From Spare Oom to War Drobe


Book Description

** Now available for pre-order (title will be released on April 29th) **As a little girl of nine, Katherine Langrish fell deeply in love with The Chronicles of Narnia - she was even inspired to write a book of stories set in that world, complete with poster-paint picture of Aslan on the homemade dust jacket. Although she loved the Narnia books to bursting, others took their place as she grew up. For years they sat unopened on her shelves. She began to wonder why. Had they simply become too familiar? Had the charm faded? What might they mean to her as an adult?From Spare Oom to War Drobe is a love letter to that early passion, as well as a reappraisal of The Chronicles of Narnia in the light of maturity and changing tastes. It brilliantly evokes her initial sense of childish wonder, and in a close reading of the novels, including analysis of the context in which other critics have placed them, she gives us a superbly rich, enlightening, and immensely readable guide to the world of these evergreen stories.




Pureheart


Book Description

Gal and Deirdre have forgotten something. something really, really important. When her grandmother dies, Deirdre is left alone in a crumbling block of flats. Looking out the window one misty night, she sees a boy who seems familiar. Together, he and Deirde must discover the secret of the old building, before it collapses and the secret is lost forever . . . A beguilingly beautiful book about what it means to love - from the winner of the 2011 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Praise for The Three Loves of Persimmon: 'Whimiscal, wise and outrageously charming . . .' Judges' Comments, Prime Minister's Literary Awards, 2011 'Part parable, part surrealist fable, part love story, the best word to describe this book is beautiful . . .' Judges' Comments, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, 2011




Gender Swapped Fairy Tales


Book Description

Discover a collection of fairy tales unlike the ones you've read before . . . Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a King sat at a window and sewed. As he sewed and gazed out onto the landscape, he pricked his finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the snow outside. People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales - to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit upon a dilemma, something previous versions of these stories were missing, and so they decided to make one vital change.. They haven't rewritten the stories in this book. They haven't reimagined endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders. It might not sound like that much of a change, but you'll be dazzled by the world this swap creates - and amazed by the new characters you're about to discover.




A Visit to William Blake's Inn


Book Description

A collection of poems describing the curious menagerie of guests and residents, human and animal, at William Blake's inn.




Troll Mill


Book Description

Fifteen-year-old Peer Ulfsson is haunted by his past. Forced to live with his evil uncles under the eerie shadows of Troll Fell, he nearly fell prey to their plan to sell children to the trolls. Now Peer lives with his friend Hilde's family, but can he ever truly belong? And will Hilde ever share his deeper feelings? One rainy night, Peer watches in shock as his neighbor Kersten pushes her baby daughter into his arms and then disappears into the sea. Rumor says that Kersten is a seal woman who has returned to her ocean home, and the millpond witch, Granny Green-teeth, seems intent on taking the "seal baby." Peer also discovers that the mill, abandoned when his uncles joined the troll kingdom, is running again -- all on its own? With angry trolls, mysterious seal people, a mischievous house spirit, and three unusual babies in the mix, Peer and Hilde have their hands full and more! Katherine Langrish returns to the magical world of her acclaimed debut, troll fell, in this second story set in an extraordinary land by the sea filled with Viking legends and lore.




New Fairy Tales


Book Description

New Fairy Tales: English & French · The English text has been translated from the French. · The French text has been re-worked. · Contains commentaries on some parts of the text. · Contains a summary of French grammar. · Contains a Translation Skills Test (with Grammar tips). · Can be read in ‘English to French’; ‘French to English’; ‘English’; or ‘French’. THIS EDITION: New Fairy Tales (in French, Nouveaux Contes de fées) is a classic French book written by Comtesse de Ségur. It contains a collection of five smaller stories. This volume includes an introductory section summarising the important aspects of French grammar. The digital edition also contains a translation skills test. (Includes verb conjugation and other grammar hints.) The dual-language text has been arranged into small bilingual snippets for quick and easy cross-referencing. The content is ideal for assisting the intermediate language learner to transition to foreign language only content. Also, if the content is too difficult, there is other material put out by 2Langauge Books that can help. The reader can choose between six options: Section 1: English to French Section 2: French to English Section 3: English Section 4: French Section 5: English to French Skills Test Section 6: French to English Skills Test The eventual aim is to read with a comfortable level of understanding only in the foreign language. If you are a beginner, read the native language snippet first. If you are at an intermediate level, read the foreign language snippet first. The advanced level is like the beginners level, except you have to try and figure out the foreign language text, instead of having it provided. One way to do this is to cover the foreign text snippet. In the digital edition, you can take an intermediate or advanced level skills test. Many basic language books offer some form of audio support. Internet services — primarily news based radio stations — offer podcasts. Audio from television is an additional resource, and can be formatted for use on various digital platforms. However, if audio is an important component of your interest in languages, electronic devices that support quality text-to-speech (TTS) will likely be appealing. With a library card, TTS technology (in a device that supports the relevant content), and the above mentioned resources (as digital content), an entire language learning system is available for not much more than a cup of coffee! There is no substantial financial outlay to get you started. Furthermore, there are no additional ongoing fees (and updates), and there are no expiry dates on ‘premium’ content and resources. (A Dual-Language Book Project) 2Language Books




The Water-babies


Book Description

A Victorian tale in which Tom, a sooty little chimney sweep with a great longing to be clean, is stolen by fairies and turned into a water-baby.




The Museum of Shadows and Reflections


Book Description

A hauntingly powerful new voice in British fiction, this highly anticipated short story collection from Claire Dean showcases fourteen stories of wonder and memory, wind and water, metamorphosis and regret.




Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times


Book Description

"A fascinating history of…[a craft] that preceded and made possible civilization itself." —New York Times Book Review New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies. Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women. Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture. Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated new archaeological methods—methods she herself helped to fashion. In a "brilliantly original book" (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.