This novel for grown-up children and childish grown-ups was first published in 1872 and is evocative and surprisingly modern.

This volume contains speeches suitable for performance at auditions, individual acting classes, competitions, festivals and examinations. Ranging from early Elizabethan to contemporary literature, the pieces are varied in content, tone and style and are equipped with an introduction which sets the context for each piece. The speeches have been chosen by drama teacher and adjudicator Anne Harvey. The volume includes work by Ayckbourn, Congreve, Sarah Daniels, Dickens, Athol Fugard, Graham Greene, John Godber, David Hare, Ibsen, Sharman Macdonald, Irish Murdoch, Dennis Potter, Tom Stoppard and many others.

As Vernon Scannell points out in his introduction, the poetry and prose of Edward Thomas (1878-1917) has always attracted an admiring and devoted readership, especially among other poets, who have valued it for its great originality and beauty. In this anthology of poems for and about Edward Thomas, Anne Harvey has compiled a fascinating testimony of the influence Thomas has had both on his contemporaries and on subsequent generations of poets. Among the elegies and tributes of his contemporaries are poems by Robert Frost, Walter de la Mare, Eleanor Farjeon, W. H. Davies, Wilfrid Gibson and Ivor Gurney; a younger generation is represented by Alun Lewis, Norman Nicholson and Geoffrey Grigson; and then to give an impression of the enduring importance of Thomas there are poems by distinguished writers of the present time, including Derek Walcott, Elizabeth Jennings, Dannie Abse, P.J. Kavanagh, Peter Porter, Alan Brownjohn, Gavin Ewart, Leslie Norris, Elizabeth Bartlett, Michael Longley, Jeremy Hooker and Andrew Motion.

Today, for instance, they arranged a birthday party for me...They'd really pushed the boat out - lots of cakes, jellies, crisps, etc. And a great pile of sweetie-bags for me. Great, I thought. Finally my parents are giving me the lifestyle I deserve. Then they went and spoiled it by inviting a whole bunch of other toddlers to share the goodies ' - Simon Brett, Little Sod. Party Pieces takes the reader through the course of the party, from conception to its, sometimes messy, aftermath. Judith Martin gives us Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Bad Behaviour on parties; Virginia Graham writes bitingly of the cocktail party, and Ogden Nash of the couple nervously waiting for their party to begin, in 'The Darkest Half-Hour'. The trials of party games are revealed by Jilly Cooper, while Virginia Woolf, Noel Coward and Mike Leigh also share their views. Mixing modern quotes with selections from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and including poetry, prose and drama, this is a wonderful mix of the sharp and acerbic, the funny and wry. A jolly mixture with a dash of bitters, Party Pieces is the perfect stocking filler for anyone who's overindulged - and even for those who haven't.

Larger numbers of English Language Learners are entering school each year. These students need to be able to hear and manipulate sounds in order to match them with print. Phonemic awareness is a first step in learning to read. Equipped with the information in this book, teachers and parents will be successful with the task of teaching students to read.

Edward Thomas never left the train that stopped briefly at a Cotswold station, Adlestrop, just before World War I, but what he saw resulted in one of the best known and loved English poems, Adlestrop. Generations of literary pilgrims have visited the village which inspired the poem, while many of today's writers have composed their own tributes to the poet and the place where, after the closure of the station, the nameboard was lovingly retained. This anthology explores Adlestrop's literary, topographical and railway associations. Anne Harvey investigates the origins of the poem: did the train really stop 'unwontedly'? Was it an express? Was Thomas travelling alone? His fascination with the railways began in boyhood and is seen in two of his little-known short stories, 'A Third-Class Carriage' and 'Death by Misadventure'. The book also examines the connection with Jane Austen, who visited her Leigh relatives at Adlestrop Park and Rectory, and there are poems from Peter Porter, Alan Brownjohn, P.J. Kavanagh, Dannie Abse and Brian Patten. A wide selection of illustrations includes facsimiles of Edward Thomas's original manuscript and notebook entries, photographs and fine wood engravings by well-known artists. This engaging anthology will appeal to all who have read and loved this classic poem.

Selected by Anne Harvey, an experienced actress, director, writer and adjudicator, these scenes are suitable for performance at auditions, solo acting classes, festivals and examinations. Ranging from Renaissance to contemporary literature, the pieces are varied in content, tone and style and are equipped with an introduction setting the context. Writers include: Edward Bond, Ken Campbell, David Crampton, Caryl Churchill, Noel Coward, Monica Dickens, Lisa Evans, Dario Fo, John Ford, David Hare, Jonathan Harvey, Lillian Hellman, Adrian Henri, Robert Holman, Moliere, Willy Russell, Diane Samuels, G B Shaw, David Storey, Frank Wedekind and many more...

Anne Harvey recreates the magic and spirit of childhood Christmases through a collection of pieces of poetry, prose and illustration covering the past two centuries, reminding us of the excitement and anticipation felt by children at Christmas time. Their expectations and experiences at Christmas: the food and the presents, the preparation, the enigma of Father Christmas, the knobbly stocking, the magical tree, the sense of wonder as well as those moments of fear and disappointment, are all captured. Extracts from writers and artists including Quentin Blake, Alison Uttley, A.A Milne, and Tolkien vividly remember the excitement of hanging the stockings, making Christmas Puddings, singing carols, and decorating the tree.