Paddling Pool (Bing)

Rob is an award-winning designer, and a full-time author and illustrator. By night he makes up silly stories for his three daughters, and draws pictures to go with them.He lives and works in London, and his first book was the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize-winning Blown Away, starring Penguin Blue. You can visit Rob, Penguin Blue and all their friends at www.robbiddulph.com.

Daniel Howarth is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He lives near Exeter, with his wife and family, and works from his garden studio. www.danielhowarth.com

Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire on 13 January 1926 and educated at Presentation College, Reading. He served in the Royal Air Force and the British Army before working as a cameraman for BBC TV for 19 years. In 2015, Michael was awarded a CBE for his services to children’s literature, to add to the OBE he received in 1997. Michael died in 2017, leaving behind one of the great literary legacies of our time.

Gone & Upside Down (Twirlywoos)

Daniel Howarth is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He lives near Exeter, with his wife and family, and works from his garden studio. www.danielhowarth.com

Daniel Howarth is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He lives near Exeter, with his wife and family, and works from his garden studio. www.danielhowarth.com

Emma Chichester Clark studied art at the Royal College of Art. She has worked as a freelancer for magazines, publishers and advertising agencies as well as teaching art for several years, but now dedicates most of her time to children’s books. She lives and works in London.

Meet the Twirlywoos & Hello Chickedy, Hello Chick (Twirlywoos)

One Direction are: Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and, Niall Horan. Formed in The X Factor’s Bootcamp stage in 2010, they’ve since gone on to win over 140 awards, smash records in both the UK and the US and sell over 20 million records worldwide.

Little Mix are Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall. They began their X Factor journey as four individuals before being made into a group, then called ‘Rhythmix’. With Tulisa Contostavlos as their friend and mentor, Little Mix battled their way through to the final round and ultimately became the only group ever to win.

Some guides to a subject could more or less be written by any expert in that field, but a small minority are unique creations of a rare individual who has their own view. Unfortunately most of the latter types of guides fail to be good general guides. Verity's genius makes him the exception. This book is arranged in chronological chapters that trace the evolution of poetry as an art form. At the same time, each chapter gives a most practical explanation of how that aspect of poetry that it covers works and why. The book is immensely readable, hugely informative, and adds to the ability of the reader to enjoy and to create poetry. It is a classic.' "Epictetus" (Amazon review) 'The great merit of Verity's approach is that he quotes lavishly throughout, not only from the poems themselves, but also from a variety of critics' LIBRARY REVIEWS 'Of his first book of sonnets Kingsley Amis wrote ‘They belong within the corpus of English poetry’ Excerpts of Interview with Kenneth Verity on The Vanessa Phelps BBC Radio programme on June 2009 on the News Page (off the Home page) 'The amount of reading which underpins this book is breathtaking. The great merit of Verity's approach is that he quotes lavishly throughout, not only from the poems themselves, but also from a variety of critics ... The chapter on poetry's figurative element is a model of lucid definition and telling illustration, showing how many layers of meaning may lie behind a single word' LIBRARY REVIEWS The author writes:'The intention of this book is to examine and analyse the essential nature of the phenomenon we call poetry; to seek an understanding of the power this art form exerts over mind and heart; to comprehend its potency; and to explain its perennial ability to command the respect of mankind'. Almost a library in one volume, this unusual book, written by an accomplished poet, examines the 4000 years old phenomenon of poetry. Combining history, literature and philosophy, it explains the underlying power of this art form and how its effect is exerted over human hearts and understanding. Since the Greeks at least, poetry has been accorded pre-eminence in the arts. Poetry’s aesthetic supremacy and inhering mystery has made it the foremost form of expression when human beings need to say something important in a special way. Poetry has been defined as the best words in the best order. In poetry, the author suggests, the eternal intersects the everyday – it has been said that poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement. He shows how poetry has provided a vehicle for inspiration and fresh ways of thinking and interpreting the perennial questions of the human race. The author makes clear that poetry ‘works’ because it acknowledges the universality of human psychology, and because it unites emotion with reason and tempers imagination with understanding. Over 200 poets from both East and West are quoted, and the work of 10 master poets is critically analysed and assessed. The major factors involved in translating poetry are discussed, particularly the difficulty of conveying the meaning without losing the spirit. The central features of inspiration and creativity are elucidated. The unbroken stream of poetry carries resonances of the growth and decay of civilisations, the vicissitudes of wars, the effects of migrations and trading, the influences of religious belief. The author considers, from his own experience, that poetry remains peerless in evaluating and articulating the riches of the human spirit.

Classic essay, first published around 1900. "Style, the Latin name for an iron pen, has come to designate the art that handles, with ever fresh vitality and wary alacrity, the fluid elements of speech. By a figure, obvious enough, which yet might serve for an epitome of literary method, the most rigid and simplest of instruments has lent its name to the subtlest and most flexible of arts. Thence the application of the word has been extended to arts other than literature, to the whole range of the activities of man. The fact that we use the word "style" in speaking of architecture and sculpture, painting and music, dancing, play-acting, and cricket, that we can apply it to the careful achievements of the housebreaker and the poisoner, and to the spontaneous animal movements of the limbs of man or beast, is the noblest of unconscious tributes to the faculty of letters. The pen, scratching on wax or paper, has become the symbol of all that is expressive, all that is intimate, in human nature; not only arms and arts, but man himself, has yielded to it. His living voice, with its undulations and inflexions, assisted by the mobile play of feature and an infinite variety of bodily gesture, is driven to borrow dignity from the same metaphor; the orator and the actor are fain to be judged by style." According to Wikipedia: "Professor Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh (5 September 1861 – 13 May 1922) was a Scottish scholar, poet and author... He was Professor of English Literature at the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh (1885-87), Professor of Modern Literature at the University College Liverpool (1890-1900), Regius Professor of English Language and Literature at Glasgow University (1900-1904), and Chair of English Literature at Oxford University and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (1904-22. Raleigh was knighted in 1911."

Historical play for children, first published around 1900.

How-to book for children, first published in 1919, with 66 black-and-white illustrations. The author was professor of manual arts, Bradley Polytechnic Instittue and editor of the Shop Notes and Problems Department of Manual Training Magazine.

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Swearer’s Bank by Jonathan Swift - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Jonathan Swift’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Swift includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘The Swearer’s Bank by Jonathan Swift - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Swift’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the text Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The History of the Four Last Years of the Queen by Jonathan Swift - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Jonathan Swift’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Swift includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘The History of the Four Last Years of the Queen by Jonathan Swift - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Swift’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the text Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Poetry by Henrik Ibsen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Ibsen includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘The Poetry by Henrik Ibsen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Ibsen’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the text Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

First published around 1900, the aim of this book is to assist school children in the accurate study of a few birds. It is believed that if this be attained, further study of birds will take care of itself. According to Wikipedia: "Charles Almanzo Babcock (born 1849, date of death unknown) was a late-nineteenth-century superintendent of schools in Oil City, Pennsylvania. He is credited with launching Bird Day, a day to celebrate birds in American schools, on May 4. The first Bird Day was celebrated in Oil City schools in 1894, and by 1901 the practice was well established."

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Time Regained by Marcel Proust - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Marcel Proust’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Proust includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Time Regained by Marcel Proust - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Proust’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the text Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Hawthorne includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Hawthorne’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the text Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles