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| Book Reviews |
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| The Good Green Footprint |
Christina Goodings
£5.99, Lion Hudson Plc
Want to have fun and make your world ‘green’? This book is full of illustrated ideas on things to make using natural, leftover and recycled materials with lots of tips on being greener thrown in. Things to make include a hat and scarf, shopping bag, wastebin and other useful containers. There are also a couple of recipes and party ideas. Plenty to get your creative juices flowing and help the planet at the same time. |
| More in Children's Fiction... |
| Beautiful Babies, Fabulous Families, Wonderful World |
Nim barnes
£12.99, Foresight
“I can‘t bear things going wrong with babies….” This comment goes a long way to explaining why Foresight founder, Nim Barnes has decided to pass on her love, familiarity and expert knowledge on all aspects of pregnancy in the form of her book, Beautiful Babies, Fabulous Families, Wonderful World (published by Foresight, publisher’s price £12.95)
Nim, a sprightly 78, founded Foresight, a leading charity dealing with pre-conceptual care and infertility. Foresight’s approach is soundly based on nutrition, whilst encompassing other areas such as hidden infection and electromagnetic pollution.
Nim’s energy and enthusiasm is legendary and is truly a testament to a healthy nutrition and lifestyle! The new title captures the Foresight philosophy and approach whilst being written in a warm, friendly, and accessible format. It charts some of the key issues related to pregnancy encountered by couples over the years and outlines how these have been overcome. With heartwarming examples of happy couples who have been helped by the Foresight approach, it provides practical advice to today’s parents wanting to embark upon this approach to help their future offspring off to the best start in life.
“ This is why I founded Foresight in the first place”. Nim explains that the charity Foresight which she founded over 30 years ago, was not originally to help with infertility, it was to try and ensure that all babies were born healthy and normal, able to realise their full potential, physically and mentally, and therefore able to have a wonderful, happy and productive life. It was along the way that they found that the Foresight Programme was also a major factor in solving infertility in about 78% of cases they encountered.
Nim’s early days were spent as a nurse in a Day Nursery in the 1940s, where the world of babies became a major part of her life. When she came to have her own children she realized her sons had lots of allergies – coeliac condition, hyperactivity, dyslexia in one; and a tendency to asthma and eczema, if given the wrong foods, in the other. Her baby daughter had tumours on the spinal cord. This started Nim’s quest to read everything that she could lay her hands on to better help herself and other parents to prevent problems from afflicting their beloved babies. |
| More in Parenting... |
| From Brenda's Kitchen: 100 Favourite Recipes |
Brenda Costigan
€19.99, Gill & Macmillan
With her no-nonsense style, accessible ingredients and balanced approach Brenda Costigan has long been a favourite of Irish cooks. Constantly aware of healthy eating guidelines, Brenda's recipes are healthy, easy to prepare and suitable for cooks of all abilities. Complimented with beautiful photography and written with busy families in mind this beautiful cookbook is full of inspiring ideas, helpful hints and foolproof favourites that will appeal to cooks of all ages and abilities.
Brenda Costigan is one of Ireland's most renowned cookery writers. As weekly cookery writer for Ireland's leading newspaper the Sunday Independent - Life Magazine Brenda has also written three best selling cookery books. In addition Brenda frequently cooks on TV3. Brenda has a wealth of TV experience and was the resident cook on Live at Three with Derek Davis, Thelma Mansfield, Mary Kennedy and Marty Whelan. Brenda is a frequent radio guest. She is a member of the Irish Food Writers Guild and is a qualified Home Economics graduate. |
| More in Cookery... |
| Best-Loved Irish Legends |
Eithne Massey
£12.99, O'Brien Press
Stories from long, long ago, part of an ancient oral tradition,
handed down from generation to generation and written down by the Christian monks of medieval Ireland.
