Meet Ottoline & her hairy helpful friend Mr Munroe. No secret is ever too scary for the two of them to discover together. Ottoline is off to the Alice B. Smith School for the Differently Gifted. She is rather worried that she doesnt have a special gift. Mr Munroe is worried about the ghost who is said to haunt the school halls at night. Does Ottoline discover how to be different & can they expose the spook? ...

Liz Smith once called the nations favourite fictional grandmother is a familiar face to all TV & cinema viewers. She is most often recognised for her role of Nana in The Royle Family. OUR BETTY is Lizs life story
- from her cosseted yet lonely childhood with her beloved grandparents (her mother died giving birth to Lizs stillborn sibling) through the war with the WRENS marriage & children divorce & poverty long years working in dead-end jobs such as in a plastic bag factory until her heavenly escape of evening acting classes provided the chance for a career. While working at Hamleys one Christmas (I was one of those tiresome people who stop you & beg you to try samples of this & that) she received a phone call from a young director who wanted to make an improvised film. His name was Mike Leigh & the film Bleak Moments. From that point when Liz was 50 her career took off & she has worked with some of the most famous names in the entertainment business. OUR BETTY is like its author original amusing & fascinating on the struggles hopes & successes endemic of a life in front of the camera.
...

Most of us manage to be monogamous most of the time. But most of us also know that adultery is the 'crime' we could imagine ourselves committing. But does being 'faithful' mean the same to everyone? Why DO people have affairs? Using real-life testimony from those who have 'cheated' & those who have been cheated on alongside the most up to date research this book looks at the big questions around love & commitment. Kate Figes shows how in our progressive times monogamy has become the new ideal. Absolute fidelity in sexual love above all now stands as the primary symbol of commitment. But that has created new problems: increasing the allure of the affair exacerbating the need for deceit; making trust harder; & highlighting the shame & the wounds of betrayal. This book lifts the taboos asks the tough questions suggests that we can survive an affair & that it can lead to a better understanding of ourselves & our relationships. Monogamy is possible & many couples manage it either throughout their relationship or for long periods of time. But for the countless others a more honest & humane public debate around the subject of infidelity is essential. Our Cheating Hearts by the author known & respected for charting the emotional territory of relationships is that book. ...

For most people in England today the church is simply the empty building at the end of the road visited for the first time if at all when dead. It offers its sacraments to a population that lives without rites of passage & which regards the National Health Service rather than the National Church as its true spiritual guardian. In Our Church Scruton argues that the Anglican Church is the forlorn trustee of an architectural & artistic inheritance that remains one of the treasures of European civilization. He contends that it is a still point in the centre of English culture & that its defining texts the King James Bible & the Book of Common Prayer are the sources from which much of our national identity derives. At once an elegy to a vanishing world & a clarion call to recognize Anglicanisms continuing relevance Our Church is a graceful & persuasive book. ...

Australia 1789. A young married lieutenant is directing rehearsals of the first play ever to be staged in that country. With only two copies of the text a cast of convicts & one leading lady who may be about to be hanged conditions are hardly ideal... Winner of the Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award in 1988 & many other major awards Our Country's Good premiered at the Royal Court Theatre London in 1988 & opened on Broadway in 1991. ' Rarely has the redemptive transcendental power of theatre been argued with such eloquence & passion.' Georgina Brown Independent Methuen Student Editions are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern & classic repertoires. As well as the complete text of the play itself the volume contains a chronology of the playwright's life & work; an introduction giving the background to the play; a discussion of the various interpretations; & notes on individual words & phrases in the text. ...

* Where learning is an adventure! Welcome to Our Discovery Island a six-level primary series that engages children in 21st century learning. Children uncover clues & solve mysteries as they learn English. * Whole learner: Adventures on themed islands develop cognitive emotional & social skills. * Authenticity: Children are safe absorbed & happy playing & practising in the online world * Repetition: Songs chants & games reinforce essential vocabulary & grammar practice * Motivation: Stories characters & activities engage learners. Our Discovery Island is a groundbreaking new course that makes learning English an exciting & engaging experience. www.pearson ELT.com/ourdiscoveryisland ...

Eva Kershaw thought she would never marry & is happy living a quiet life with her dear friend Alice. But Alice is ill & her nephew has thrust himself into their household. Alices dearest wish is that Eva should not make the same mistakes she did & she alters her will so that Eva & Gus are strongly compelled to marry. Eva obliges to fulfil her dead friends wishes. But Gus is not all he seems to be: he is not Alices kind nephew but a robber confidence trickster & not even Gus Blake. & Eva is in terrible danger... ...

My Very First Bible published to high acclaim in 2003 & its popular stories & bright illustrations have since gone onto provide the basis for a number of additional series including board books big books sticker & activity books. 12 key Bible stories have now been made available as great value little paperbacks offering a smart way of collecting multiple books for use in groups & classes for award-giving or for anyone wanting a pocket-money gift. The series
Includes:: In the Beginning; Noah & the Ark; Moses & his Sister; Brave David; Jonah & the Whale; Daniel & the Lions; Baby Jesus; Jesus & the Storm; The Good Samaritan; The Lost Sheep; Our Father; & The Easter Story.
...

Maggie Smith-Bendell was born on the edge of a pea field near Bridgwater in Somerset in 1941. She & her family are Romani Gypsies & as she grew up Maggie learned the old crafts & customs of the Gypsies traditional way of life. Her family travelled the length & breadth of the countryside eking a living from the woods & hedgerows catching rabbits pheasants & wild duck. They did all manner of fieldwork for farmers including picking peas beans & hops
- & as soon as Maggie was old enough she contributed to the familys labour. Ever since they arrived in Europe centuries ago the Gypsies have been persecuted for their outsider status but the last sixty years or so have perhaps seen the greatest threats to their culture to the extent that their traditional way of life is in danger of disappearing altogether: changes in the law changes in agriculture many things have undermined the Gypsies freedom to live as they wish. In this wonderful memoir full of the language & lore of the Gypsies Maggie Smith-Bendell gives us a true insight into a way of life that has more or less vanished: driven by the seasons with an extraordinary closeness to nature she & her family faced numerous hardships including the deaths of beloved family members. As well as telling the story of her familys ups & downs in the course of their yearly journeys to the pea-fields of Somerset & the hop-gardens of Herefordshire Maggie recounts her own journey to become a prominent campaigner for Gypsy rights. An autobiography told straight from the heart Our Forgotten Years" is both moving & inspiring."
...

Key Words with Peter & Jane" uses the most frequently met words in the English language as a starting point for learning to read successfully & confidently. The Key Words reading scheme is scientifically researched & world renowned. In book 6a Peter & Jane meet lots of different people in 52 new words including 'baby' 'because' 'teacher' & 'much'. Once this book has been completed the child moves on to book 6b. " The Key Words with Peter & Jane Books" work because each of the key words is introduced gradually & repeated frequently. This builds confidence in children when they recognize these key words on sight (also known as the 'look & say' method of learning). Examples of key words are: the one two he. There are 12 levels each with 3 books: a b & c. " Series a" gradually introduces new words. " Series b" provides further practise of words featured in " The 'a' Series". " Series c" links reading with writing & phonics. All the words that have been introduced in each 'a' & 'b' book are also reinforced in the 'c' books." ...