Reading Summer Young is like folding yourself into a deceptively miniature world, a cat's eye view of a dystopian Wonderland. Its trellis-like family home encompasses a complex ecosystem of cockroaches and fireflies, mice and sea urchins. In this arresting debut, Young confronts trauma with a fierce and virtuosic wit.

Come and celebrate Freya the Chocolate Rabbit's birthday with all her friends in the Sylvanian Village in this sweet picture book, based on the animation Freya's Happy Diary, now showing on YouTube! It's Freya's birthday and she's having a party, but her best friends, Ralph Walnut and Lyra Persian, are nowhere to be found! As Freya searches, she meets lots of friends and neighbours who give her presents of shiny, bright balloons. So many balloons, in fact, that she's lifted right into the air! As she soars over the Sylvanian Village, she starts to wonder how she will ever get down . . . and whether her two best friends will turn up in time to help. This adorable picture book features artwork from the animated Sylvanian Families series, Freya's Happy Diary, and brings the classic and beloved toy range to life as never before. Also available: The World of Sylvanian Families: The Official Guide, Easter Search-and-Find and more!

The myth of the Victorian family remains a pervasive influence within a contemporary Britain that perceives itself to be in social crisis. Nostalgic for a golden age of "Victorian values" in which visions of supportive, united families predominate, the common consciousness, exhorted by social and political discourse, continues to vaunt the "traditional, natural" family as the template by which all other family forms are gauged. Yet this fantasy of family, nurtured and augmented throughout the Victorian era, was essentially a construct that belied the realities of a nineteenth-century world in which orphanhood, fostering, and stepfamilies were endemic. Focusing primarily on British children's texts written by women and drawing extensively on socio-historic material, The Fantasy of Family considers the paradoxes implicit to the perpetuation of the domestic ideal within the Victorian era and offers new perspectives on both nineteenth-century and contemporary society.

Crochet 13 characters and accessories from the hit TV series with this kit! Crochet your favorite characters and re-create iconic scenes from the beloved TV series with Friends Crochet. Included in this kit are an 80-page paperback book complete with photos and step-by-step instructions, as well as the materials needed to make the Thanksgiving turkey and the famous Central Perk orange couch. Additional project instructions show you how to crochet Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Joey, Monica, Chandler, a coffee cup, Marcel the monkey, Phoebe’s guitar, and the chick and duck.

This is the first study of its kind, focusing on toys made for girls, including the spin-off accessories and comics. Renowned toy expert Susan Brewer explores the world of toys, divided into sections to encompass dolls, cuddly toys and ‘families (e.g. Sylvanian Forest and Fisher Price’s Little People), amongst others. She includes brief biographies of some of the best known firms, such as Mattel, Pedigree and Fisher Price but the main focus is on the toys themselves, many of which readers will remember from their own childhood. Includes fascinating factboxes with quirky facts – did you know. Angela Rippon created the best-selling Victoria Plum toys based on a plum tree in her back garden - she has written the foreword for this book.

From the rise of Nordic noir to a taste for street food, from practices of natural gardening to the aesthetics of children's TV, contemporary culture is saturated with racial meanings. By consuming race we make sense of other groups and cultures, communicate our own identities, express our needs and desires, and discover new ways of thinking and being. This book explores how the meanings of race are made and remade in acts of creative consumption. Ranging across the terrain of popular culture, and finding race in some unusual and unexpected places, it offers fresh and innovative ways of thinking about the centrality of race to our lives. Consuming Race provides an accessible and highly readable overview of the latest research and a detailed reading of a diverse range of objects, sites and practices. It gives students of sociology, media and cultural studies the opportunity to make connections between academic debates and their own everyday practices of consumption.

'Honest, funny, clever, it sparkles with witty, wry observations on modern life. I loved it' Marian Keyes An uplifting story about one mother trying to hold it all together - told with Cathy Kelly's trademark sparkling warmth, humour and honesty. Freya Abalone has a big, messy, wonderful family. She has an exciting career as a celebrity chef. She has a new home that makes her feel safe. But behind the happy front, Freya feels pulled in a hundred directions. Life has thrown Freya some lemons - and she's learned how to juggle! But she's keeping a secret from her family, and soon something is going to crashing down... All families have their struggles and strengths. So can Freya pull everyone - and herself - together when they need it most? You'll love Cathy Kelly's feel-good, relatable stories of family life! 'Honest, funny, clever, it sparkles with witty, wry observations' Marian Keyes 'This book is full of joy' Milly Johnson 'A lovely story of life and change' Prima 'The perfect comfort read for a cold autumn afternoon' Jo Finney, Good Housekeeping 'Cathy Kelly shines an insightful light on female insecurity and, through Freya's journey, shows the healing power of self-belief and family support' Woman & Home Escape with a comforting, relatable and funny story about real family life - perfect for fans of Marian Keyes, Milly Johnson, Shari Low and Ruth Jones.

This timely and innovative book provides a detailed history of marketing to children, revealing the strategies that shape the design of toys and have a powerful impact on the way children play. Stephen Kline looks at the history and development of children's play culture and toys from the teddy bear and Lego to the Barbie doll, Care Bears and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He profiles the rise of children's mass media - books, comics, film and television - and that of the specially stores such as Toys 'R' Us, revealing how the opportunity to reach large audiences of children through television was a pivotal point in developing new approaches to advertising. Contemporary youngsters, he shows, are catapulted into a fantastic and chaotic time-space continuum of action toys thanks to the merchandisers' interest in animated television. Kline looks at the imagery and appeal of the toy commercials and at how they provide a host of stereotyped figures around which children can organize their imaginative experience. He shows how the deregulation of advertising in the United States in the 1980s has led directly to the development of the new marketing strategies which use television series to saturate the market with promotional "character toys". Finally, in a powerful re-examination of the debates about the cultural effects of television, Out of the Garden asks whether we should allow our children's play culture to be primarily defined and created by marketing strategies, pointing to the unintended consequences of a situation in which images of real children have all but been eliminated from narratives about the young.

Autumn has come to StregaSchloss, and as the days grow dark, an even darker depression has come over the Strega-Borgia family. Ever since the disappearance of their beloved nanny, Mrs. McLachlan, nothing has been the same. To make matters worse, Luciano has been wrongfully charged with her murder and thrown into prison. Never has the family needed Mrs. McLachlan so badly! But with the help of a magical camera and a mysterious silver thread, there may still be hope. . . .

'heart-warming...When We Say Goodbye is an ideal novel to curl up with as the autumn evenings draw in.' NetGalley Review Can you love when all seems lost? Ellie Perkins life was right on track until her boyfriend Sam suffers a near-fatal car accident, leaving him in a coma and all their future plans in limbo. Desperately in need of something to fix, Ellie has to find a project and when her grandparents old house is put up for sale, she jumps at the chance. Because, like Ellie, the house is broken. And if she can fix the house, then surely, it's just a matter of time before she and Sam are back on their path to happily-ever-after... In life, when the worst happens how do you pick up the pieces? A heart-breaking story of love, loss and the path to forgiveness, perfect for fans of Faith Hogan and Amanda Prowse. To be read with tissues.