FAVOURITE LEGENDS FROM ANCIENT IRELAND:
The Salmon of Knowledge
How Cú Chulainn Got His Name
The Children of Lir
The King with Donkey’s Ears
Fionn and the Giant
The White Wolfhound
Oisín
These traditional Irish legends are brought to life with stunning, full-colour illustrations that are ideal for readers aged four years plus, or for reading aloud. |
| More in Irish / Gaelic Books... |
| Cool Camping: Kids |
Clover Stroud, Jonathan Knight, Andrea Oates, and Alexandra Tilley Loughrey
£16.95, Punk Publishing Ltd
You may have come across the “Cool Camping” series. If you’re at all interested in camping, they’re well worth checking out. Books in the series so far cover England, Scotland, Wales and France as well as a book about Camp Cooking. Now, they’ve just published “Cool Camping: Kids” which reveals Britain’s 60 best family sites – each carefully selected to guarantee happy kids. Think… adventure playgrounds, rafting ponds, rope swings and campfires; organic farms, woodland glades and buckets & spades; stripy bell tents, yurts, tipis and gypsy caravans pulled by real-live horses; fun lessons on outdoor survival – and, of course, loads of open space for kids to run round and round until they fall over dizzy.
Cool Camping: Kids steers clear of the big corporate sites with karaoke and fruit machines in the clubhouse and instead picks a stellar cast of some of the most family-friendly sites in England, Wales and Scotland, all of which exemplify the free-spirited sense of adventure that Cool Camping is all about. Cool Camping: Kids is also full of ideas about what to do when you’re there – and as cooking at camp is all part of the fun, the book includes a handy cooking section with some yummy treats which can easily be put together (with help from the kids) on a barbeque or campfire. A games section provides further inspiration for activities the whole family can enjoy – and which won’t cost a penny!
Cool Camping: Kids is published by Punk Publishing, a small, independent and wholly unconventional publishing company. The recommended price is £16.95 and it’s available from bookshops or on the internet. |
| More in Holidays... |
| OPERATION MINCEMEAT: The True Spy Story That Changed The Course of World War 2 |
Ben Macintyre
£16.99, Bloomsbury
For the first time the incredible full story with newly-released material and previously uncovered files from M15 and Naval Intelligence.
One April morning in 1943, a sardine fisherman spotted the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and set in train a series of events that would change the course of the Second World War…
Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted, and certainly the strangest. It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs, sent German troops hurtling in the wrong direction, and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different, in one crucial respect, from any spy before or since: he was dead. His mission: to convince the Germans that instead of attacking Sicily, the Allied armies planned to invade Greece.
The brainchild of an eccentric RAF officer and a brilliant Jewish barrister, the great hoax involved an extraordinary cast of characters including a famous forensic pathologist, a gold-prospector, an inventor, a beautiful secret service secretary, a submarine captain, three novelists, a transvestite English spymaster, an irascible admiral who loved fly-fishing, and a dead Welsh tramp. Using fraud, imagination and seduction, Churchill’s team of spies spun a web of deceit so elaborate and so convincing that they began to believe it themselves. The deception started in a windowless basement beneath Whitehall. It travelled from London to Scotland to Spain to Germany. And it ended up on Hitler’s desk.
Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Galaxy British Book of the Year Award for Biography of the Year 2008. A fascinating, true spy thriller that will grip teens and their parents, who enjoy tales of espionage and deception. |
| More in Books for Grown Ups... |
| Child Obesity - A Parent's Guide |
Judith Manson
£8.99, Need2know
Child obesity has been described as a ticking time bomb, which is now as big a threat to society as global warming. Overweight children are never out of the news and obesity rates are soaring.
This comprehensive guide to obesity, its causes and effects, shows parents, carers and those concerned about children’s eating habits, how to defuse the time bomb and tackle obesity.
Using expert advice and the latest information, this book will help readers to find solutions to obesity by offering practical advice and achievable strategies which can be used to help children obtain a healthy weight, develop good eating habits and an active lifestyle. Child friendly recipes, food facts and progress charts are included.
Whether you think your child may be obese, or want to find out how you can prevent obesity, this essential guide is packed with all the latest facts you will need to help children live healthily.
Key Points
What Causes Child Obesity
Diagnosing Obesity
Physical and Mental Effects of Obesity
Tackling & Beating Obesity
Healthy Eating
Exercise and Active Lifestyles
Readership
Parents, carers and teachers.
