Writers, Poets & Dramatists

This is a phizz-whizzing thesaurus of words invented by No.1 storyteller, Roald Dahl and hundreds of real synonyms gathered together in themes. It's jammed full of words, Quentin Blake's illustrations, and language snippets to inspire children to write about anything - from human... beans to witches, to outerspace, to food, giants and more!
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An irresistible romp through the history of magic, from alchemy to unicorns, ancient witchcraft to Harry's Hogwarts - packed with unseen sketches and manuscript pages from J.K. Rowling, magical illustrations from Jim Kay and weird, wonderful and inspiring artefacts that have been... magically released from the archives at the British Library. This spellbinding book takes readers on a journey through the Hogwarts curriculum, including Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Divination and more. Discover the truth behind making the Philosopher's Stone, create your very own potion and uncover the secret of invisible ink. Learn all about the history of mandrake roots and dragons, discover what witches really used their brooms for, pore over incredible images of actual mermaids and read about real-life potions, astronomers and alchemists. The perfect gift for aspiring witches and wizards and any Harry Potter fan. Celebrating twenty years of Harry Potter magic, and produced in association with the British Library to support their major exhibition, Harry Potter: A History of Magic.
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What makes a children's book character memorable? Is it their personality, the story they tell or the way they're depicted by the illustrator? Is it that they make us laugh or cry? Or is it that we can identify with them? Often, even as adults, we can remember what our favourite ...children's book characters said or conjure an image of them in our mind's eye. From Snugglepot and Cuddlepie to the green sheep and Pig the Pug, Australian children's book characters have always delighted the young and young-at-heart. Get together with old friends and meet new ones in this lighthearted retrospective of much-loved characters from over a century of Australian illustrated books for children. Many will be delighted to reencounter Albert, the cranky cut-and-come-again magic pudding, who has fought the puddin' thieves in multiple editions, as well as across the stage in musical theatre, puppet shows, animated films and opera. Others will be thrilled to see lovable grass tree Grug, who was once described by The New York Times as the `Elmo of Down Under', and who has bustled through over 30 picture books since he first appeared in Grug in 1979. \ With such classic characters included alongside newer stars, parents and grandparents can not only share their favourites, but can also get to know the newer characters who enchant their children and grandchildren. Today's little ones love to go searching for Mem Fox and Judy Horacek's green sheep, who won the CBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year Award in 2005. They grump along with Nick Bland's bear, who has been cranky, itchy, hungry and noisy, to name but a few of his dispositions. And they giggle at greedy Pig, the pug, who is awfully mean to his flatmate Trevor, but who always gets his comeuppance in the end. All these characters and more showcase the breadth of Australian children's books over the last century and give readers of all ages the chance to get to know their favourite characters a little better.
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Plan brilliant beginnings, magnificent middles and excellent endings with the World's NUMBER ONE Storyteller! Think up terrific stories with Fantastic Mr Fox and learn how to structure the perfect plot. These super fun activities will help you to: * Improve language and vocabular...y skills * Develop the tools you need to write your own stories * Learn how to use action scenes, perspective and tense to write an exciting story. Roald Dahl's Creative Writing will spark your creativity, build your confidence and inspire you through the wonderful worlds of Roald Dahl's best loved stories! Filled with top tips and ideas boxes, each book introduces techniques and methods to help you plan and write a phizz-whizzing story of your own!
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Learn about the inspiring life of Helen Keller in this early reader biography. It also covers some of the lesser-known fun facts-did you know that Helen Keller was a long-time dog lover? This biography reader includes a timeline, historical photographs, and information about Brai...lle.
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