The best-selling Alif Baa" is the first volume of the Al-Kitaab Arabic language program & is now available in a new third edition. In this new version of the introduction to Arabic letters & sounds English-speaking students will find an innovative integration of colloquial & formal (spoken & written) Arabic. Together the book & new companion website provide learners with all the material necessary to learn the sounds of Arabic write its letters & begin speaking Arabic including interactive self-correcting exercises to enhance learning. The companion website also gives instructors additional online grading options. Four-color design throughout the book features over 100 illustrations & photographs. It gives learners & instructors color-coded options for the variety of language they wish to activate in speaking: Egyptian Levantine or formal Arabic (MSA). It introduces over 200 basic vocabulary words in all three forms of spoken & written Arabic side by side including expressions for polite social interaction & activates them in interactive homework exercises & classroom groupwork. It

Includes:: video dialogues in Egyptian & Levantine filmed in Cairo & Damascus. It also

Includes:: video footage of an Arabic calligrapher capsules on Arabic culture & images of street signs from Morocco Egypt & Lebanon. It

Includes:: new English-Arabic & Arabic-English glossaries searchable in the companion website. The textbook

Includes:: a convenient DVD with the basic audio & video materials (no interactive exercises) for offline study that will play in i Tunes & compatible MP3 players. New companion website (sold separately)
- alkitaabtextbook.com
- features a fully integrated set of interactive exercises with all the video & audio materials & additional online course management & grading options for teachers " Alif Baa" provides the essential first 20-25 contact (classroom) hours of the Al-Kitaab program accompanied by 40-50 homework hours. Students who complete " Alif Baa" should reach a novice-intermediate to novice-high level of proficiency. Companion Website Minimum System Requirements: Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 98 NT 2000 ME XP Vista 7CPU: 233 M Hz Pentium Based; RAM: 128MB; Display: 1024x 768 color display; & Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher or Firefox version 3.0 or higher. Connection Speed: A high-speed connection with throughput of 256 Kbps or more is recommended to use audio & video components; Equipment: You will need speakers or a headset to listen to audio & video components; Plug-Ins: You must have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player; Macintosh OS: Mac OSXCPU: 233 M Hz Power Macintosh; RAM: 128MB; Display: 1024x 768 color display; Browser: Firefox version 3.0 or higher or Sarari 3.0 or higher; Connected Speed: A high-speed connection with throughput of 256 Kbps or more is recommended to use audio & video components; Equipment: You will need speakers or a headset to listen to audio & video components; & Plug-Ins: You must have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player."









...

Welcome to the Empty Quarter the domain of Djinn ghouls demons & the effrit who take the shapes of beasts. You used to walk among us & we among you. Now things are different. Now we are Unseen. Alif is a half-Arab half-Indian 23-year-old hacker working in the Arab Emirates. His job is to provide security to enemies of the Arab states ranging from pornographers to militant Islamists. Alif has fallen in love with the beguiling Intisar an aristocratic woman he meets online. But their budding love affair is cruelly ended when her father arranges a marriage for her with a man of her class...A man who turns out to be the states leading censor a shadowy & powerful figure known only as the Hand. As their final communication Intisar sends the heartbroken Alif a mysterious old book. Bound in what looks like human skin & titled The Thousand & One Days Alif soon realizes that this token of affection is actually a dangerous source of old world magic. & as the keeper of this amulet
- this Djinn-penned tome of secrets
- Alif is about to become a wanted fugitive from both the corporeal & the celestial worlds...

...

I will tell you a story but it comes with a warning; when you hear it you will become someone else." He calls himself Alif a young man born in a Middle Eastern city that straddles the ancient & modern. When Alif comes into possession of a mysterious book entitled The Thousand & One Days he discovers a door to another world
- a world from a very different time when old magic was in the ascendant & the djinn walked amongst us. Thus begins an adventure that takes him through the crumbling streets of a once-beautiful city to uncover the long-forgotten mysteries of the Unseen. Alif is about to become a fugitive. & he is about to unleash a destructive power that will change everything & everyone
- starting with Alif himself..."

...

