One boy penniless & in rags forced to beg in the street. The other a kings son coddled & given all he could want. What happens when the two boys change clothes & places & learn how the other half lives? Mark Twains satirical & suspenseful novel about the thin line that separates prince & pauper is a perennial favourite. Abridged for easier reading & carefully rewritten with Classic Starts[trademark] young readers can experience the wonder of timeless stories from an early age. ...

Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) relates the hair-raising journey made as a wager by the Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg who succeeds
- but only just!
- in circling the globe within eighty days. The dour Foggs obsession with his timetable is complemented by the dynamism & versatility of his French manservant Passepartout whose talent for getting into scrapes brings colour & suspense to the race against time. Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) was Vernes first novel. It documents an apocryphal jaunt across the continent of Africa in a hydrogen balloon designed by the omniscient imperturbable & ever capable Dr Fergusson the prototype of the Vernian adventurer.

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David Loftus is one of the world's leading food photographers: on the road 350 days of the year camera in hand shooting top chefs & their wonderful dishes from Battersea to New York to the Bahamas. Now in Around the World in 80 Dishes he shares the most delicious cuisine he has come across on his travels: introduced by his close friend Jamie Oliver eighty recipes from the world's favourite chefs many of whom have shared David's adventures. Around the World in 80 Dishes features mouthwatering recipes from international chefs & cookery writers including Jamie Oliver Nigella Lawson Gennaro Contaldo Heston Blumenthal & Atul Kochhar. It follows in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg & his famous Grand Tour taking in Europe the Middle East Asia & America to create a treasure-trove of treats from the four corners of the globe. Lovingly compiled & beautifully photographed rich with the stories behind the recipes captured in these pages this is a dream anthology for committed cooks & amateurs alike. If you love food & travel & you've a hearty appetite for life warm up the oven pick a destination & prepare to set off on your own culinary journey. ...

' If I have learned only one thing from my travels around the world it is that no garden is an isl&. Context is everything.' From the floating gardens of the Amazon to the alpine flower meadows of Norway from modest domestic gardens right in the heart of Havana to Monet's world-famous Giverny Monty Don visits every continent & looks at some of the most beautiful intriguing or unusual gardens in the world. Whether looking at minimalist gardens in Mexico which to some may feel more architecture than garden or the romantic beauty of a traditional English garden each one is placed in context. Horticultural preconceptions are abandoned & Monty is constantly surprised by the unexpected locations where gardens thrive. As Monty Don travels around the world he approaches each garden with the questions: Why do people garden? Is the definition of a garden universal? & what makes each garden special? ...

' The pace of this kind of travel has not much changed since Fogg set out in 1872. Trains may be a little faster but there are certainly no high-speed rail links yet across India China or the USA. Passenger services have practically disappeared from the world's shipping lanes.. . Recourse to air travel even as a convenient means of escape was not allowed.' Following the route taken by Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club to circumnavigate the world. The rules were simple but nothing else about the trip was straightforward... From a tour of Venice on a rubbish barge to ship spotting at the Suez Canal & the bicycle rush hour & snake snacks in China this is an unparalleled tribute to man's ability to make life difficult for himself. ...

One night in the reform club Phileas Fogg bets his companions that he can travel across the globe in just eighty days. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life he immediately sets off for Dover with his astonished valet Passepartout. Passing through exotic lands & dangerous locations they seize whatever transportation is at hand
- whether train or elephant
- overcoming set-backs & always racing against the clock.

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Meet Mouk the adorable & intrepid little bear who sets off on a journey around the world. Join him as he discovers different cultures & makes new friends around the globe. Bursting with colour & authentic detail Around the World with Mouk" is a remarkable book of fabulously detailed illustration reminiscent of the best work of Richard Scarry but with an international twist. Mouk invites his readers to explore with him eleven vividly illustrated countries & to join in the fun with 40 reusable stickers. The book is suitable for all active youngsters & is virtually indestructible with extra-thick & glossy paper & padded covers. Its large format means that there are hundreds of different scenes & adventures to explore." ...

This title presents delightful verses & delicate playful illustrations that take young children through the special joys of each month of the year from icy February to the green shoots of April the red poppies of July Septembers apples & the delights of December. ...

When a lawyer friend Nick Rush is killed along with a client in a hail of gunfire outside the federal courthouse attorney Paul Madriani is determined to find out the reasons for this double murder. Tortured by the possibility that he himself had been marked for death only to have a friend die in his place Madriani casts a suspicious eye in all directions -- at Rushs business associates his clients even the beautiful widow & her mysterious new companion. As he investigates Madriani rides the crest of a dangerous wave of international drug deals & people who murder for money. In a quest that takes him from California to Mexico he discovers that while the motive to kill may be driven by events taking place thousands of miles away the killer lies much closer at h&... ...

With dramatic mountain ridges towering over the moorland of its northern half & a lusher softer landscape in the south Arran is often dubbed as Scotland in Miniature. The fact is that this is an island with a huge amount to offer packed into small space. The great granite ridges may be lower in stature than those in the Highlands but they are the equal of any mountains in Scotland for sheer grandeur. The coastline has some superb scenery & a wondeful outlook whether towards Ayrshire or to Kintyre. & the island itself is packed with history & human interest from the ancient standing stones on Machrie Moor to the modern-day Buddhist retreat on Holy Isl&. ...