A teen grapples with ALS and his decision to die in this “deeply moving” (Booklist, starred review) debut novel infused with the haunting grace of Japanese poetry and the noble importance of friendship. Sora is going to die, and he’s only seventeen years old. Diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), he’s already lost the use of his legs, which means he can no longer attend school. Seeking a sense of normality, Sora visits teen chat rooms online and finally finds what he’s been longing for: friendship without pity. As much as he loves his new friends, he can’t ignore what’s ahead. He’s beginning to lose the function of his hands, and soon he’ll become even more of a burden to his mother. Inspired by the death poems of the legendary Japanese warriors known as samurai, Sora makes the decision to leave life on his own terms. And he needs his friends to help him.
Where is dār al-islām, and who defines its boundaries in the 21st century? In Dār al-Islām Revisited. Territoriality in Contemporary Islamic Legal Discourse on Muslims in the West, Sarah Albrecht explores the variety of ways in which contemporary Sunni Muslim scholars, intellectuals, and activists reinterpret the Islamic legal tradition of dividing the world into dār al-islām, the “territory of Islam,” dār al-ḥarb, the “territory of war,” and other geo-religious categories. Starting with an overview of the rich history of debate about this tradition, this book traces how and why territorial boundaries have remained a matter of controversy until today. It shows that they play a crucial role in current discussions of religious authority, identity, and the interpretation of the shariʿa in the West.
This book explores the growth of ‘character education’ in schools and youth organisations over the last decade. It delves into historical and contemporary debates through a geopolitical lens. With a renewed focus on values and virtues such as grit, gumption, perseverance, resilience, generosity, and neighbourliness, this book charts the re-imagining and re-fashioning of a ‘character agenda’ in England and examines its multiscalar geographies. It explores how these moral geographies of education for children and young people have developed over time. Drawing on original research and examples from schools, military and uniformed youth organisations, and the state-led National Citizen Service, the book critically examines the wider implications of the ‘character agenda’ across the UK and beyond. It does so by raising a series of questions about the interconnections between character, citizenship, and values and highlighting how these moral geographies reach far beyond the classroom or campsite. Offering critical insights on the roles of character, citizenship and values in modern education, this book will be of immense value to educationists, teachers and policymakers. It will appeal students and scholars of human geography, sociology, education studies, cultural studies and history.
Deakin and Morris' Labour Law, a work cited as authoritative in the higher appellate courts of several jurisdictions, provides a comprehensive analysis of current British labour law which explains the role of different legal and extra-legal sources in its evolution, including collective bargaining, international labour standards, and human rights. The new edition, while following the broad pattern of previous ones, highlights important new developments in the content of the law, and in its wider social, economic and policy context. Thus the consequences of Brexit are considered along with the emerging effects of the Covid-19 crisis, the increasing digitisation of work, and the implications for policy of debates over the role of the law in constituting and regulating the labour market. The book examines in detail the law governing individual employment relations, with chapters covering the definition of the employment relationship; the sources and regulation of terms and conditions of employment; discipline and termination of employment; and equality of treatment. This is followed by an analysis of the elements of collective labour law, including the forms of collective organisation, freedom of association, employee representation, internal trade union government, and the law relating to industrial action. The seventh edition of Deakin and Morris' Labour Law is an essential text for students of law and of disciplines related to management and industrial relations, for barristers and solicitors working in the field of labour law, and for all those with a serious interest in the subject.
Presenting the results of new research on the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow—among the most sophisticated centers of learning and artistic culture in 17th- and 18th-century Europe, and the home of Bede—and their churches, this study examines the long-lasting effect of their buildings and estates on the surrounding region from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day. The authors trace these relationships through time with new studies of the changing landscape, the monastery precincts, and the surviving structures themselves, detailing how the historical archaeology of the sites reveals how the churches and their communities were rooted in the landscapes of Northumbria but flourished through their links with other parts of Britain and Europe. Researchers from many different backgrounds contributed to the project, using aerial, geophysical, geoarchaeological, and palaeoenvironmental surveys and digital mapping to examine the monasteries and surrounding lands. This book reveals not only the link between the churches and the region’s political and economic history, but also demonstrates how their cultural significance for local people in northeast England has changed over time.
This book explores the arrival and development of Muslim immigrant communities in Britain and Germany during the post-1945 period through the case studies of Newcastle upon Tyne and Bremen. It traces Newcastle’s South Asian Muslims and Bremen’s Turkish Muslims from their initial settlement through to the end of the twentieth century, and investigates their behaviour and performance in the areas of employment, housing and education. At a time at when Islam is sometimes seen as a barrier to integration and harmony in Europe, this study demonstrates that this need not be the case. In what is the first comparison of Muslim ethnic minorities in Britain and Germany at a local level, this book reveals that instances of integration have been frequent. It is essential reading for both academics and students with an interest in migration studies, modern Britain and Germany, and the place of Islam in contemporary Europe.
While previous research has explored the academic adaptation or acculturation processes of Chinese students studying abroad, limited attention has been paid to students’ own perspectives and narrations of their experience. To contribute to a more nuanced understanding of this highly mobile group, this study takes a closer look at the students’ self-identity narratives. How do they make sense of their foreign adventure? How do they position themselves among their peers and their family members, as well as within the greater transnational context? Based on 29 in-depth, biographical interviews with Chinese students in the United States, the findings show the participants’ continuously interpreting and revising their individual, academic, and cultural identities. In the familial context, a recurring narrative of the high-potential only-child could be observed. Many students (and their family members) felt that their unique talents and personalities were not appreciated within the Chinese educational system and thus sought more holistic environments abroad.
Neverland, Ohio is a coming of age novel-in-stories about all matters of love and death. What begins as a love triangle between brothers Sam and Ben and their neighbor Anna becomes a profound bildungsroman when Ben is killed in a hit and run accident.
