Books

Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.

Characters from books literally leap off the page in this engrossing fantasy. Meggie has had her father to herself since her mother went away when she was young. Mo taught her to read when she was five, and the two share a mutual love of books. He can "read" characters out of books. When she was three, he read aloud from a book called Inkheart and released characters into the real world. At the same time, Meggie's mother disappeared into the story. This "story within a story" will delight not just fantasy fans, but all readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters.

An adapted and illustrated edition of Jane Austen's romantic classic - at an easy-to-read level for all ages.

Laura has lived a fairy-tale life until a stranger knocks on her cottage door. Then her adventures and her troubles begin. In dramatic letters, Laura tells of heartless fathers and runaway children, long-lost grandfathers and thieving cousins. Hers is a story of doomed love, fierce friendship, and the unexpected dangers of fainting.

All Catherine wants is to be like the heroines in the books she reads. On her first trip away from home, she finally gets her chance. A new friendship and a growing love lead her to the spooky Northanger Abbey. There Catherine will find that a little imagination can cause a lot of trouble.

A beautifully illustrated adapted classic that will introduce children to the works of Jane Austen.

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel. She began it soon after she had finished Emma, completing it in August 1816. She died, aged 41, in 1817; Persuasion was published in December that year (but dated 1818). Persuasion is linked to Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable city with which Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805. Besides the theme of persuasion, the novel evokes other topics, such as the Royal Navy, in which two of Jane Austen's brothers ultimately rose to the rank of admiral. As in Northanger Abbey, the superficial social life of Bath-well known to Austen, who spent several relatively unhappy and unproductive years there-is portrayed extensively and serves as a setting for the second half of the book. In many respects Persuasion marks a break with Austen's previous works, both in the more biting, even irritable satire directed at some of the novel's characters and in the regretful, resigned outlook of its otherwise admirable heroine, Anne Elliot, in the first part of the story. Against this is set the energy and appeal of the Royal Navy, which symbolises for Anne and the reader the possibility of a more outgoing, engaged, and fulfilling life, and it is this worldview which triumphs for the most part at the end of the novel.

This is a book about self-sabotage. Why we do it, when we do it, and how to stop doing it—for good. Coexisting but conflicting needs create self-sabotaging behaviors. This is why we resist efforts to change, often until they feel completely futile. But by extracting crucial insight from our most damaging habits, building emotional intelligence by better understanding our brains and bodies, releasing past experiences at a cellular level, and learning to act as our highest potential future selves, we can step out of our own way and into our potential. For centuries, the mountain has been used as a metaphor for the big challenges we face, especially ones that seem impossible to overcome. To scale our mountains, we actually have to do the deep internal work of excavating trauma, building resilience, and adjusting how we show up for the climb. In the end, it is not the mountain we master, but ourselves.

A magical, inspiring story about making friends.

Little Bird is on a mission: to help lonely children make friends. One day she spots Sami, a little boy in a new country, who’s always playing on his own. With Little Bird’s help, Sami discovers that the world is full of friends, if only you know where to look.

With rich, magical illustrations and a gently humorous story, Devon Holzwarth’s debut picture book will strike a chord with shy children everywhere.

Biff, Chip and Kipper: Stage 1 Read with Oxford Phonics - BIFF'S FUN PHONICS - NEW Brand New Paperback Book **Stage 1 First Steps: I am starting to use letter sounds to read simple words** Help Biff read captions and look for things in the pictures in these two funny 'Read with Oxford' stories. Ideal for children who are taking their first steps in reading.