Great Expectations (1861), one of Dickens s later novels is more mature and serious than his earlier works and less harsh and critical of Victorian society that Dickens is known to caricature. This novel, whose hero Pip is an orphan, reads more like a detective story. The story opens with little Pip meeting an escaped convict in the churchyard on a cold December evening in an almost surreal setting. As the story unfolds, we find Pip asked to wait upon a strange old lady, Miss Havisham, and becoming infatuated with her beautiful ward, Estella. Soon thereafter, Pip inherits a handsome property left to him by an unknown benefactor. He leaves for London, soon forgets his childhood friends and leads a life of leisure. After Pip s twenty-fifth birthday, his benefactor makes himself known and Pip realises the irony of his good fortune. With the unravelling of his own position, Pip grows in moral stature. Great Expectations is the story of Pip s coming of age.

The Orient Blackswan Easy Readers introduce the child to the enchanting world of reading which encouraging him/her to read with little or no external help. These beautifully-illustrated books are carefully graded into seven levels. The series begins at Level 1 and is meant for beginners at the age group of 5 to 7 years. The other levels are: Level 2: 6-8 years, Level 3: 7-9 years, Level 4: 9-10 years, Level 5: 10-12 years, Level 6: 11-14 years and Level 7: 15 years and above. This careful grading is based on age-appropriate vocabulary and structure which enables the reader to progress through the successive levels. The current titles mainly include the classics and titles that suit modern tastes and interests.

The Orient Blackswan Easy Readers introduce the child to the enchanting world of reading which encouraging him/her to read with little or no external help. These beautifully-illustrated books are carefully graded into seven levels. The series begins at Level 1 and is meant for beginners at the age group of 5 to 7 years. The other levels are: Level 2: 6-8 years, Level 3: 7-9 years, Level 4: 9-10 years, Level 5: 10-12 years, Level 6: 11-14 years and Level 7: 15 years and above. This careful grading is based on age-appropriate vocabulary and structure which enables the reader to progress through the successive levels. The current titles mainly include the classics and titles that suit modern tastes and interests.

The Call of the Wild (1905), considered a classic, is a story of survival and grid. It is the enduring tale of Buck, the half sheepdog, stolen from his comfortable Californian home to work as a sledge dog in the Northland. London creates an imaginative natural universe, where the main character, the dog Buck behaves and thinks with rational dog-logic.

This collection of short plays is an adaptation of traditional stories from around the world. The stories have been selected not only because they have remained favourites over time but also for their creative possibilities in terms of reading aloud, elocution and drama. The happy man's shirt is a story from Europe. From Greece we have the tales of Hercules and the cart-driver, Mercury and the woodcutter and Philemon and Baucis. The paper-maker, a story from China, tells us how the festival of lanterns began. And from Arabia we have the story of The two brothers.

As a result, there is little applicability internationally, even less interdisciplinary work, and at times, an outright bias against the market economy as such. The Commission Report, is even handed, tough minded, and frank in discussing how it is that social science and new social and technical forces do not always mesh. The optimism exuded is measured, but genuine. Great Expectations offers policy recommendations and scientific goals that can be serviceable not only in the United Kingdom, but in all advanced societies in which social research is a central component of economic stability and development. It is a superb reference volume enriched by original analysis and pungent, clear-headed writing. Members of the commission include: Professor David Rhind, Vice Chancellor of the City University served as Chairman of the Commission.

The newest title in the best-selling Great Expectations series tackles all aspects of a topic every new mom and dad is eager to master: getting baby to sleep! In their reassuring parent-to-parent voice, experts Sandy and Marcie Jones unravel the mysteries of how, when, and under what circumstances babies sleep in a clear and logical way that will comfort and sustain weary parents. They offer: - An explanation of how a baby’s sleep differs from that of children and adults - Advice on which sleep difficulties might indicate a medical problem. - Bulleted coping strategies for an array of issues - Q&A sidebars in which Sandy and Marcie give answers to common questions - Compelling “bites” of recent sleep research Moms and dads suffering through sleepless nights with baby will especially appreciate the quotes and strategies from other parents who have gone through the experience. Plus: a review of the most effective sleep-related products; useful Web resources; and a comprehensive dictionary of medical and sleep terms.

