- Table View
- List View
Larklight: A Rousing Tale Of Dauntless Pluck In The Farthest Reaches Of Space (Larklight Ser. #1)
by David Wyatt Philip ReeveArthur (Art) Mumby and his irritating sister Myrtle live with their father in the huge and rambling house, Larklight, travelling through space on a remote orbit far beyond the Moon. One ordinary sort of morning they receive a correspondence informing them that a gentleman is on his way to visit, a Mr Webster. Visitors to Larklight are rare if not unique, and a frenzy of preparation ensues. But it is entirely the wrong sort of preparation, as they discover when their guest arrives, and a Dreadful and Terrifying (and Marvellous) adventure begins. It takes them to the furthest reaches of Known Space, where they must battle the evil First Ones in a desperate attempt to save each other - and the Universe.Recounted through the eyes of Art himself, Larklight is sumptuously designed and illustrated throughout.
The Swiss Family Robinson: Or Adventures In A Desert Land (Collins Classics)
by Johann WyssHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
School Choice in China: A different tale? (Education and Society in China)
by Wu XiaoxinSchool Choice in China explores the major characteristics of schooling options in China, highlighting how largely middle-class parents exploit their cultural, economic and social capital for their children's admission into choice schools. It highlights how payments such as choice fees, donations, prize-winning certificates and awards, as well as the use of guanxi, result in Chinese school choice as a parent-driven, bottom-up movement. The author also explores how schools and local governments cash in on the school choice fever in order to obtain significant economic returns, leading to policies that accommodate the needs of mostly middle-class families. He argues that although this system seems to create winners among the parties involved, it exacerbates the educational inequality that already exists in Chinese society. Chapters include: Positional competition for cultural capital Exploitation of social capital Economics of school choice Class reproduction through parental choice This book is not simply a detailed analysis of Chinese school choice practices, but also a study of the competitive middle class search for advantage for their children. As such it will be beneficial to undergraduates, postgraduates, education professionals, policy makers, and anyone with an interest in education, sociology, social policy, and the rise and future of China.
School Choice in China: A different tale? (Education and Society in China)
by Wu XiaoxinSchool Choice in China explores the major characteristics of schooling options in China, highlighting how largely middle-class parents exploit their cultural, economic and social capital for their children's admission into choice schools. It highlights how payments such as choice fees, donations, prize-winning certificates and awards, as well as the use of guanxi, result in Chinese school choice as a parent-driven, bottom-up movement. The author also explores how schools and local governments cash in on the school choice fever in order to obtain significant economic returns, leading to policies that accommodate the needs of mostly middle-class families. He argues that although this system seems to create winners among the parties involved, it exacerbates the educational inequality that already exists in Chinese society. Chapters include: Positional competition for cultural capital Exploitation of social capital Economics of school choice Class reproduction through parental choice This book is not simply a detailed analysis of Chinese school choice practices, but also a study of the competitive middle class search for advantage for their children. As such it will be beneficial to undergraduates, postgraduates, education professionals, policy makers, and anyone with an interest in education, sociology, social policy, and the rise and future of China.
Family Strategies, Guanxi, and School Success in Rural China (Education and Society in China)
by Ailei XieResearch in school success in contemporary China has argued that market reforms have reproduced the advantages for children from the cadre and the professional families while simultaneously creating new opportunities for children of the new arising economic elites. However, it has performed less for traditional peasant families. This book places a special emphasis on how rural parents from different social backgrounds use guanxi (interpersonal social networks) to maintain the interconnectedness between their families and schools to create advantages for their children in school success. It investigates, by an ethnographic study in a rural county in middle China, how families from different social backgrounds within rural society get involved in the schooling of their children and how this contributes to different patterns of school success. The book argues that schools provide few formal and routine channels for rural parents to become involved in their children’s schooling. This raises the importance of family strategic initiatives to employ guanxi in the creation of advantages for their children’s school success. It concludes with discussions about guanxi as an important mechanism for social exclusion in post-socialist China. Chapters include: Family Strategies, Parental Involvement, and School Success The Roles of Parents: Voices of Parents in Zong Regarding School Involvement Policy Discourses: Missing the Link between Family and School Peasants: Family and Kinship The Blurring Division between Home and School This concise and comprehensive book is a qualitative study that will appeal to researchers and advance students in Chinese education and society.
