Collins Big Cat is a guided reading series for ages 4-9 edited by Cliff Moon. Top children's authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that your children will love to read, banded to help you choose the right book for every child. Practical teaching notes are included at the back of each book. This fascinating book, written in conjunction with the London National Portrait Gallery, examines what portraits are and what they can tell you about the sitter (and the artist) through examining some of the world's greatest portraits.

Here is everything you need to know about being a knight, from from being a young page to being knighted. This humorous non-fiction book explains all the tasks, training, outfits and privileges that came with the job.

This book presents Serge Prokofieff's famous musical story about young Peter and the Wolf in the style of a play with four scenes. The cast of characters on page 2 shows how Prokofieff used a different musical instrument to represent each character. With the help of a narrator, the story reveals, how Peter outwits the big bad wolf.

It's Flynn's first day at school and he's nervous about making a mistake. An amusing story unfolds as Flynn's parents recount the mistakes others have made: Police officer Julie Nick gave a robber an ice cream and Ned Mutton tried to milk the chickens. Convinced he won't do anything so silly, Flynn walks out of the house still wearing his pyjamas!

Artist Jon Stuart shows how he produces computer-generated images. The process starts with a simple block of cubes, which are added to, given texture, before being bent, stretched, twisted into the correct shape and size. He then adds background, lighting and colour to bring the whole scene to life.

Ever wondered why the dinosaurs didn't survive? In this fascinating non-chronological report the success story of crocodiles and lizards (focusing on monitor lizards), and some of the reasons why they have survived since the time of the dinosaurs is explored. * Purple/ Band 8 books offer developing readers literary language, with some challenging vocabulary. * Text type — A non-chronological report. * The book includes a contents page on page 1, plus a glossary and index on pages 20 and 21. * A fact chart on pages 22 and 23 summarises the distinguishing aspects of each of crocodiles and monitor lizards. * Curriculum links — Science: Humans and other animals. * This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

Chicken Licken is worried the sky is going to fall on his head, so he sets off with an increasing band of followers to tell the King. But will he get that far...? * Purple/ Band 8 books offer developing readers literary language, with some challenging vocabulary. * Text type — A traditional tale. * A timeline of events retells this traditional tale for children to discuss and renact. * Curriculum links — Citizenship: Choices; Science: Plants and animals in the local environment. * This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

The ultimate introduction to words, Dr. Seuss style! Perfect for introducing your child to reading! Introduced by the Cat in the Hat and featuring a selection of Dr. Seuss artwork and rhyming sentences, I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words shows young children how easy it is to learn to read — even for a dog. Each spread features five rhyming sentences, each positioned alongside a colourful flap which lifts to reveal a rhyming word and more delightful Seuss artwork. With a novelty child-safe mirror on the final page, this storybook is a joy to read with your child.

A non-fiction report about different types of weather over the course of a week. Photographs of each weather accompany illustrations of how people might act and dress in different weather conditions, while the repetitive pattern of text reports on each day's weather. * Red A/Band 2A books offer predictable text with familiar objects and actions, combined with simple story development. * Text type — A non-fiction report. * A summary 'Weather Report' on pages 14 and 15 provides children with the opportunity to recap the different weather types and days of the week. * This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

Join the New York Times bestselling author on a journey to the sun-washed hills of Tuscany. Another sexy, wonderful, contemporary love story with all the heart, wisdom, and wit that have made Susan Elizabeth Phillips the gold standard for women's fiction. She's Dr. Isabel Favor, America's diva of self-help. He's Ren Gage, Hollywood's favorite villain. Sometimes you just know that God has a sense of humor. Dr. Isabel Favor, author of Four Cornerstones for a Favorable Life, has sacrificed everything to build her self-help empire. Then, in a matter of weeks, it all comes crashing down. She loses her money to an unscrupulous accountant, her fiance to a frumpy older woman, and her reputation to headlines denouncing her as a fraud. America's diva of self-help soon discovers she can fix everyone's life but her own. Broke, heartsick, and soul-weary, she heads for Italy in search of a little breathing room. Lorenzo Gage makes his living killing people... on the silver screen, that is. He's viciously handsome and sublimely talented. But as he begins his vacation in Italy, he's also vaguely dissatisfied. Being a villain with a face to die for has its rewards, but he hates the feeling that everything he's neglected in life is catching up with him. Then he spots Isabel sipping a glass of wine in a sidewalk cafe. A good guy wouldn't think of seducing such a tidy-looking woman... but he'd never seen the fun in playing the hero. It doesn't take long for Isabel to realize she's escaped one kind of chaos only to be plunged into another. Even the shelter of a simple stone farmhouse nestled in a Tuscan olive grove can't provide her with the refuge she needs — not when thetownspeople are scheming to drive her away, and her plan to restore her reputation has come up empty. And especially not when the man who deceived her refuses to leave her in peace. Breathing Room is a book for any woman who's dreamed of wandering through a vineyard, of lazing under the Tuscan sky, or of reforming a deliciously wicked man. This is a story of hope and renewal, of love and redemption when it's needed the most. Sometimes it takes a special place... a special love... a little breathing room... for life to deliver all its glorious promise.