Contents:-
Introduction
1. What Do We Mean by Obese?
2. The Causes and Effects of Obesity
3. How Can I Tell if My Child is Overweight or Obese?
4. Getting Ready to Tackle Obesity.
5. Small Steps to Success
6. The Basics of Healthy Eating
7. Making Healthy Eating Happen
8. Getting Active, Staying Active
9. What Will Success Look Like?
10. Useful Contacts and Resources
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| More in Health... |
| Carol Vorderman's Maths Dictionary |
Carol Vorderman
£8.99, Dorling Kindersley
Does your child find maths tricky? Are they stuck on their square roots or puzzled by prime numbers? Help is at instant hand with Carol Vorderman's essential maths explainer.
It's packed with hundreds of mathematical entries covering words, phrases, shapes, measurements, concepts, calculations and much more, making everything easy to understand.
Perfect for children of all ages up to the start of secondary or second level school (and for mums and dads who need a hand in helping out with maths homework!)
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| More in Schools... |
| LEGO Brickmaster Pirate |
Become a LEGO Brick Master
£16.99, Dorling Kindersley
If your child loves LEGO bricks, they'll enjoy this book complete with 140 fantastic LEGO bricks and 2 mini-figures.
Watch as they find out all about building with the LEGO bricks provided, then use the bricks again and again to build 15 amazing pirate models.
A perfect LEGO kit promising hours of playtime for seven to nine year olds.
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| More in Children Activities... |
| Bumper Book of Bravery, The |
Charlie Norton
£14.99, Virgin Books
Just ten minutes with this fantastic compendium will reveal unbelievable feats of bravery in all kinds of situations – The Bumper Book of Bravery will challenge what it means to be brave, and what it means to survive against what may seem to be insurmountable odds.
This glorious, uplifting collection includes tales of Second World War sabotage; the longest time feat underwater; emperor gladiators; daring, self-taught balloonists; secrets missions into Baghdad; the first solo flight over the Atlantic (by a woman, no less); the art of seduction -- the women who have tempted politicians and toppled regimes; American Medal of Honor recipients and other feats of military self-sacrifice and selfless compassion.
From winter explorers to daring snitches and tales of animal bravery, along with the sportsmen who have played through pain, and much, much more -- no act of bravery is left undocumented. Whether it's religious, political, physical or even metaphysical, this book filled with inspiring accounts of the mythical and modern men and women who have dared to be death-defyingly courageous in the face of frightening challenges. |
| More in Children's Learning... |
| Pocket's Christmas Wish |
Ann Bonwill
£10.99, Oxford Children's Books
A little rabbit's journey to find the meaning of Christmas.
Pocket is a little rabbit who wishes - from his whiskers to his bunny feet - that he might know the meaning of Christmas. When he hops out of his burrow on Christmas morning, Pocket finds some footprints left by children who have been playing in the snow. He follows the footprints to a cosy cottage where his Christmas wish comes true.
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| More in Seasonal... |
| Triskellion: Audiobook |
Will Peterson
£19.99, Walker Books
An audio CD of the first extraordinary novel in a new trilogy, combining nail-biting suspense, gripping mystery and archaeological adventure with a paranormal twist.
Rachel and Adam are sent to stay with their grandmother, following their parents' divorce. But the quiet English village is a sinister, unsettling place. Is there a dark heart beating beneath the thatched roofs of Triskellion? It is a place protected by an ancient, three-bladed artefact; a village where crops never fail and where the war memorial is blank; a community with much to protect. With the help of the mysterious Gabriel, Rachel and Adam begin to unearth centuries-old secrets and make a shocking revelation about their family’s past – and their own future...
7 CD set read by Teresa Gallagher. |
| More in Audio CD Books... |
| Saga of Darren Shan: Volume 3 Tunnels of Blood (Graphic Novel) |
Art by Takahir Arai
£5.99, Harper Collins
The amazing manga retelling of Darren Shan's international best-selling vampire saga, with illustrations by Japanese artist Takahiro Arai. When Mr Crepsley is called upon by the Vampire Generals, Darren and the snake-boy, Evra Von, leave the Cirque Du Freak and travel with him to the city. Whilst there, Darren meets Debbie and his life as a Vampire's Assistant fades into the background -- until corpes are found. Corpses drained of blood! Suspicious of Mr Crepsley's secretive bahaviour, Darren and Evra shadow him across the city and confront a creature of the night who may be the end of them all! The stunning illustrations and manga format give a new dimension to this ever-popular vampire saga, available for the first time in translation in the UK. This will be a must-have for Shan fans and manga aficionados alike. |
| More in Teens... |
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