The aristocratic Boronski family live in Siberia in the years before the Russian Revolution, and a lazy, snobbish, spoilt bunch they are, except the grandmother Babushka who remembers their humble origins. Just as Spring is about to begin, their lives are disrupted by the evil Fox, who condemns Siberia to eternal cold and despatches the Wolf, her slave, to kill Babushka. One by one the Boronskis fall foul of the voracious Wolf, and only the brave woodcutter Ivan can help them...Large flexible cast

The House with the Green Shutters is a dark, provocative novel, shining a harsh and unforgiving light into the inner recesses of small-town Scotland at the turn of the last century. Written as a response to social change, and as an antidote to the sentimentality of the 'Kailyard' school, the author called it "a brutal and bloody work" - although a thread of sly humour runs through the book as well. Iain Crichton Smith's Scotnote explores this post-romantic masterpiece through a precise analysis of themes, characters, structure and language, and is ideal for senior school pupils and students.

Series Information:
Transforming Teaching

A fresh look at a play usually regarded as the first component of a three-part historical epic, this edition argues that Henry VI Part 1 is a 'prequel', a freestanding piece that returns for ironic and dramatic effect to a story already familiar to its audience. The play's ingenious use of stage space is closely analysed, as is its manipulation of a series of setpiece combats to give a coherent syntax of action. Discussion of the dramatic structure created by the opposing figures of Talbot and Jeanne la Pucelle, and exploration of the critical controversies surrounding the figure of Jeanne, lead to a reflection on the nature of the history play as genre in the 1590s.

Exam Board: Edexcel Level: GCSE Grade 9-1 Subject: English Literature Suitable for the 2023 exams Everything you need to revise for your GCSE 9-1 set text in a snap guide Everything you need to score top marks on your GCSE Grade 9-1 English Literature exam is right at your fingertips! Revise Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin in a snap with this new GCSE Grade 9-1 Snap Revision Text Guide from Collins. Refresh your knowledge of the plot, context, characters and themes and pick up top tips along the way to ace your Edexcel exam. Each topic is explained in an easy-to-read format so you can get straight to the point. Then, put your skills to the test with plenty of practice questions included in every section. The Snap Text Guides are packed with every quote and extract you need. We've even included examples of how to plan and write your essay responses! This Collins English Literature revision guide contains all the key information you need to practise and pass.

The story of Puss in Boots is ingeniously combined with that of Cinderella in this hilarious show. Puss in Boots transforms humble Colin Miller into Prince Charming. Cinderella's Fairy Godmother helps her to become Princess Priscilla, despite her meddling stepsisters. The two marry, providing two happy endings. Outrageous characters, a wealth of jokes and a fast-paced plot make this a hugely likeable show, which can be performed by a small cast without songs.-2 women or men

This series contains poetry and prose anthologies composed of writers from across the English-speaking world. Parts of Stories of Ourselves Volume 1 are set for study in Cambridge IGCSE (R), O Level and International AS & A Level Literature in English courses. Each short story in this collection has its own unique voice and point of view. They may differ in form, genre, style, tone and origin, but all have been chosen because of their wide appeal. Written in English by authors from different countries and cultures, the anthology includes works by Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene, V.S. Naipaul, R.K Narayan, Janet Frame, Raymond Carver, Jhumpa Lahiri, Annie Proulx and many others.

The tale of high adventure in the farmyard that became the hit movie Babe is a captivating play for children young and old. A leading writer of children's plays brings the heartwarming story of the piglet who rises to fame at the Grand Challenge Sheep Dog Trials to the stage in a dramatization that allows for flexible casting.Large flexible cast

Paul Reakes' pantomimes include many original twists to the familiar stories, with plenty of audience participation. They can be staged as simply or as elaborately as desired.4 women, 6 men

Skilfully adapted from the famous original story by Hans Christian Andersen, Th e Snow Queen is the story of Gerda, a little girl who searches for her friend Kai when he is bewitched and imprisoned by the Snow Queen in her ice palace. Gerda's innocence charms all good people and animals she meets on the way. They help her to escape the Enchantress, lead her to the royal court, and on to Lapland, where, in a final confrontation with the Snow Queen's Ice Creatures, good conquers evil and the children are reunited.Large flexible cast

Richard Lloyd has combined a pastiche of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic with the essential elements of pantomime, including romantic interludes and knockabout fun. The swiftly moving scenes are interchangeable and allow for staging to be as simple or as sophisticated as facilities permit.

With typically disarming modesty, the author, Professor Reginald Christian, writes in his preface, 'This is a book about a book, and as such it is doubtful it would meet with Tolstoy's approval if he were alive today. He goes on to say however, 'And yet people will continue to write about Tolstoy, as they continue to write about Shakespeare. The purpose of this book is in the first place to acquaint the English reader with material which will facilitate an understanding of the process of writing "War and Peace" - material which for the most part has not been translated into English, and which is not always obtainable in Russian: draft version of the novel, Tolstoy's diaries, notebooks and letters, the historical and biographical sources he used, and the secondary critical literature about the novel. In the second place I have attempted to consider certain aspects of the finished work - structural, linguistic, and ideological - and to offer very briefly some possible lines of approach to Tolstoy's art as a novelist.'

There are six chapters: The Evolution of the Novel, Use of Sources, Idea and Genre, Structure and Composition, Language, Characterization.

"War and Peace "is arguably the greatest novel ever written. If any novel deserves this sort of critical anatomy it is "War and Peace" especially when written by one of the greatest Tolstoy scholars of the last one hundred years.

