In a perfect world, Jonas begins to see the flaws... THE GIVER is the classic award-winning novel that inspired the dystopian genre & a major motion picture adaptation for 2014 starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes & Taylor Swift. It is the future. There is no war, no hunger, no pain. No one in the community wants for anything. Everything needed is provided. & at twelve years old, each member of the community has their profession carefully chosen for them by the Committee of Elders. Twelve-year old Jonas has never thought there was anything wrong with his world. But from the moment he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas discovers that their community is not as perfect as it seems. It is only with the help of the Giver, that Jonas can find what has been lost. & it is only through his personal courage that Jonas finds the strength to do what is right... The Giver is the award-winning classic of bravery & adventure that has inspired countless dystopian writers as the forerunner of this genre. ...

In the remote Kingdom of Castalia, the scholars of the Twenty Third century play the Glass Bead Game. The elaborately coded game is a fusion of all human knowledge
- of maths, music, philosophy, science, & art. Intrigued as a school boy, Joseph Knecht becomes consumed with mastering the game as an adult. As Knecht fulfils his life-long quest he must contend with unexpected dilemmas & the longing for a life beyond the ivory tower.
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From Jan Pienkowski, much-loved illustrator of the Meg & Mog series, comes this beautiful collection of Polish folk tales, with vibrant & witty colour illustrations throughout. Using the traditional cut-paper technique he learned as a child, Jan brings eight of his favourite Polish stories to life
- featuring classic stories such as ” Pan Twardowski”, ” The Glass Mountain”, ” The Wawel Dragon” & ” The Fern Flower”. A brand new title from one of the giants of children`s literature, this magical collection is the perfect way to introduce children to Polish folk tales.
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Rajkumar is only a boy, helping out on a market stall in the dusty square outside the royal palace in Mandalay, when the British force the Burmese King, Queen & court into exile. Thus begins this novel which grasps the reach & fall of empires. The history of the twentieth century is told across three generations, spread over three interlinked parts of the British Empire: Burma, Malaya & India. ...

Cool. Balanced. Modern. The precisions of science, the wild variance of lust, the catharsis of confession & the fear of failure
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`A biographical orrery
- intricate, complex & fascinating` The Observer `A peerless intellectual biography. The Glass Universe
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Daniela the glassmaker`s daughter is grumpy & never smiles. Her father promises a beautiful glass palace to anyone who can make her laugh. People come from far & wide to try their luck in amusing Daniela. But mask makers, lion tamers & magicians cannot make you smile from the princess. It is only when a young apprentice makes the first looking glass that Daniela learns to smile
- at her own grumpy reflection! This beautiful fable set in sixteenth-century Venice features stunning illustrations from award-winning artist Jane Ray alongside a poetic text.
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When a decapitated head is seen floating down the river in the Devon village of Aller, the rural calm is shattered. Soon the corpses are multiplying, & the entire community is involved in the hunt for the murderer. Whilst many chase false trails, it is left to Gervase Fen, Oxford don & amateur criminologist, to uncover the sordid truth. Equal parts compelling, witty & ingenuous, The Glimpses of the Moon is a classic example of great British detective fiction. ...

A world expert on how trees chemically affect our environment, Diana Beresford-Kroeger has woven together ecology, ethnobotany, horticulture, spirituality, science & alternative medicine in The Global Forest to capture their enormous significance to us
- & our future. Trees absorb pollutants from the ground, comb particulates from the air & house beneficial insects. But what they do chemically in the environment is something we're only beginning to underst&. Trees not only breathe & communicate; they also reproduce, provide shelter, medicine & food, & each of these forty interlocking essays picks out a different aspect of the life of the forest, explains it & then shows why it is so vitally important. This is a truly unique, & mind-opening work, combining the precision of a scientist with the lyricism of a poet, Diana Beresford-Kroeger has written an unforgettable work of natural history that shows how we really can save the Earth, one tree at a time.
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In the global village that our world has become, travel & technology fuel each other & us. ” Everywhere is made up of everywhere else, ” motion is our most constant state of being, our very souls have been put into circulation. Yet, as Pico Iyer points out in his fresh, acutely observant, & witty new book, even a global person must have a home. Using his own multicultural upbringing (Indian, American, British) as a point of departure, Iyer sets out on a journey
- both physical & psychological
- toward a definition of home in this world gone mobile. He travels: to Los Angeles International Airport, where town life (shops, services, sociability) is available without a town; to Hong Kong, where hotels are self-contained communities; to Toronto, made cosmopolitan by its emigre population; to Atlanta, where the Olympic Village unintentionally commemorates the mass-produced universalism that shapes the games; to Engl&, where the effects of empire-as-global-village are still being sorted out; &, to Japan, where Iyer unexpectedly, & finally, finds a home for himself.

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