Isabella's toys have been hidden away for years until she discovers the lost key to the toy box. This is the start of the toys' new adventures & the discovery of lots of special secrets... With beautiful watercolour artwork adorable characters special flaps that reveal the toys secrets & a lovely padded cover this is a picture book to be treasured. ...

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Three names. Three people in one. Born in Portsmouth on 9 April 1806 there was Brunel the great engineer who would habitually throw out the rule book of tradition & established practice & start again with a blank sheet of paper taking the technology of the day to its limits
- & then going another mile. Then there was Brunel the visionary who knew that transport technology had the power to change the world & that he had the ability to deliver those changes. Finally there was Brunel the artist
- who rarely saw technology as just functional & strove to entwine the fruits of the Industrial Revolution with the elegance & grace of the neo-classical painter. His bridges tunnels & railway infrastructure have entered a third century of regular use & the beauty of their design & structure has rarely been equalled. The three decades from the 1830s to the 1850s saw an explosion of technical excellence & it was Brunel who in so many cases lit the blue touch paper. He did not always get it right first time & it was left to others to reap the fruits of his many labours. Nevertheless his actions fast-forwarded the march of progress by several decades.

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Engineering genius technical innovator & one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution Isambard Kingdom Brunel changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs & ingenious constructions. L. T. C. Rolts masterly biography is the definitive work on Brunel tracing the life times & monumental achievements of the man who helped to build modern Britain. ...

On 20 January 1879 the Centre Column of the British invasion force under the British Commander in Chief Lord Chelmsford reached Isandlwana. Chelmsford's spies suggested a Zulu army was on its way to attack so on 21 January he took a strong force of auxiliaries into the hills to scout them leaving some 1700 white & native troops at camp. This action was futile as the main Zulu army of 24 000 men had moved across his front & was marching towards Isandlwana. This title employs new research to describe the formidable battle in greater detail providing a brand new interpretation of the course of the action. ...

Ishmael is back at St Daniels for another year of misadventure with his best mate Razz determined to set him up with dreamgirl Kelly. But before Ishmael can win her heart he has to overcome a mortifying pool incident a nasty knock-out & getting caught red-handed with Kellys diary. Ishmaels only hope lies with his Dads rock band but can the Dugongs set everything right? ...

Many non-Muslims have no idea that Muslims worship the same God as Christians & Jews & that Islam preaches compassion charity humility & the brotherhood of man. & the similarities dont end there. According to Islamic teaching Muhammad founded Islam in 610 CE after the angel Gabriel appeared to him at Mecca & told him that God had entered him among the ranks of such great biblical prophets as Abraham Moses & Christ. Whether you live or work alongside Muslims & want to relate to them better or you simply want to gain a better understanding of the worlds second largest religion Islam For Dummies" can help you make sense of this religion & its appeal. From the " Quran" to Ramadan this friendly guide introduces you to the origins practices & beliefs of Islam including: Muhammad the man & the legend; The Five Pillars of Wisdom; The Five Essentials beliefs of Islam; The different branches of Islam & Islamic sects; The " Quran" & Islamic law; Islam throughout history & its impact around the world Professor Malcolm Clark explores the roots of Islam how it has developed over the centuries & its long & complex relationship with Christianity. He helps puts Islam in perspective as a major cultural & geopolitical force. & he provided helpful insights into among other things: Muhammad the Quran & the ethical teachings of Islam; Muslim worship customs & rituals surrounding birth marriage & death; Shiites Sunnis Sufis Druze & other important Muslim groups; & Islam in relation to Judaism & Christianity. In these troubled times it is important that we try to understand the belief systems of others for through understanding comes peace. " Islam For Dummies" helps you build bridges of understanding between you & your neighbors in the global village." ...

Islam without Extremes presents a provocative manifesto for an interpretation of Islam that synthesises liberal ideas & respect for the Islamic tradition. With an eye sympathetic to Western liberalism & Islamic theology Mustafa Akyol traces the roots of political Islam. The years following the death of Muhammad saw an intellectual war of ideas" rage between rationalist flexible schools of Islam & the more dogmatic rigid ones. The traditionalists won fostering perceptions of Islam as antithetical to modernity. However Akyol traces a flourishing of liberalism in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire & explores the unique " Islamo-liberal synthesis" of present-day Turkey. Only by accepting a secular state he asserts can Islamic societies thrive. Persuasive & inspiring Islam without Extremes offers an intellectual basis for the reconcilability of Islam & religious political economic & social freedoms." ...

The acclaimed million-copy number one bestseller & winner of Richard & Judy's Summer Read 2006 from Victoria Hislop is a dramatic tale of four generations rent by war illicit love violence & leprosy from the thirties through the war to the present day. On the brink of a life-changing decision Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete however Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend & promises that through her she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny deserted island of Spinalonga
- Greece's former leper colony. Then she finds Fotini & at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni & her daughters & a family rent by tragedy war & passion. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island & how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip...
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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DAVID BRADSHAW For over a hundred years the Pacific island of Pala has been the scene of a unique experiment in civilisation. Its inhabitants live in a society where western science has been brought together with eastern philosophy & humanism to create a paradise on earth. When cynical journalist Will Farnaby arrives to search for information about potential oil reserves on Pala he quickly falls in love with the way of life on the isl&. Soon the need to complete his mission becomes an intolerable burden. In counterpoint to Brave New World & Ape & Essence in Island Huxley gives us his vision of utopia. ...

When the people of the Island discover a man & a tattered raft on their beach they are reluctant to take him in. He doesnt look like them. But they cannot send him back to the sea where he will surely perish. Instead they put him aside but even that doesnt solve their problem. The Island is an astonishing & powerful picture book about refugees xenophobia multiculturalism social politics & human rights. It tackles big themes in subtle ways with a fable-like text & stunning artwork that will provoke discussion for upper primary & secondary school levels about issues that remain so much a part of our national discourse. ...