Producers' Choice: Six Plays for Young Performers showcases some of the best plays for young people produced by the UK's leading theatre companies. The plays are ideal for young performers aged 13-25 and offer a diverse range of challenges, styles and subjects. The volume will prove essential for teachers and students of Drama and for youth drama groups. The plays include modern reworkings of classics, such as Simon Reade's witty and brilliantly inventive adaptation of Lewis Carroll's much-loved fantasy, and DJ Britton's version of Sophocles' Theban plays, the tragic Oedipus/Antigone. Contemporary teenage issues are dealt with in Megan Barker's beautiful and uplifting Promise and Sarah May's The Butterfly Club. Simon Stephens' hit-play Punk Rock set in a grammar school explores dislocation and aggression among sixth form pupils; James Graham's Tory Boyz is a fast-paced, political comedy about prejudice and ambition in Westminster. Each play features production notes and the volume is introduced by Paul Roseby, Artistic Director of the National Youth Theatre. For schools, youth theatre groups and drama colleges this anthology of thematically and stylistically diverse plays will prove an invaluable resource.
Two icy blue beads are trained on her every move. If she steps one way and then quickly to the other, the little beads follow. Jess does it now, just to confirm. It’s a little bit like one of those creepy paintings in a horror film. The eyes follow her up to four metres away; she’s measured it several times. She’s always doing little experiments on the baby, recording her findings in the leather bound journal that she keeps in her underwear drawer. She’s never told Brad about the experiments; she hasn't even told her sister. Not that it’s ever anything dangerous, not at all. Usually the outcomes aren't even that interesting, but she notes them all down anyway. Sometimes at night she lies awake thinking about the experiments and wonders whether she’s going crazy.
Ben was upset when his friend Peter moved away, but now the new neighbors are moving in across the street and Ben can’t wait to go say hello and make friends. That is, until he notices that this family has a pet dog; and unlike his sister and brother, Ben isn’t so sure around dogs. The big jaws and big teeth make him nervous. But what Ben doesn’t realize is that Max is an “old scaredy-dog” who feels nervous too. Can Ben overcome his fear and come to see eye-to-eye with a new kind of friend? The award-winning team that produced A+ for Big Ben and Ben Says Goodbye have come together once again in Ben and the Scaredy-Dog, a heart-warming story about a thoughtful yet anxious boy who overcomes his fear of dogs. Sarah Ellis highlights the all-too-common childhood dread of canines as she once again explores the world through the eyes of Ben, a boy who wants to be brave but just can't help anticipating the worst when it comes to a new experience. Kim La Fave perfectly captures his characters' thoughts and intentions through spot-on expressions and body language, as he contrasts Ben's drawings of the creature he sees in his mind's eye with the reality of the big and cuddly dog next door, who just happens to have his own fear issues. The result is a gently funny book that explores the courageous heart that can be found within an anxious child.
Silas is ten years old when the headaches start. When the diagnosis arrives, his parents are told they have until Christmas... maybe. And so begins Sarah Pullen’s battle to save her son, against doubting doctors and insurmountable odds. This story about love and loss traces her family’s journey from that first day at the hospital, battling a tumour they named ‘Bob’, through Silas’s death and beyond. This profoundly moving and honest account shows that it is possible to find the strength for a journey that no mother should ever go on; that it is possible to find a new way to live, even when death is knocking on the door. It is about confronting grief – raw, ugly, incomprehensible grief. It is a book about wrapping a small boy in love, but still letting him get grubby knees. It is about learning to savour every moment of the here and now, yet also learning to let go. At its heart, A Mighty Boy is a story of the love between a mother and a son. It is a book about seizing the moment and somehow managing to survive the death of a child. But most of all it is a book about a small, mighty, smiling boy.
From Ariel to the current craze for Sirens, mermaids have captivated our imaginations. But what's true and what's fairy tale? For centuries, mermaids have appeared in the folklore of cultures from around the world, including the Near East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. And Disney made everyone want to dive under the sea with Ariel when the movie The Little Mermaid hit theaters in 1989. But what are mermaid stories based on? Many myths say these creatures are half human and half fish, while others claim they are simply manatees mistaken for something more magical. Some grant wishes and fall in love, yet others have lured sailors to their doom. Although we can't say for sure where the tales of these elusive figures first originated, author Sarah Laskow separates the fact from the fiction. This full-color, fully illustrated book tells you all you need to know about the myths, science, and history that surround mermaids.
“Courtesan. Spy. Survivor. A gripping and meticulously researched account of the swashbuckling life of one of history’s most overlooked heroines.” —Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five Divorced wife, infamous mistress, prisoner in France during the French Revolution, and the reputed mother of the Prince of Wales’ child, notorious courtesan Grace Dalrymple Elliott lived an amazing life in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century London and Paris. Strikingly tall and beautiful, later lampooned as “Dally the Tall” in newspaper gossip columns, she left her Scottish roots and convent education behind to reinvent herself in a “marriage à-la-mode,” but before she was even legally an adult she was cast off and forced to survive on just her beauty and wits. The authors of this engaging and, at times, scandalous book intersperse the story of Grace’s tumultuous life with a family history that traces her ancestors from their origin in the Scottish borders, to their move south to London. It follows them to France, America, India, Africa, and elsewhere, offering a broad insight into the social history of the Georgian era, comprising the ups and downs, the highs and lows of life at that time. “A fascinating read . . . a shining example of research done well, presented coherently on the perfect subject: a powerful courtesan that time forgot.” —History of Royals “Set for the first time in the context of Grace’s wider family, this is a compelling tale of scandal and intrigue.” —Scots Heritage Magazine
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