Family Strategies, Guanxi, and School Success in Rural China (Education and Society in China)
by Ailei XieResearch in school success in contemporary China has argued that market reforms have reproduced the advantages for children from the cadre and the professional families while simultaneously creating new opportunities for children of the new arising economic elites. However, it has performed less for traditional peasant families. This book places a special emphasis on how rural parents from different social backgrounds use guanxi (interpersonal social networks) to maintain the interconnectedness between their families and schools to create advantages for their children in school success. It investigates, by an ethnographic study in a rural county in middle China, how families from different social backgrounds within rural society get involved in the schooling of their children and how this contributes to different patterns of school success. The book argues that schools provide few formal and routine channels for rural parents to become involved in their children’s schooling. This raises the importance of family strategic initiatives to employ guanxi in the creation of advantages for their children’s school success. It concludes with discussions about guanxi as an important mechanism for social exclusion in post-socialist China. Chapters include: Family Strategies, Parental Involvement, and School Success The Roles of Parents: Voices of Parents in Zong Regarding School Involvement Policy Discourses: Missing the Link between Family and School Peasants: Family and Kinship The Blurring Division between Home and School This concise and comprehensive book is a qualitative study that will appeal to researchers and advance students in Chinese education and society.
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai: A Novel
by Ruiyan XuWhen an explosion reverberates through the Swan Hotel in Shanghai, it is not just shards of glass and rubble that come crashing down. Li Jing and Zhou Meiling find their once-happy marriage rocked to its foundations. For Li Jing, his head pierced by a shard of falling glass, awakens from brain surgery only able to utter the faltering phrases of the English he learnt as a child - a language that Meiling and their young song Pang Pang cannot speak. When an American neurologist arrives, tasked with teaching Li Jing to speak fluently again, she is as disorientated as her patient in this bewitching, bewildering city. As doctor and patient grow closer, feelings neither of them anticipated begin to take hold. Feelings that Meiling, who must fight to keep both her husband's business and her family afloat, does not need a translator to understand.
Sylvia's Second Act: The hilarious, heartwarming and utterly feel-good read for 2024!
by Hillary Yablon'Hilarious, heartwarming and delightfully refreshing' CAROL KIRKWOOD'Will put a twinkle in your eye and a spring in your step. Fabulous fun!' VERONICA HENRY'Wickedly funny and utterly engaging. Sylvia is our queen!' ALEX BROWN'Joyful, feel-good fun with a feisty heroine you can't help but love!' FANNY BLAKEGrowing older doesn't just mean growing wiser.But it does mean a lot of fun...When 63-year-old Sylvia finds her husband in bed with another woman, she's shocked and furious . . . at first. But by the time her head stops spinning, Sylvia realises she hates the retirement community she's living in - it's for old people. And she certainly doesn't feel old!So, she enlists the help of her best friend, glamorous 70-year-old widow Evie, and the pair flee to Manhattan to start a new life in the city that never sleeps. Sylvia's husband may have lost her life savings, but they're scrappy and determined - and they weren't born yesterday...Before long, Sylvia is reviving her wedding planning business and even finds herself back in the dating game! And no matter what her meddling daughter thinks, it's her time now - and she's determined that in this glorious second act, the best is yet to come!Hilarious, heartwarming and utterly feel-good, Sylvia's Second Act is perfect for fans of Heartburn by Nora Ephron, Grace & Frankie, and Sex and the City. ***Praise for Sylvia's Second Act:'A feel-good read, we love Sylvia' HEAT'A first-rate novel of second chances that will have you laughing right from the start. Sylvia will show you that it's never too late to reinvent yourself, especially if you have a good friend by' STEVEN ROWLEY'Novelist Hillary Yablon gives readers hungry for a midlife romance a fizzy, delicious story we didn't know we needed. Take a bow, Sylvia, cause readers are gonna give this laugh-out-loud female buddy story made in Manhattan a standing ovation' MARY KAY ANDREWS'Sylvia's story hit all of my favorite notes - laugh out loud funny, action packed and ultimately redemptive. It's a love song to women of a certain age, and I'll be humming it for years to come' ANNABEL MONAGHAN'A gem! Every page of this book is a delight' KJ DELL'ANTONIA'I'm ready to audition real-life candidates for the Sylvia to my Evie (or the Evie to my Sylvia)... These two are living the dream and getting up to exactly the level of post-retirement fun I want to have one day. Pure delight!' MARY LAURA PHILPOTT'I'm ready to audition real-life candidates for the Sylvia to my Evie (or the Evie to my Sylvia)... These two are living the dream and getting up to exactly the level of post-retirement fun I want to have one day. Pure delight!' JESSE Q. SUTANTO
Diary of a Void: A hilarious, feminist debut novel from a new star of Japanese fiction
