China has become the powerhouse of the world economy & home to 1 in 5 of the world`s population, yet we know almost nothing of the people who lead it. How does one become the leader of the world`s newest superpower? & who holds the real power in the Chinese system? In The New Emperors, the noted China expert Kerry Brown journeys deep into the heart of the secretive Communist Party. China`s system might have its roots in peasant rebellion but it is now firmly under the control of a power-conscious Beijing elite, almost half of whose members are related directly to former senior Party leaders. Brown reveals the intrigue & scandal surrounding the internal battle raging between two China`s: one founded by Mao on Communist principles, & a modern China in which `to get rich is glorious`. At the centre of it all sits the latest Party Secretary, Xi Jinping
- the son of a revolutionary, with links both to big business & to the People`s Liberation Army. His rise to power is symbolic of the new emperors leading the world`s next superpower.
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In The New English Garden the leading garden writer Tim Richardson, author of The Arcadian Friends, discusses twenty-five significant English gardens made or remade over the past decade. Together these represent a coherent overview of what remains probably the most inventive garden culture in the world. With the benefit of an international perspective, the author surveys a wide spectrum of gardens in styles ranging from the cutting-edge naturalistic planting design of the Sheffield School to the scientific imagery of Througham Court. While many of these gardens are challenging or thought-provoking, other reflect the sensuously romantic tradition of English planting design, which has also been moving ahead in interesting ways. Through Tim Richardson`s incisive writing, The New English Garden presents all that is most interesting about garden-making in England in the twenty-first century & is beautifully illustrated by Andrew Lawson`s photography of some of England`s most famous gardens, from Prince Charles`s garden at Highgrove, Christopher Llyod`s garden at Great Dixter & Arabella Lennox-Boyd`s garden at Gresgarth right up to the Olympic Park in 2012. The Full List of Gardens is: * Armscote Manor * Mount St John * Packwood House * Scamptson Hall * Daylesford House * The Lynn Garden, Ascott * Great Dixter * Througham Court * Crockmore House * Pettifers * Waltham Place * Highgrove * Living Wall, Athenaeum Hotel * Trentham * Plaz Mataxu * Cottesbrooke Hall * Olympic Park * Temple Guiting * Angel Field * Hanham Court * Tilbuty Hall * Gresgarth * Bury Court * The Laskett * Wildside ...

Building upon the ever-more-popular principles of The New English Kitchen & The Savvy Shopper, Rose Prince`s new book celebrates good British food & shows how to make the most of ingredients & leftovers. Hot chestnut & honey soup, whipped potatoes with Lancashire cheese, melted ale & cheddar to eat with bread, baked haddock soup, saffron buns & watercress & radish sauce for pasta: just a few of the 200 completely delectable & original recipes in this inspiring new book. The New English Table explores affordable & easy good food. Rose Prince unlocks a larder of new & unfamiliar English ingredients from cobnuts to red Duke of York potatoes to watercress & also shows how eating local can mean good eating at the same time as being good for the environment. She explains how & where to shop & introduces a rhythm of cooking, identifying which foods are right for everyday meals, & which are perfect for the occasional feast. She shows how to make the most of costly ingredients
- traditional breeds, organic produce & handmade foods
- & how to recycling leftovers for yet more delicious meals. Leftovers from a roast beef joint, for instance, become an aromatic salad with toasted green pumpkin seeds & herbs, or, simmered with fungi & red wine, a rich braise to eat with mash or buttered ribbons of pasta. The New English Table is proof that good eating does not have to cost the earth.

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This was supposed to be the era when democracy came into its own, but instead power & wealth in Britain have slowly been consolidated the hands of a small elite, while the rest of the country struggles financially & switches off politically. We are now ruled by a gang of fat-cats with fingers in every pie who squabble for power among themselves while growing richer. Bored with watching corrupt politicians jockeying for power, ordinary Britons are feeling disconnected from politics & increasingly cynical about the back-scratching relationship between politicians & big business. The New Few shows us what has led to this point, & asks the critical questions: why has Britain become a more unequal society over the past thirty years? Why have the banks been bailed out with taxpayers` money, while bankers are still receiving huge bonuses? Why have those responsible not been held accountable for the financial crash? Why has power in Britain become so concentrated in the hands of corrupt politicians who have been exposed cheating their constituents in the expenses scandal? Despite this bleak diagnosis, there are solutions to the rise of the new ruling class in the modern West. The New Few sets out some of the ways in which we can restore our democracy, bringing back real accountability to British business & fairness to our society. ...