Beginning in 1945, America rocketed through a quarter-century of extraordinary economic growth, experiencing an amazing boom that soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. At one point, in the late 1940s, American workers produced 57 percent of the planet's steel, 62 percent of the oil, 80 percent of the automobiles. The U.S. then had three-fourths of the world's gold supplies. English Prime Minister Edward Heath later said that the United States in the post-War era enjoyed "the greatest prosperity the world has ever known." It was a boom that produced a national euphoria, a buoyant time of grand expectations and an unprecedented faith in our government, in our leaders, and in the American dream--an optimistic spirit which would be shaken by events in the '60s and '70s, and particularly by the Vietnam War. Now, in Grand Expectations, James T. Patterson has written a highly readable and balanced work that weaves the major political, cultural, and economic events of the period into a superb portrait of America from 1945 through Watergate. Here is an era teeming with memorable events--from the bloody campaigns in Korea and the bitterness surrounding McCarthyism to the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, to the Vietnam War, Watergate, and Nixon's resignation. Patterson excels at portraying the amazing growth after World War II--the great building boom epitomized by Levittown (the largest such development in history) and the baby boom (which exploded literally nine months after V-J Day)--as well as the resultant buoyancy of spirit reflected in everything from streamlined toasters, to big, flashy cars, to the soaring, butterfly roof of TWA's airline terminal in New York. And he shows how this upbeat, can-do mood spurred grander and grander expectations as the era progressed. Of course, not all Americans shared in this economic growth, and an important thread running through the book is an informed and gripping depiction of the civil rights movement--from the electrifying Brown v. Board of Education decision, to the violent confrontations in Little Rock, Birmingham, and Selma, to the landmark civil rights acts of 1964 and 1965. Patterson also shows how the Vietnam War--which provoked LBJ's growing credibility gap, vast defense spending that dangerously unsettled the economy, and increasingly angry protests--and a growing rights revolution (including demands by women, Hispanics, the poor, Native Americans, and gays) triggered a backlash that widened hidden rifts in our society, rifts that divided along racial, class, and generational lines. And by Nixon's resignation, we find a national mood in stark contrast to the grand expectations of ten years earlier, one in which faith in our leaders and in the attainability of the American dream was greatly shaken. The Oxford History of the United States The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. The Atlantic Monthly has praised it as "the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship," a series that "synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book." Conceived under the general editorship of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, and now under the editorship of David M. Kennedy, this renowned series blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative.

At the age of twenty-two, Dan Brown came to P.S. 85 as an eager, fresh-faced teacher. He was even as-signed his own class: 4-217. Unbeknownst to him, 4-217 was the designated “dumping ground” for all fourth-grade problem cases, and his students would prove to be more challenging than he could have ever anticipated. Intent on being a caring, dedicated teacher but confronted with unruly children, absent parents, and a failing administration, Dan was pushed to the limit time and again: he found himself screaming with rage, punching his fist through a blackboard out of sheer frustration, often just wanting to give up and walk away. Yet, in this seeming chaos, he slowly learned—from the more seasoned teachers at the school and from his own mistakes—how to discipline, teach, and make a difference. The Great Expectations School is the touching story of Class 4-217 and their teacher, Mr. Brown. But more than that, it is the revealing story of a broken educational system and all those struggling within and fighting against it.

Before the Second World War, only about 20% of the population went to secondary school and barely 2% to university; today everyone goes to secondary school and half of all young people go to university. How did we get here from there? The Crisis of the Meritocracy answers this question not by looking to politicians and educational reforms, but to the revolution in attitudes and expectations amongst the post-war British public - the rights guaranteed by the welfare state, the hope of a better life for one's children, widespread upward mobility from manual to non-manual occupations, confidence in the importance of education in a 'learning society' and a 'knowledge economy'. As a result of these transformations, 'meritocracy' - the idea that a few should be selected to succeed - has been challenged by democracy and its wider understandings of equal opportunity across the life course. At a time when doubts have arisen about whether we need so many students, and amidst calls for a return to grammar-school selection at 11, the tension between meritocracy and democracy remains vital to understanding why our grandparents, our parents, ourselves and our children have sought and got more and more education - and to what end.