Jenny is 18 when her guardian is killed & her wealthy relations the Forbes invite her to stay. Consoled by the affectionate attentions of their little girls & the charming elder son she starts to find her feet again. Then she overhears a private conversation & realises she is in terrible danger. Terrified & bewildered Jenny flees from the village desperately hoping her enemies will forget all about her. But shes wrong.. . ...

This is a BBC Radio 4 series presented by Justin Webb featuring eight seasonal letters from the great broadcaster. This selection contains eight of Cookes Christmas & New Year Letters from America" broadcast in December & January over the five decades of his career & covering a range of festive topics from the light-hearted to the sombre. Starting with his December 2001 Letter
- broadcast in the wake of 9/11
- he remembers introducing Leonard Bernstein to Handels Messiah muses on the creation of "A Christmas Carol" & shares his memories of two friends who died in 1977 Groucho Marx & Bing Crosby. Here too are Cookes reflections on Christmas in Vermont the early days of television in the USA cigarette advertising & sport the Millennium Bug & the Nixon familys first days in the White House. The Letters are introduced & linked by the BBCs North America editor Justin Webb who sets them in their historical context & adds his own observations. Cookes debonaire transatlantic tones are unmistakable...
- "FT Magazine"."


...

There are few characters in history about whom opinion has been more divided than the last Tsar of Russia Nicholas II & his wife the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. On one hand they are venerated as saints innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins & on the other they are impugned as the unwitting harbingers of revolution & imperial collapse blamed for all the ills that befell the Russian people in the 20th century. Theirs was also a tragic love story; for whatever else can be said of them there can be no doubt that Alix & Nicky adored one another. Soon after their engagement Alix wrote in her fiances diary: Ever true & ever loving faithful pure & strong as death"
- words which met their fulfilment twenty-four years later in a blood-spattered cellar in Ekaterinburg. Through the letters & diaries written by the couple & by those around them Virginia Rounding presents an intimate penetrating & fresh portrayal of these two complex figures & of their passion
- their love & their suffering. She explores the nature & possible causes of the Empresss ill health & examines in depth the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky Alix & their favourite Ania Vyrubova protegee of the infamous Rasputin extracting the meaning from words left unsaid from hints & innuendoes. The story of Alix & Nicky of their four daughters known collectively as OTMA & of their haemophiliac little boy Alexei is endlessly fascinating & Rounding makes these characters come alive presenting them in all their human

Dimensions & expertly leading the reader into their vanished world."



...

TO LASSO A KISS! Waiting for Christmas by Judith Stacy Marlee Carrington has never had a place to call home. Arriving in Harmony Texas she is thrown together with Scrooge-like Carson Tate. Amazingly he reveals a seductive sense of fun
- & Marlee begins to hope that Christmas has finally arrived! His Christmas Wish by Lauri Robinson Morgan & Cora Palmer are married on paper but in reality theyre like strangers. Taciturn rancher Morgans demons have barricaded his heart against his wifes love. Until a kiss ignites the fire between them... Once Upon a Frontier Christmas by Debra Cowan Presumed dead rancher Smith Jennings returns home & will do whatever it takes to claim the woman he loves. But Caroline Curtis isnt the same woman he left behind...
...

Dora & Boots go on a train journey to find their way to the circus. Little explorers can unfold the pages & peek under the flaps to discover all the animals on board the train. This is a perfect interactive adventure including twelve Spanish words. ...

All Aboard the Ninky Nonk" is an enchanting storybook based on an episode of the BBCs new landmark preschool programme " In the Night Garden". Sure to delight little fans of " Makka Pakka" " Upsy Daisy" " Iggle Piggle" & the " Tomliboos!" Over 1.3 million " In the Night Garden" books have been sold to date; other titles in this bestselling series include: " In the Night Garden Bedtime Little Library" " In the Night Garden: Noisy Ninky Nonk Soundbook" " In the Night Garden: Igglepiggle Iggle Onk!" & " In the Night Garden: Ooh Pretty Flower"." ...

Alfie & his best friend Bernard have a day out full of surprises when they go to meet a very great person indeed. Whats more there are secret dens to explore snowy skies birthday fun & a very unexpected visitor on a special night-time trip! Join our little hero & his friends & family in a celebration of all things Alfie... ...