by Emi Yagi'One of the most intriguing new novels of the summer.' IndependentFor the sake of women everywhere, Ms Shibata is going to pull off the mother of all deceptions...A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel from a new star of Japanese fiction, perfect for readers of Convenience Store Woman and Breasts and Eggs'Always expect the unexpected when you're not expecting.' Sloane Crosley'Darkly funny and surprisingly tender.' Kirsty LoganAs the only woman in her office, Ms Shibata is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can't clear away her coworkers' dirty cups - because she's pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms Shibata is not pregnant.Pregnant Ms Shibata doesn't have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms Shibata isn't forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms Shibata can rest, watch TV, take long baths, and even join an aerobics class for expectant mothers. But she has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Before long, it becomes all-absorbing, and with the help of towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app that tracks every stage of her 'pregnancy', the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve.Diary of a Void will keep you turning the pages to see just how far Ms Shibata will go.Translated from the Japanese by David Boyd and Lucy North
Marlford
by Jacqueline YallopEllie Barton has spent her young life living in the dilapidated manor house with her elderly father. Her duty is to her aristocratic lineage, something of which she is often reminded by those few people around her. But Marlford, the local village founded by her grandfather, is in decay - subsidence from the old salt mines is destroying the buildings, the books in the memorial library are mouldering, and old loyalties and assumptions are shifting. When two idealistic young men decide to squat in the closed wing of the house, they show her a world much wider than Marlford, and Ellie begins to feel trapped beneath the unbearable weight of history and expectation.
Obedience (Playaway Adult Fiction Ser.)
by Jacqueline YallopSister Bernard has lived in a grey-stone convent in rural France for more than seventy years. In that time, a once youthful and lively cloister has gradually emptied, until only Bernard and two other nuns remain. Now, the three women pack away their few possessions into wooden boxes, preparing to leave the building that has been their home for decades. For the nuns, the closing of the convent means more than losing a home; the walls have shielded them from a changing modern world, for Sister Bernard the quiet monotony of the religious life has protected her from memories of the past - the disgrace of when she was a young woman in wartime France; when her devotion to God faded in the face of her need for a young Nazi soldier; and when she experienced the full horror and violence of war.
Little Aunt Crane
by Geling Yan Esther TyldesleyIn the last days of World War II, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria has collapsed. As the Chinese move in, the elders of the Japanese settler village of Sakito decide to preserve their honour by killing all the villagers in an act of mass suicide. Only 16-year-old Tatsuru escapes. But Tatsuru's trials have just begun. As she flees, she falls into the hands of human traffickers. She is sold to a wealthy Chinese family, where she becomes Duohe - the clandestine second wife to the only son, and the secret bearer of his children. Against all odds, Duohe forms an unlikely friendship with the first wife Xiaohuan, united by the unshakeable bonds of motherhood and family. Spanning several tumultuous decades of Mao’s rule, Little Aunt Crane is a novel about love, bravery and survival, and how humanity endures in the most unlikely of circumstances.
The Seal of Solomon: Alfred Kropp 2 (Alfred Kropp Ser.)
by Rick YanceyAlfred Kropp is off on another whirlwind adventure when two ancient artefacts are stolen from the OIPEP (Office of Interdimensional Paradoxes and Extraordinary Phenomena) vaults. But these aren't just any pricey museum pieces - they are the seals of Solomon. Thousands of years ago, King Solomon used a ring to control and imprison the fallen angels of heaven in a sacred vessel that has held them safe for thousands of years. Now both objects have been stolen by Mike Arnold, and if he uses their power, all hell could break loose . . . literally. The agents of OIPEP, led by the mysterious Op-Nine, have a plan to save the artefacts, and the world, but none of them really considered the Kropp factor. When Alfred screws up, the ring ends up in the hands of King Paimon, a terrible demon who has a special bone to pick with our reluctant hero. Will Alfred find a way to right his wrong and save the world from imminent destruction . . . again?
The Thirteenth Skull: Alfred Kropp 3 (Alfred Kropp Ser.)
by Rick YanceyThere are some things deep within the belly of the earth that should never be disturbed. Which is exactly why Alfred wants to stay at home. When a vision foretells a cataclysmic battle between the "Sons of Light" and the "Sons of Darkness", Alfred is called into action. Whoever finds the fabled 13th skull of Merlin, will have in his hands the power to usher in a new Dark Age ... and the Apocalypse. And so the race is on to find the skull, which rests at the bottom of an abyss called Krubera - a place so terrifying it nearly drove Alfred's mentor, Op-Nine, insane...
