The enthusiasm and excitement surrounding the Olympics makes it an ideal topic for teaching French. Not only will pupils learn the French words for sports, we also give you ideas to reinforce vocabulary and sentence structures for a range of topics, from colours and weather to numbers and travel. In addition, using the information on France at the Olympics included in the resource will help to cover the Intercultural Strand of the Framework for Modern Languages. The French Olympics Topic Pack contains photocopiable activities and games which include: flashcards; picture flashcards; word searches, crossword puzzles and other word games; listening activities; bingo and other games; sentence building activities; and background information on France at the Olympics.

Elma Napier's love affair with Dominica, then a British colony, began in 1932 when she turned her back on London's high society to build a home in a remote coastal village on that most mysterious and seductive of all Caribbean islands. Black and White Sands is the memoir of her life there - of bohemian house-parties, war and death, smugglers and servants and, above all, of stories inspired by her political life as the only woman in a colonial parliament, her love for the island's turbulent landscapes and her curiosity about the lives and culture of its people.

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.

Birthday Present (Bing)

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

The perfect introduction to the Master. One hundred and thirty-five years after his death, Richard Wagner’s music dramas stand at the centre of the culture of classical music. They have never been more popular, nor so violently controversial and divisive. As a man, he was a walking contradiction: aggressive, flirtatious, disciplined, capricious, heroic, visionary and poisonously anti-Semitic. His ten great mature masterpieces constitute an unmatched body of work, created against a backdrop of poverty, revolution, violent controversy, critical contempt and hysterical hero-worship. His work often dealt with myth, but his own life had the character of a fable. At one point, in his early fifties, desperately poor after a life of heroic productivity, he had four lengthy operas written with no hope of seeing them done, when, as if in a fairy-tale, he was rescued by a beautiful young king with limitless wealth. When one of those works, Tristan and Isolde, was at last performed, it revolutionised classical music at a stroke. Wagner went on to create The Ring of the Nibelung: a vast epic in four massive segments, ushering gods and dwarves, heroes and thugs, dragons and rainbows onto the stage. This was the apotheosis of German art as he saw it, so extreme in its demands that he had to train a generation of singers and players to perform it, and erect a custom-built theatre to house it. Wagner died, exhausted, after creating one final piece – Parsifal – that seems to point to an even more radical new future for music. Simon Callow plunges the reader headlong into Wagner’s world, examining the intellectual and artistic climate in which Wagner, a composer like no other who ever lived, extreme in everything, creator of perhaps the most sublime and most troubling body of work in the history of music.

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

Bing and his friend are playing hide and seek in this charming book based on the hit TV series. Playing hide and seek is lots of fun, but should Bing have joined the toilet train before he decided to hide? Oh dear. Don’t worry Bing, it’s no big thing!

Join Bing and his friends in the first story book of the amazing new TV series Bing! Bing and Flop are making a banana smoothie. When Bing loses his carrot it somehow ends up in the blender. That’s when he discovers that you can mix things up, but you can’t always mix them back down again! Making a smoothie - it’s a Bing thing!

Bing and Flop have taken Hoppity Voosh to the park. But Hoppity gets forgotten. Can Bing find his favouritest ever toy again? With a wonderful story plus stickers too, this book is a delight for all Bing fans. Finding Hoppity… it’s a Bing thing!

This is a Christmas themed best seller about Lily and her beloved Blue Kangaroo! It's Christmas Eve, and Lily is excitedly wondering if Father Christmas will come. She has made cards for everyone, helped to decorate the house and put presents under the tree. "This one is just for you, Blue Kangaroo!" she says. "Just for me!" thinks Blue Kangaroo. But Blue Kangaroo doesn't have a present for Lily, and he lies awake worrying. Is there anyone who might be able to help?

Fancy Nancy is back in this magical new story about little girls’ favourite dolls… and not so favourite little sisters! When Fancy Nancy’s little sister JoJo gives Nancy’s favourite doll a tattoo, Fancy Nancy is livid (that’s fancy for tres angry and upset)! Even worse, it’s in permanent marker – that means it will NEVER come off! When Mum suggests a fancy doll party to make Nancy feel better, Nancy is excited to accept. But what if the doll drama is far from over? A new story in this bestselling series, about the love little girls feel for their favourite dolls – and favourite sisters!

Michelle Robinson grew up in Gloucestershire. She worked as a copywriter for radio and TV adverts before becoming a full-time children’s author. She lives in Frome, Somerset. Emily Fox gained a first class degree in Illustration and was awarded 'Highly Commended' in the Macmillan Children's Book competition in 2012. Elephant's Pyjamas is her first picture book.

Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad in 1963. As a child she emigrated to Queens, New York, and attended colleges in Long Island. Then she moved to England and attended Essex University, before returning to America. She lives in New York with her husband and children.

Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts. With a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling tirelessly from her imagination, she is one of the South West’s most prolific talents. Creating a growing portfolio of beautifully imagined children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike

Emma 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.

Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts. With a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling tirelessly from her imagination, she is one of the South West’s most prolific talents. Creating a growing portfolio of beautifully imagined children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike.

Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts, with a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling from her imagination. Creating a growing portfolio of children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike.

David Mackintosh was born in Belfast and grew up in Australia. He is a graphic designer, art director and illustrator. His innovative book designs have won him numerous awards in Britain and internationally, and has collaborated with some of the most celecrated names in children’s publishing. David lives in London, draws a lot, has a bicycle and built a plastic model of a lunar module while creating this book.

Oliver Jeffers graduated from The University of Ulster in 2001 with First Class honours. His outstanding talent has been recognised by several high-profile awards, including the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Gold Award. ‘Lost and Found’ animation was broadcast on Channel 4. Oliver lives and works in Brookyln, New York.

Gone & Upside Down (Twirlywoos)