Teenage smut author Lisa Edelstein is the last person you'd want defending humanity from bloodthirsty monsters, especially since she's never actually seen one in person. But a midnight train ride changes everything. One summer and a few forged transcripts later, our intrepid hero finds herself attending Ashibar Academy, a tough-as-nails high school for magically-enhanced monster-killers. With no powers, no weapons, and no combat experience, she'll have to rely on her wits and charisma to survive in the cutthroat halls of an unfamiliar school. But when her mysterious black scars start drawing unwanted attention from a paramilitary organization, she begins to discover that there might be more to her than she originally thought. Her newfound friends may be the only thing standing between her and annihilation.

A life of travel and adventure? Impossible. He was a shy kid in London, with no ambitions, a humble background, even a mild cockney accent. In the British Army in the 1950s that would have been deadly. But Lady Luck stepped in before he was drafted and he lost the accent. He became An Officer of Engineers. His brother officers talked about college after the army. No one in his family had been to college, but, why not? Plus with another bit of luck he became a Film Extra. You might have seen him in 'Around the World in 80 Days.' His father, a Dutchman had emigrated to England. The genes ran true and he ran away to Canada, and then to America, the lands of opportunity. He became a civil engineer in Labrador, building radar stations in the land of ice and snow, missionaries and Eskimos, and dog team patrols with the Mounties. Lady Luck then moved him to Vancouver, Canada's fun city, full of young adventurers. There he met a young woman, slim and shy, pretty and smart, a doctor. They had a good life. The sailboat trip across the North Atlantic via Greenland through a hurricane may have given her food for thought, and then he really dropped a bomb. "I am more interested in your work than mine. I am going to become a doctor." The years after the divorce, as med student and intern were hard, but helping patients was so challenging and rewarding that he never looked back. He traveled during vacations, sometimes as an unpaid missionary doctor in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the Amazon etc.. After retirement his itchy feet took him all over the world. This life story, warts and all, is meant as a cautionary tale for his grand-children.

In Hard to Please Rodney invents two machines to help the grumpy owners of the Charming Tea Shop. Will Rodney's inventions get them to buy his father's delicious buns? TreeTops Fiction contains a wide range of quality stories enabling children to explore and develop their own reading tastes and interests. It contains stories from a variety of genres including humour, sci-fi, adventure, mystery and historical fiction. These exciting stories are ideal for introducing children to a wide selection of authors and illustrators. There is huge variety to ensure every reader finds books they will enjoy and can read. Books contain inside cover notes to support children in their reading. Help with children's reading development also available at www.oxfordowl.co.uk. The books are finely levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book.

There are hundreds of inscriptions to be found on Roman tombstones in museums throughout the country. They tell us a great deal about the Romans in Britain. However, to save space the wording is full of abbreviations and the meaning of the typical inscription is lost on the average museum visitor. But fluency in Latin is not necessary to read inscriptions. By learning a few basic rules and formulae anyone can become proficient at reading the inscription and understanding what it tells us about Roman Britain.