White Ivy: A Novel
by Susie Yang'White Ivy is magic . . . and not soon to be forgotten' JOSHUA FERRIS, author of Then We Came to the End'Totally addictive, twisting and twisted: Ivy Lin will get under your skin' ERIN KELLY, author of He Said/She SaidIvy Lin was a thief. But you'd never know it to look at her...Ivy Lin, a Chinese immigrant growing up in a low-income apartment complex outside Boston, is desperate to assimilate with her American peers. Her parents disapprove, berating her for her mediocre grades and what they see as her lazy, entitled attitude. But Ivy has a secret weapon, her grandmother Meifeng, from whom she learns to shoplift to get the things she needs to fit in.Ivy develops a taste for winning and for wealth. As an adult, she reconnects with the blond-haired golden boy of a prominent political family, and thinks it's fate. But just as Ivy is about to have everything she's ever wanted, a ghost from her past resurfaces, threatening the almost-perfect life she's worked so hard to build.Filled with surprising twists, and offering sharp insights into the immigrant experience, White Ivy is both a love triangle and a coming-of-age story - as well as a dark glimpse at what can happen when we yearn for success at any cost.MORE PRAISE FOR THIS SPELLBINDING DEBUT NOVEL:'It's a testament to Susie Yang's skill that she can explore and upend our ideas of class, race, family, and identity while moving us through a plot that twists in such wonderful ways. But none of that would matter nearly as much if not for the truly unforgettable narrator, Ivy...' Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang'Ivy Lin eviscerates the model minority stereotype with a smile on her lips and boot on your neck' Lucy Tan, author of What We Were Promised'Bold, daring, and sexy, White Ivy is the immigrant story we've been dying to hear' Neel Patel, author of If You See Me, Don't Say Hi
Age-Period-Cohort Analysis: New Models, Methods, and Empirical Applications
by Yang Yang Kenneth C. LandThis book explores the ways in which statistical models, methods, and research designs can be used to open new possibilities for APC analysis. Within a single, consistent HAPC-GLMM statistical modeling framework, the authors synthesize APC models and methods for three research designs: age-by-time period tables of population rates or proportions, repeated cross-section sample surveys, and accelerated longitudinal panel studies. They show how the empirical application of the models to various problems leads to many fascinating findings on how outcome variables develop along the age, period, and cohort dimensions.
Age-Period-Cohort Analysis: New Models, Methods, and Empirical Applications
by Yang Yang Kenneth C. LandThis book explores the ways in which statistical models, methods, and research designs can be used to open new possibilities for APC analysis. Within a single, consistent HAPC-GLMM statistical modeling framework, the authors synthesize APC models and methods for three research designs: age-by-time period tables of population rates or proportions, repeated cross-section sample surveys, and accelerated longitudinal panel studies. They show how the empirical application of the models to various problems leads to many fascinating findings on how outcome variables develop along the age, period, and cohort dimensions.
Focus on Single-Parent Families: Past, Present, and Future
by Annice Yarber Paul M. SharpA groundbreaking collection of writings on the growing phenomenon of single-parent families in the United States, and how it impacts society as a whole.Focus on Single-Parent Families: Past, Present, and Future brings together in one volume a range of cutting-edge research articles and essays on what has become the most dynamic change in family structure in U.S. history. It is the only resource to make the most insightful and important work being done on the single-parent family phenomena accessible to general readers.Focus on Single-Parent Families helps readers go beyond the stereotypes and look closely at the complexity of families with one parent and consider their place in society. It encompasses the wide variety of households with a single parent—a family structure that promises to continue to grow and diversify. Throughout, the book gauges the impact of the increasing number of single-parent families on the nation as a whole, particularly in regard to policies concerning family welfare, children's services and health care, schools, and other essential social institutions.
Dancing With Dr Kildare
by Jane YardleyThe day Nina's father dies, she discovers an old music manuscript written in his hand and locked away in a desk. Her father was no musical genius, so where did this symphony come from, and what compelled him to keep it hidden? The answer lies in a web of deceit that reaches back forty years. Digging into her family's past, Nina is forced to reconsider her own traumatic childhood, when her father's chronic hypochondria nearly destroyed her family. Nina's sole refuge had been the home of her best friend, whose parents were world champions of ballroom dancing. There she had found relief in the glittering world of Argentinian tango. But as the symphony forces her to confront difficult questions about her past and her father's dark secret, Nina soon begins to wish she had never unlocked that desk . . .
