly a century, the work of O. Henry has delighted readers with its humor, irony and colorful, real-life settings. The writer's own life had more than a touch of color and irony... -
The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTo celebrate Peter's birthday, Frederick Warne is publishing new editions of all 23 of Potter's original tales, which take the very first printings of Potter's works as their guide. The aim of these editions is to be as close as possible to Beatrix Potter's intentions while benefiting from modern printing and design techniques...Categorized as:
children classics family humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure animals -
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen Bertie Wooster goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court and finds himself engaged to the imperious Lady Florence Craye, disaster threatens from all sides...
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