A witty, astutely observed study of sexual politics in contemporary society which centres on an all-female reading group. Oriole wants to study contemporary authors, while Anne prefers well-known classics. Pondering the relative merits, the women reveal themselves, their personalities echoing the literary heroines. But not everyone is there for literature. Nefarious designs are uncovered and tensions rise to a dramatic climax.5 women, 2 men

Some children decide to put on a play. It must be about football, says one. It must be set in Space, says another. There must be adventure. So begins the production of Indiana Smith and the Cup Final of Doom, or The Return of the Tedi, in which Teddy and Jemima battle against Timmy and Popkins who are intent on destroying the Inter-Galaxy Cup Final at Wembley.Large flexible cast

An adaption of Robert Swindell's novel intended for Key Stage 3. The nightmare Fliss had before the school trip is becoming a chilling reality. The hotel where they are staying holds a sinister secret, but none of the teachers will believe what Fliss has seen. Can Fliss save Ellie-May?

Take a carriage ride back to 1800s America and learn how Louisa May Alcott's home and family life influenced her writing. This nonfiction text breathes life into the pages of history, and gives students a sense of what life was like in Louisa May Alcott's time. Developed by Timothy Rasinski and featuring TIME content, this biography includes essential text features like an index, captions, glossary, and table of contents. The intriguing sidebars, fascinating images, and detailed Reader's Guide prompt students to connect back to the text and encourage multiple readings. The Think Link and Dig Deeper sections develop students' higher-order thinking skills. The Check It Out! section includes suggested books, videos, and websites for further reading. Aligned with state standards, this title features complex and rigorous content appropriate for students preparing for college and career readiness.

Jesse, Meggie and Teddy embark on an eventful journey into the mysterious world of silver tongued Harry, the Sandman, to retrieve the magical sand. Along the way they meet some extraordinary creatures (Snoodle Werps, the Trash Trump and Litter Bugs, to name a few) before their final showdown with Jewels, the Witch, and the awesome Gump Grump. This is a colourful, fun packed adventure musical for a large cast of young people with a wonderful jazz and blues score.3 women, 2 men, 6 girls or boys

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 absence of one of American writings' oldest traditions in the canon has produced a body of literature not only alienating to a large part of the population, but one which has impoverished itself of a broader representation of humanity. This book is written by teachers interested in bringing that traditional African American literature into the classroom. Documented here is the learning process that these educators experienced themselves as they read and discussed the stories and pedagogical strategies which would engage their students. In following these discussions between teachers and academics, one should be able to see how the teaching and learning of African American literature can be an exciting and challenging way of confronting and questioning pervasive cultural assumptions about race and gender. In this way, all students can bring their personal experiences and insights into the classroom. Given today's social landscape, conventional frameworks for teaching literature must be seriously revised to accommodate and address a growing multicultural population.

Series Information:
Transforming Teaching

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

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.

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.

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

When Missus produces fifteen puppies, Cruella is enraptured and has the Badduns kidnap the litter. Distraught, Pongo and Missis enlist support on the Twilight Barking and encounter many adventures before rescuing their own pups - and a great many more.Large flexible cast

This book seeks to help teachers ensure that children develop an awareness of the prejudice expressed in books and other reading material that they encounter. Political correctness in this area is easily caricatured, yet more needs to be done to ensure that children's books deal fairly with bias in relation to gender, race, language disability, and age. The author reviews recent work which aims to counter prejudice in children's literature and traces the historical and theoretical basis of this work. Equality issues and stereotyping in a wide range of books -- old and new, popular and classic -- are also discussed.

The focus throughout the text is on the practical ways in which teachers and librarians can help children to develop an awareness of bias, so that they are less likely to adopt the prejudices consciously or subconsciously expressed by the authors they experience.

These classic tales of Awful Warnings about the consequences of Bad Behaviour are among the best of comic verse ever written for children. 'Designed for the Admonition of children between the ages of eight and fourteen years', they were first published in 1907; though such eccentricity as Henry King's chewing string may no longer be a common misdemeanour, the humour is perennial and continues to entertained generations of children and their parents. This edition includes New Cautionary Tales, first published in 1930, and illustrated by Nicholas Bentley, who replaced as collaborator the poet's friend Lord Basil Blackwood (B. T. B. ) after his death in World War I.

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.

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.

Welcome to Poetryland: Teaching Poetry Writing to Young Children draws from Shelley Savren's forty years of teaching poetry writing in grades pre-K-6 and to focus populations, including gifted and special education students, students in after school programs and at art museums, and homeless, abused, or neglected students. Each chapter begins with a student quote and an original poem, followed by heartfelt stories of working with that particular group, and concludes with lesson plans, complete with introductions of poetic concepts, model poems by professionals, open-ended writing assignments, methods for sharing and critiquing, and one or two student poems. Designed for use in a classroom, this book features thirty-eight lesson plans and twenty-three additional poetry-writing workshop ideas. It provides guidance and inspiration for anyone who wants to teach poetry writing to children. "I wish Shelley would teach the whole world poetry." -1st grade student. "I want to be a poetry writer when I grow up." -2nd grade student. "What I found out about myself was that I have an imagination. And a good one." -6th grade student.

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.

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.

CO-PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE AND THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH Bringing together arts-integrated approaches, literacy learning, and classroom-based research, this book explores ways upper elementary, middle, and high school teachers can engage their students physically, cognitively, and emotionally in deep reading of challenging texts. With a focus on teaching about the Holocaust and Anne Frank's diary-part of the U.S. middle school literary canon-the authors present the concept of layering literacies as an essential means for conceptualizing how seeing the text, being the text, and feeling the text invite adolescents to learn about difficult and uncomfortable literature and subjects in relation to their contemporary lives. Offering a timely perspective on arts education advocacy, Chisholm and Whitmore demonstrate the vital need to teach through different modalities in order to strengthen students' connections to literature, their schools, and communities. Accessible strategies are illustrated and resources are recommended for teachers to draw on as they design arts-based instruction for their students' learning with challenging texts.

This volume is part of a new series of novels, plays and stories at GCSE/Key Stage 4 level, designed to meet the needs of the National Curriculum syllabus. Each text includes an introduction, pre-reading activities, notes and coursework activities. Also provided is a section on the process of writing, often compiled by the author. The fabulous parties at Gatsby's mansion are legendary; guests dance until dawn at the home of their mystery host. But whose face is he searching for in the crowds? What secret sorrow lies behind his great fortune? And what was it that made Gatsby "great"?

Bringing together strands of public discourse about valuing personal achievement at the expense of social values and the impacts of global capitalism, mass media, and digital culture on the lives of children, this book challenges the potential of science and business to solve the world's problems without a complementary emphasis on social values. The selection of literary works discussed illustrates the power of literature and human arts to instill such values and foster change. The book offers a valuable foundation for the field of literacy education by providing knowledge about the importance of language and literature that educators can use in their own teaching and advocacy work.