In the 1930s, Broadway's lights still burned brightly. Ethan Mordden completes his history of the Broadway musical by taking a look at this forgotten era. Shows like Anything Goes brought the glitter of Cole Porter and Merman's brass to the public. Innovations in dance were pioneered by Balanchine and others. Scenic advancements made Astaire's The Band Wagon move across the stage in novel ways. Gershwin's revolutionary Porgy and Bess entered the canon of American Classics. And The Cradle Will Rock and Johnny Johnson took the American political temperature. With his trademark wit and style, Ethan Mordden shines the spotlight on Broadway's forgotten decade.

Suggests twenty-six ideas to bring life to a dinner party, family gathering, picnic or weekend in the country, including ice breaking jokes, making music at the table, reciting poetry, and playing charades

Treetops from the Reading Tree is a series of fiction with built-in progression for pupils aged 7 to 11. Specially written for children who need the support of carefully monitored language levels, the stories are accessible, motivating and humorous. The series is organized into stages introducing more complex narrative forms, including flashbacks and changes in viewpoint; descriptive writing; extended reading vocabulary; and more text.

Jamie is an orphan struggling to survive off of scraps of food given to him by the kindness of strangers. One night, he overhears two men speaking about their great plans to sail the world, and Jamie decides to go to the dock to find work. While there, he sees two men stealing something from the ship. Jamie follows them, and in the numerous skirmishes that follow, somehow ends up with what they were taking -- a fancy drum. The next morning, Jamie tries to return it to the ship and finds that the drum is the good luck charm of Sir Francis Drake -- famous explorer.Text Type: Realistic Fiction, Historical FictionTheme/Topic: Art and Music, Human History

Sing for your Supper is the story of Jamie, a beggar who lives on the streets. He begs for food from the friendly owner of the ship called The Pelican. But the price of Jamie's supper could be his life. TreeTops Fiction contains engaging novels from top authors and illustrators with the variety children need to develop a love of reading!

“For my parents and grandparents, Jewish identity, in religion, culture and language, was a given. Not so for me. I’m not religious, not a Zionist, so in what consists my Jewishness? Is a love of chopped liver and a belief that chicken soup cures all ills enough? And does it matter? This is the story of my search for answers. It is an argument with myself, with song lyrics to embellish the argument.” Like so many of those others in Britain of Jewish lineage, songwriter and award-winning folk singer Leon Rosselson is descended from antecedents who fled pogroms in eastern Europe. Pertinently, he questions what being a Jew means—is it adherence to Judaism as a religion, an ethnicity, a citizen of Israel, or someone who eats “chicken soup with knedlach”? He describes clearly and with historical insight how any concept of “Jewishness” can involve all of those things and more. In his own life, he has decided to pick and choose from this tradition and history and build on what he deems to be the progressive, humane, and universalist values of that Jewish background. Rosselson is a strong supporter of Palestinian rights, seeing in the victimization of Palestinians by the state of Israel parallels with historical Jewish persecution. He concludes this short essay by stating: “I share with the growing number of Jews in the diaspora who place solidarity with the oppressed above demands of tribalism and with those in Israel who dare to stand against the powers that be.”

A mother will do anything to protect her child... Karen and Tudor Morgan have moved from a small mining community to the bustle and noise of Cardiff in search of a new life. Tudor longs to be a star entertainer and so Karen gets a job, leaving her husband to look after their young daughter Delia, doing stints at clubs in the evening, whenever he can get them. Until one day Tudor is arrested for begging and Karen is horrified to learn that he has been busking during the day and taking three-year-old Delia with him to collect the money. When Tudor comes out of prison he gets an honest job but soon he is back to his old ways. And when his life of petty crime quickly turns into something far more sinister, it is all Karen can do to ensure she and her daughter survive ...

Suggests twenty-six ideas to bring life to a dinner party, family gathering, picnic or weekend in the country, including ice breaking jokes, making music at the table, reciting poetry, and playing charades