After the age of the dinosaurs, strange and powerful mammals ruled the earth...

Dinosaurs were the biggest, most powerful animals that ever walked the earth. Now they are all gone. How did they become extinct?

With a nudge from Mr. Hopper, Luna shares her idea with the class — which just might save the Family Night program.

Jimmy Coates embarks on his fourth adventure in his ongoing mission to out-think / out-manouevre and outwit NJ7. If you think it's over, think again! Jimmy closed his eyes, searching for that power inside him. He had to forget that he was terrified — that was only the human part of him, the 38 per cent that was a normal, frightened boy. He willed the assassin to take him over. He knew that somewhere within him was enough strength, resilience and expert knowledge to survive this crisis. The cold and calculating Miss Bennett has had enough of Jimmy Coates. NJ7's greatest invention has turned into it's greatest enemy, and it's time someone put an end to him. But Jimmy's next mission is to foil a secret plan — and who could be better at this than someone who officially doesn't exist!

A third action-packed adventure for the incredible Jimmy Coates. Will Jimmy Coates ever be free of NJ7? Why should they need to find him if they are able to control him. Through Christopher Viggo's powerful new contacts, Jimmy and his friends escape to the USA. They go into hiding in Chinatown, New York City. While they are there, Jimmy finds himself experiencing headaches accompanied by flashing images — something that hasn't happened to him before. Are they prophetic visions? Can Jimmy piece together the puzzle of his obsession before time runs out? And how can he convince anybody of what he thinks he knows, when the only evidence is locked inside his head? Revenge will come. But what form will it take?

The city is a big and busy place for a little puppy-there are tall buildings, honking cars, and all kinds of new friends to make!

Jean le Viste, a newly wealthy member of the French court, commissions the tapestries to hang in his chateau. Nicolas, his chosen designer, meets le Viste`s wife Genevieve and his daughter Claude, both of whom take a keen interest in the tapestries. This novel is written by the author of Girl with a Pearl Earring and Falling Angels.

Terrific, free-standing suel to the historical bestseller Earthly Joys, as John Tradescant, the Younger witnesses the English Civil War and its aftermath from his position as royal gardener. John Tradescant, the Younger has inherited his fathers unique collection of plants along with his unerring ability to nurture them. But as gardener to Charles I, he confronts an unbearable dilemma when England descends into Civil War. Fleeing from the chaos, John travels to the Royalist colony of Virginia in America. But, the virgin land is not uninhabited. Johns plant hunting brings him to live with the native people, and he learns to love and respect their way of life just as it is threatened by the colonial settlers. In the new world and the old, the established order is breaking down and every family has to find its own way of surviving. For the Tradescants, through the upheavals of the Commonwealth and the Restoration, this means consolidating their reputations as the greatest gardeners in the country.

One day a renowned author discovers that his wife, a war correspondent, has disappeared leaving no trace. Was she kidnapped, blackmailed, or simply bored with their marriage? His search for her — and for the truth of his own life — takes him from South America to Spain, France, Croatia and, eventually, the bleakly beautiful landscape of Central Asia. More than that, it leads him into a new understanding of the nature of love, the power of destiny and what it really means to follow your heart.

With a clear page design and the alphabet on every page, it’s easy to learn how to look words up, find out how to spell them and what they mean. Extra language support is given with theme pages, games and essential word lists, making this colourful dictionary an invaluable companion for any child starting school.