When Simon gets mad, he gets REALLY mad. So mad that big, bad, angry beasts appear. At first Simon loves having the beasts around to help scare off anyone who upsets him, but over time he realizes that no one wants to be around him or the beasts. This makes Simon sad, so he decides to try to still his mind and practice being calm. And the beasts disappear! Featuring colorful and expressive illustrations, this insightful book helps children ages 4-8 learn how to handle their anger. A guide for parents and teachers in the back of the book features strategies for talking to children about their emotions along with various exercises they can use to cope with anger. Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts is a 2018 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist.

Learn how to use children's books during storytime to approach sensitive topics and increase children's social-emotional wellness-and how to create storytimes that are engaging, participative, and FUN! The emotional challenges many children experience consume the time of teachers, exhaust parents, and sometimes lead children toward behaviors that prohibit social and academic success. Storytime to the rescue! Library storytimes prepare children for kindergarten; storytimes at home and in preschools allow teachers, parents, and children to think and talk about empathy and the importance of honoring your own and others' feelings. In Bringing Heart and Mind into Storytime, Heather McNeil teaches librarians and teachers how to use books to open conversations with children to teach such concepts as patience, tenacity, kindness, and teamwork. McNeil shares research on brain development, social-emotional learning, and the importance of play, but she also emphasizes maintaining the fun of storytime. She recommends songs, action rhymes, games, and crafts that contribute to fun and healthy storytimes. Extensive lists of recommended books will help readers find the right ones for their audience.

Ben likes to play with robots. His little sister, Alice, would like to play with Ben. But when she and her doll try to join Ben's games, Ben says, "No dolls allowed. This is a robot game." That's why Alice asks for a robot for her birthday. Not just any robot. The exact robot Ben has been wanting forever! Ben is very, very jealous. He wants that robot. Now. Maybe he could sneak it out of its wrapping during Alice's birthday party and play with it for awhile. Nobody will know. Right? But Ben's bad idea goes very wrong and he feels terrible. Now it's up to him to show Alice that a sister is more important than even the best robot toy in the world.

A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance. First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern classics. Now fully revised and updated, this educational edition includes chapter summaries, comprehension questions, discussion points, classroom activities, a biographical profile of Golding, historical context relevant to the novel and an essay on Lord of the Flies by William Golding entitled 'Fable'. Aimed at Key Stage 3 and 4 students, it also includes a section on literary theory for advanced or A-level students. The educational edition encourages original and independent thinking while guiding the student through the text - ideal for use in the classroom and at home.

Kirkus Review “Arch comedy . . . Dave Eggers channels Anthony Bourdain.” An outrageously funny and original debut set in the fast-paced and treacherous world of a restaurant kitchen Fresh out of university with big dreams, our narrator is determined to escape his past and lead the literary life in London. But soon he is two months behind on rent and forced to take a menial job in the kitchen of The Swan, a gastro-pub with haute cuisine aspirations. Mockingly called “Monocle” by his co-workers for a useless English lit degree, he is thrust into a brutal, chaotic world full of motley characters. There’s the lovably dim pastry chef Dibden; combative Ramilov, who spends a fair bit of time locked in the walk-in fridge for pissing people off; Racist Dave, about whom the less said the better; Camp Charles, the officious head waiter; and Harmony, the only woman in a workplace of raunchy, immature, angry, drug-fueled men. Worst of all is the head chef, Bob, who runs the kitchen with an iron fist and an alarming taste for cruelty. But Monocle’s past is never far away and soon an altogether darker tale unfolds. As the chefs’ dreams of overthrowing Bob become a reality, Monocle’s dead-beat father shows up at his door, asking for help. With The Swan struggling to stay afloat and Monocle’s father dredging up lingering questions from an unhappy childhood, Chop Chop accelerates toward its blackly hilarious, thrilling, and ruthless conclusion.

In spare, poignant, direct prose, I Hate Everyone paints a nuanced and honest portrait of the complex emotional lives of children. "I hate everyone." In your worst mood, it's a phrase you might want to shout out loud, even if, deep down, you don't really mean it. Set at a birthday party, this disgruntled, first-person story portrays the confusing feelings that sometimes make it impossible to be nice, even-or especially-when everyone else is in a partying mode. A gorgeous, poetic contemplation, sure to elicit a reaction from readers. A worthy successor toAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Wild Beasts and Plague is a collection of short stories from the 1960s to the present day and beyond set around life's recurring and challenging themes including revenge, jealousy, growing old, inadequacy, thwarted ambition, memories, death and the dark side of life. Herein lies madness, humour and absurdity, the past, present and future, surrealism, fantasy and ideas whose time may have been and gone. Or not. From the pen of David Porter, some-time drama student, children's theatre performer, drama teacher, examiner, political organiser and Member of Parliament, they are drawn from real and imagined life, all speaking volumes of the way we live, react to each other and finally, die off.