12. In Nature’s School Part II

In this episode we’ll be continuing our adventures with Phil and the woodland creatures of In Nature’s School, by Lillian Gask. If you would like to listen to the first part of this story it is episode 6, released on February 3rd, 2021. When we left off, Phil was speaking with Father Beaver while keeping an eye on the banks for the Wolverine. At Father Beaver’s suggestion, Phil heads out and visits the home of the musk rats, also known as ondatras.

11. The Diamond Necklace and In the Spring

In this episode we’ll be reading two short stories by Guy de Maupassant – The Diamond Necklace and In the Spring. The French author was renowned as a master of the short story form and is best known for his surprise endings. Maupassant was a member of the Naturalist school – a literary movement that depicted characters and scenes realistically and often pessimistically as opposed to the unrealistic portrayals found in Romanticism, a preceding literary style.

10. The Red-Headed League

In this episode we’ll be reading The Red-Headed League, a Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This short story was first published in The Strand Magazine in 1891. Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes character has been beloved since his first appearance in print in 1887. By 1927, the author had written 4 novels and 56 short stories featuring the observant detective.

9. Three Norse Tales

In this episode we’ll be reading three selections from Norse Tales for the Use of Children by Sir George Webbe Dasent, originally published in 1862. Dasent, born in the British West Indies and educated in London, became a scholar of Scandinavian stories after moving to Stockholm in 1840. He had a particularly strong interest in Icelandic culture and translated many works from Icelandic to English.

8. The Garden Party

In this episode we’ll be reading The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield, first published in 1922. Mansfield was born and raised in New Zealand but spent her adult life in England. She was a prolific author of short stories and poems although her career was cut short by her death from tuberculosis at the age of 34. After her death, her husband published four additional volumes of her works.

7. The Model Millionaire and The Happy Prince

In this episode we’ll be reading two children’s stories with similar themes by Oscar Wilde – The Model Millionaire and The Happy Prince. Wilde is perhaps best known for his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray or his play, The Importance of Being Earnest but his children’s stories are beloved as well. The Irish author wrote these stories when his own sons were toddlers.

5. The Ice Palace


This week, by listener request, we’ll be reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story,
The Ice Palace. If you would like to request a story you can email the podcast at info@thesoundpreserve.com or contact us through our website, thesoundpreserve.com. This story, first published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1920, references an Ice Palace built at the Winter Carnival in St. Paul, Minnesota. The first Ice Palace was built in St. Paul in 1885 and 37 Ice Palaces have been built there since.

4. The Great Stone Face


In this episode we’ll be reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Great Stone Face. Hawthorne’s inspiration for the face-like rock formation in the story came from the real-life granite cliffs known as the Old Man of the Mountain which are located in New Hampshire. The formation collapsed in 2003 but has been memorialized as the New Hampshire state emblem since 1945.

3. The Elderbush and The Old House

In this episode we’ll be reading two fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen: The Elderbush and The Old House. Andersen wrote many novels, plays, poems, and travelogues but the Danish author is certainly best known for his fairy tales. Early reviews of his fairy tales called them too informal and dialog heavy but now we can appreciate this is the very aspect of his style that makes his tales so timeless and enjoyable for children and adults alike.