This Christmas tale set in Colonial New England was originally published in the 1895 collection A Budget of Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens and Others. The short story takes place in a fictionalized version of Litchfield, Connecticut, the town where Stowe grew up, which is also the setting of her novel Poganuc People: Their Loves and Lives. This version of Christmas in Poganuc was recorded as part of Dreamscape’s Classic Christmas Stories: A Collection of Timeless Holiday Tales.

An enjoyable collection of animal stories from the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Meant to enchant and instruct young listeners, Harriet Beecher Stowe sees through the eyes of the forest creatures, large and small, and shows us how things might work in the adventure of growing “big.”

Queer Little Folks includes:

“Hen That Hatched Ducks” “The Nutcrackers of Nutcracker Lodge” “The History of Tip-Top” “Miss Katy-Did and Miss Cricket” “Mother Magpie’s Mischief “”The Squirrels That Live in a House” “Hum, Son of Buz” “Our Country Neighbors” “The Diverting History of Little Whiskey”

Based on the classic 1852 novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe re-tells the story to allow young readers a glimpse into the darker side of American history.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the bestselling novel of the 1800s and had an enormous influence in galvanizing public opinion against slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the story of two slaves who’s master must sell them to settle his debts. Uncle Tom is sold “down the river,” away from his wife and children, and Eliza decides to escape. Uncle Tom has a great faith in God and is a righteous man, but he is sorely tested when he is sold to a sadist owner named Simon Legree.

Does Eliza make it to Canada? Will Uncle Tom survive Simon Legree’s villainy? Uncle Tom’s Cabin will keep you riveted to the end.

Uncle Tom is a high-minded, devoutly Christian black slave to a kind family, the Shelbys. Beset by financial difficulties, the Shelbys sell Tom to a slave trader. Young George Shelby promises to someday redeem him. The story relates Uncle Tom’s trials, suffering, and religious fortitude.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, “a man of humanity,” as the first black hero in American fiction. Upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln allegedly remarked, “So this is the little lady who started this new great war!” The novel became an overnight sensation and was hailed by Tolstoy as “one of the greatest productions of the human mind.” It remains a shocking, controversial, and powerful work, exposing the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward slavery and documenting in heart-rending detail the tragic breakup of black families.

In debt, Kentucky farmer Arthur Shelby reluctantly decides to trade two of his slaves. The two, middle-aged Uncle Tom and young Harry, are to be sold to Mr. Haley, a detestable slave trader. Eliza, Harry’s mother and Mrs. Shelby’s maid, overhears the details of the arraignment, warns Uncle Tom and flees with Harry to the north. Eliza and Harry barely make it across the Ohio River before slave catchers can catch up with them. On the run, Eliza and her family seek shelter and safety. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom, who refused to run away, is separated from his family and sold down river. As novel progresses, the juxtaposed narratives highlight the harsh reality of slavery.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife, Emily Shelby, believe that they have a benevolent relationship with their slaves, Shelby decides to raise the needed funds by selling two of them-Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby’s maid Eliza-to a slave trader. Emily Shelby hates the idea of doing this because she had promised her maid that her child would never be sold; Emily’s son, George Shelby, hates to see Tom go because he sees the old man as his friend and mentor.
When Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in 1852, it became an international blockbuster, selling more than 300,000 copies in the United States alone in its first year. Progressive for her time, Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of the earliest writers to offer a shockingly realistic depiction of slavery. Her stirring indictment and portrait of human dignity in the most inhumane circumstances enlightened hundreds of thousands of people by revealing the human costs of slavery, which had until then been cloaked and justified by the racist misperceptions of the time.