The Ledge on Bald Face

Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir, 1860-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 253K words
Chapters: 26

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Ledge on Bald Face by Sir Charles G. D. RobertsAuthor: Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir, 1860-1943,Language: English, Class: QL: Science: Zoology, Release Date: Mar 7, 2011

Editor's review

This is a collection of animal stories by the Canadian writer Charles G. D. Roberts, classified under zoology-related categories in Project Gutenberg. Roberts is known for writing about wildlife, building narratively tense stories on the basis of real animal behavior; this book centers on animal encounters on steep mountain ledges and combines natural observation with literary description. Its strength lies in making animal behavior concrete and vivid while preserving the harshness of survival in the wild. As a public-domain English ebook, it suits readers new to nature writing or English extensive reading, and also parents reading with children to discuss the relationship between animals and their environment. Read it not as a science textbook but as a literary sample of early twentieth-century nature writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young and adult readers who enjoy nature writing and wildlife stories
Learners seeking moderately long English originals for extensive reading practice
Parents wanting to read with children and discuss animals and nature
Readers interested in early twentieth-century British and American nature writing

Not a good fit for

Readers needing rigorous zoological knowledge or scientific data
Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced fiction
Readers with weak English who want a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Read story by story, pausing after each to recall details of the animal behavior described.
Mark unfamiliar animal or terrain vocabulary, then look it up together afterward.
When reading with children, have them retell key choices in the story, then discuss the trade-offs of survival in the wild.
Compare it with contemporary nature documentaries to sense how different media present the animal world.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a science book or a work of literature?

It leans toward literature. Roberts's animal stories are grounded in real animal behavior, but their narrative structure, scene-setting, and emotional coloring involve clear literary crafting. The book offers no systematic zoological classification or experimental data; readers can sense wildlife's conditions of existence, but it should not be used as a science textbook or popular-science reference.

How difficult is the English, and what level is it for?

The text is early twentieth-century English, fluent in narrative but with period diction and medium-length sentences. Learners with high-school-level English or above can finish it with a dictionary. Because it is narrative, the plot aids comprehension of context, making it suitable for extensive reading; for close reading, choose one or two stories for vocabulary and sentence study.

Will children find the content too harsh?

The book involves predation and competition for survival in the wild, and some descriptions may unsettle younger children. Parents should skim it first to judge their child's tolerance; when reading together, focus on how animals cope with their environment and guide the child to understand nature's survival rules rather than only the conflicts. For younger children, choose the gentler pieces.

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About the author

Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir, 1860-1943 Author

Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (1860–1943) was a Canadian writer known for his animal stories and nature writing. The library holds twenty-nine of his works, including The Kindred of the Wild: A Book of Animal Life, Red Fox, Hoof and Claw, Neighbors Unknown, The Heart of the Ancient Wood, and Kings in Exile. His writing focuses largely on wild animals and life in the wilderness, blending close observation of nature with narrative tension; the animals he portrays are both wild and individual in character, and such works have had a certain influence within the English-language tradition of animal literature. Beyond fiction, he also wrote poetry, as shown by Songs of the Common Day, and, Ave!: An Ode for the Shelley Centenary, indicating that his writing spans both prose and verse. Public information on the details of his life is limited, and none is conjectured here.