Published in 1983, this book considers how films are used in secondary school as teaching aids in English and Film courses. Based on a dissertation presented to Temple University, the book tackles three main questions: firstly, it explores the ways that film is used be secondary school English teachers as an adjunct to instruction. Secondly it surveys the number and types of courses offered in film study and filmmaking in specific secondary schools. Thirdly it compares and contrasts the extent and degree of teaching about film as an artistic medium of communication.

Exam Board: AQA Level: GCSE Grade 9-1 Subject: English Literature Suitable for the 2023 exams Everything you need to revise for your GCSE 9-1 set text in a snap guide Everything you need to score top marks on your GCSE Grade 9-1 English Literature exam is right at your fingertips! Revise Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro in a snap with this new GCSE Grade 9-1 Snap Revision Text Guide from Collins. Refresh your knowledge of the plot, context, characters and themes and pick up top tips along the way to ace your AQA exam. Each topic is explained in an easy-to-read format so you can get straight to the point. Then, put your skills to the test with plenty of practice questions included in every section. The Snap Text Guides are packed with every quote and extract you need. We've even included examples of how to plan and write your essay responses! This Collins English Literature revision guide contains all the key information you need to practise and pass.

(Applause Books). This Applause edtiion allows the reader and student to look beyond the scholarly reading text to the more sensuous, more collaborative, more malleable performance text which emerges in conjunction with the commentary and notes. Readers and students are faced with real theatrical choices in each speech as the editors point out the challenges and opportunities to the actor and director at each juncture. Readers will not only discover an enlivened Shakespeare, they will be empowered to rehearse and direct their own productions of the imagination in the process.

Desert Islands opens with a captivating essay on the romance of islands and castaways in literature and life, and the associations that have arisen in the imagination of readers in every generation. The essay leads on to over 200 pages of what de la Mare himself calls 'a rambling commentary', in the form of an anthology or commonplace book on every conceivable aspect of this teeming subject. There are notes, reflections and quotations from a lifetime's reading on wrecks, maroons, pirates, utopias, goats, hallucinations, exotic foods, misers, punishments, solitude , Darwin, parrots, idols, saints, hermits, maps, spices, drugs . . . and of course Daniel Defoe. Desert Islands is the perfect bedside or holiday book. It also playfully boasts a subtitle of rococo inventiveness and one of the longest you will ever read! 'A vast treasure chest, a bewildering collection . . . to dazzle and fascinate everyone who lifts the lid.' Geoffrey Grigson

On a school trip to research the history of a graveyard, a group of students unearth a lot more than they bargained for! This excellent adaptation retells Theresa Breslin's timeless, Carnegie medal-winning story. Solomon is bullied by his teachers and let down by his parents. His refuge is the graveyard in the shadow of the rowan tree, the only thing that grows there. When workmen uproot the tree a strange and terrible power is unleashed. It seems a lust for revenge is spanning the centuries...* A thrilling adaptation of a Carnegie medal-winning novel. * Packed with social and historical themes. * Perfect for exploring character.

Enid Blyton's name is synonymous with children's stories, none being more famous than NODDY. David Wood, the acclaimed children's dramatist, draws upon the most entertaining and instructive of the twenty-four books for this popular adaptation. Exploiting the excitement of life theatre with imaginative staging, music, light, puppetry and lots of audience participation, the play will be a hit with all, whether they know Noddy or not.

Experience the beauty and the magic of Cicely Mary Barker's famous Flower Fairies, with a rejacketed edition of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies of the Winter. The magic and loveliness of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies is being reissued with an updated, contemporary look that is a perfect gift for Flower Fairies fans and a new generation of readers. First published in the 1920s, Cicely Mary Barker's original Flower Fairies books have been loved for generations. The book features poems and full-color illustrations of over 20 flowers and their guardian fairies.

'The most compelling of anthologies, the most leisurely, and the most complete.' Observer First published in 1923, the conception of de la Mare's collection of poetry and prose 'for the young of all ages' had been in the poet's mind for some time. He wanted it to transcend the ordinary anthology, to have real unity and to be a true introduction to poetry. The result was, in its time, a completely original book, personal and creative - pervaded by his own company throughout. Come Hither takes its unity from de la Mare's introduction, an allegorical prose fable, the subtle and playful references of which are echoed throughout the proceeding collection. The anthology's ecstatic variety, where 'unofficial poetry', such as counting-out rhymes, appear on equal terms alongside Keats's Odes, suggests a relation between childhood and poetry that is at once serious and radiantly spontaneous. Together with the children's literature aspect, it also provides a selection of the leading Georgian poets and is arguably the best account of their 'hinterland', documenting their prevailing thematic concerns alongside a selection of their predecessors.

Each book in the Longman Imprint series is designed to satisfy coursework requirements for GCSE examinations. Short stories, plays and novels are chosen for their accessibility to young readers and include many of today's major authors and playwrights. The material is designed to reflect both male and female interests and an awareness of our multicultural world. Each book includes points for discussion to encourage students to consider alternative ways of looking at the play or story, and a section on suggestions for writing which gives pupils the chance to respond to what they have read through imaginative writing, dramatic reconstructions and the traditional critical essay.

Combining the views of experts in both classroom practice and reading theory, "The Reading for Real Handbook" is a practical guide to a "real reading" or apprenticeship approach to beginning reading. It explores a range of topics including the choice of books, the importance of social context, parental involvement, assessment and record-keeping, and how to help children who don't make a good start with a "real reading approach". It contains advice both for teachers already committed to a storybook approach, and for those who make use of a scheme or schemes but wish to include a greater use of stories.

Charles Causley's poetry combines a traditional lyrical element with a knowledge of children and their lives/loves/fears/games. This collection contains 228 poems divided into eleven sections such as "Charm & Flower", "Season & Festival", and "Myth and Fable".