This tiny archipelago of islands in the South Pacific has so far avoided republican overthrow & military coup, unlike its neighbour Fiji. What are its chances of surviving intact into the millenium? Kenneth Bain allows the Tongan people
- from the ordinary citizen up to the King himself
- to put forward their own opinions concerning everything from reform of Tonga's Legislative Assembly to the monarchy & the royal succession. A portrait emerges of a South Seas islands culture of great charm & character, yet divided within. As it contemplates possessing its own telecommunication satellite, Tonga faces conflict over its feudal heritage.

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On 26th February 1993, a massive bomb devastated New York's World Trade Center resulting in more hospital casualties than any event in American history since the Civil War. Ramzi Yousef, the Kuwaiti-born, British-educated terrorist who masterminded the attack, had been seeking to topple the twin towers & cause tens of thousands of fatalities. The attack was linked to the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. On 11 September 2001, Simon Reeve's book proved to be tragically prophetic. Yousef's original aim to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center was finally fulfilled when two passenger jets were hijacked & flown into the two buildings. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon, a fourth went down outside Pittsburgh, killing all on board but avoiding the wholesale slaughter of the previous three planes. During their extensive investigation FBI agents discovered that Yousef was being funded & sent on some of his attacks by Osama bin Laden, a mysterious Saudi millionaire. By the mid- 1990s a small group of extremists supported by bin Laden were found to dominate international terrorism. When bin Laden's followers attacked American embassies in Kenya & Tanzania on 7 August 1998, killing 224 people, the US finally launched cruise missile strikes in an attempt to destroy his highly mobile secret organization. Highly detailed & yet immensely readable, The New Jackals sheds fresh light on the world's most notorious terrorist: bin Laden. Tracing the FBI investigation through interviews with FBI & CIA agents, this book reveals the painstaking process that will be going on now. It also sheds light on the kind of networks that exist across the world, that could implement such a horrific terrorist attack. In this book, Reeve warns that Yousef & bin Laden are just the first of a new breed of terrorist whose acts of violence know no restriction & whose motivation is to maximize casualities of their enemies, this prediction has come tragically true. He also offers evidence that bin Laden's organization my already have chemical & nuclear weapons & explains why the world could soon face attacks by terrorists with weapons of mass destruction. ...

The New Jumper by Oliver Jeffers, the award-winning & best-selling author & illustrator introduces us to the Hueys. The story, brought to life by beautiful & colourful drawings, is about the Hueys, a group of characters who all look the same, think the same & do the same things…. One day, Rupert decides to wear a new jumper he knitted. Follow him coping with the reaction of the other Hueys in this funny but touching story about individuality…. Suitable for children aged 2+ ...

This story with a familiar setting is about Lenny`s family who go to the local park to fly his new kite. Lenny takes great care to hold on to his kite, but then Mum has a turn. She holds on tightly too, but trips over the dog, & falls into the pond. The other children try to help, so they all arrive home soaking wet & muddy! * Yellow/ Band 3 books offer varied sentence structure & natural language. * Text Type
- A story with a familiar setting. * The storyboard on pages 14 & 15 provides an opportunity for children to retell the story in their own words. * Curriculum links
- Science: pushes & pulls. * This story is paired with a non-fiction book on the same theme: The Wind by Monica Hughes (Band 3/ Yellow). * This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

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The Order of the Temple, founded in 1119 to protect pilgrims around Jerusalem, developed into one of the most influential corporations in the medieval world. It has retained its hold on the modern imagination thanks to the dramatic events of the Templars` trial & abolition two hundred years later, & has been invoked in historical mysteries from Masonic conspiracy to the survival of the Turin shroud. Malcolm Barber`s lucid narrative separates myth from history in this full & detailed account of the Order, from its origins, flourishing & suppression to the Templars` historic afterlife. ...

In the course of a couple of generations, South Koreans took themselves out of the paddy fields & into Silicon Valley, establishing themselves as a democracy alongside the advanced countries of the world. Yet for all their ambition & achievement, the new Koreans are a curiously self-deprecating people. Theirs is a land with a rich & complex past, certain aspects of which they would prefer to forget as they focus on the future. Having lived & worked in South Korea for many years, Michael Breen considers what drives the nation today, & where it is heading. Through insightful anecdotes & observations, he provides a compelling portrait of Asia`s most contradictory & polarized country. South Koreans are motivated by defiance, Breen argues: defiance of their antagonistic neighbour, North Korea, of their own history & of international opinion. Here is an overlooked nation with, great drive, determined to succeed on its own terms. ...