Rainy Day Women
by Jane YardleyIt is 1971 - hippies, hot pants and extraordinary footwear. Jo and her friend Frankie are fifteen, and they have a problem. Frankie's American mother, in England against her will, is determined to move out of the scruffy Essex village to civilized London. Jo's family would follow them if only they could sell their great rambling home, the Red House, but unfortunately, the house is putting up a fight. An architectural oddity built by an eighteenth-century madman to irritate his wife, it always did have a life of its own, but now its sinister goings-on are driving prospective buyers away. The capable Jo has always coped with her eccentric family but they're getting worse. Even more disturbing, Jo and Frankie are convinced that there's been a murder on the premises. As the Red House crumbles around them, the girls are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery so the Starkey family can sell up and start an ordinary life. But along comes the devastatingly attractive Florian, folk singer and opportunist, to cause a chaos all of his own...RAINY DAY WOMEN is a black comedy in which teenaged hopes, fears and egomaniacal tunnel vision are played out against the background of a seriously dysfunctional family, some of its members deeply loveable - and some of them not.
A Saucerful of Secrets
by Jane YardleyIt is 1969. London swings, men land on the moon, and thirteen-year-old Kim Tanner appears on Imogen's doorstep to announce she is her long-lost daughter. Imogen wrote a bestseller about the baby she was forced to give away, so there have been many contenders, but Kim is special, and she is convinced. Kim and her dog Welly move in with the beautiful, bohemian Imogen and proceed to bring order to chaos. Then along comes pretty, appealing Sukie, also claiming to be Imogen's child. Kim is determined to prove she is Imogen's daughter but when the starts digging she unearths a very murky story...
The Wakes
by Dianne Yarwood'A truly delightful debut novel . . . Funny, moving, tender and wise, I ate up every delicious word' Liane Moriarty'I adored this novel. Charming, poignant and moving but also very funny'Cathy RentzenbrinkIt's winter in Sydney and the lives of two strangers have fallen apart. Newly separated and in need of a distraction, Clare agrees to help her neighbour Louisa with a funeral catering business that has bitten off more than it can chew. Meanwhile, emergency doctor Chris has witnessed too many deaths but still feels compelled to attend the occasional wake. When Clare and Chris meet, the good in their lives is slowly illuminated. After all, the thing about death is that it makes life matter.Funny, moving, wise and hopeful, The Wakes is an irresistible debut novel about old friends, lost love, good food and new beginnings.
Parenting Dual Exceptional Children: Supporting a Child who Has High Learning Potential and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
by Denise YatesThis is the first comprehensive guide for parents of children with Dual and Multiple Exceptionality (DME, sometimes called Twice Exceptionality or 2E). Children with high learning potential may also have conditions such as ASD, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia, having 'flashes of brilliance' in some areas whilst needing additional support in others. As a result, their abilities may not always be recognised in an educational setting.This book takes a strengths-based approach towards helping parents recognise and focus on their child's areas of potential to support them towards better attainment and self-esteem, and build on these abilities while also identifying and addressing areas of difficulty. It provides an understanding of the mixed learning profile of DME children, explaining why they excel in some areas but not others, as well as guidance for parents on working positively with schools and providing their child with the support they need.With stories, quotes from parents and examples throughout, this is an essential guide to helping DME children achieve their full untapped potential.
Parenting Dual Exceptional Children: Supporting a Child who Has High Learning Potential and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
by Denise YatesThis is the first comprehensive guide for parents of children with Dual and Multiple Exceptionality (DME, sometimes called Twice Exceptionality or 2E). Children with high learning potential may also have conditions such as ASD, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia, having 'flashes of brilliance' in some areas whilst needing additional support in others. As a result, their abilities may not always be recognised in an educational setting.This book takes a strengths-based approach towards helping parents recognise and focus on their child's areas of potential to support them towards better attainment and self-esteem, and build on these abilities while also identifying and addressing areas of difficulty. It provides an understanding of the mixed learning profile of DME children, explaining why they excel in some areas but not others, as well as guidance for parents on working positively with schools and providing their child with the support they need.With stories, quotes from parents and examples throughout, this is an essential guide to helping DME children achieve their full untapped potential.
Confessions From The Quilting Circle
by Maisey YatesThe Ashwood women don’t have much in common…except their ability to keep secrets.