This extraordinary and breathtakingly beautiful book celebrates a lifetime of collecting passion. Oliver Hoare, one of London's most distinguished dealers, originally learnt his craft in the company of Bruce Chatwin. His love of the rare, the evocative, the seductive shines out from every stunning object in this collection and the stories that he teases out from them. No one could fail to be drawn into this gorgeous labyrinth. Published to coincide with an exhibition held in the magnificent settings of the Lavery Room in Sir John Millais's studio house in South Kensington, the book includes antiquities from the ancient and classical worlds; objects connected to shamanism, magic and alchemy; engravings by D rer, Hollar and Rembrandt; unusual paintings and textiles; and many curiosities Highlights include: the silver libation cup of M ngke Khan, grandson of Genghis and ruler of an empire that stretched from modern Bucharest to Peking, and Karachi to Novgorod; the apple from the Garden of Eden - a silver pomander belonging to the Stuart Kings, with bite marks, opening to reveal a silver skull; a Scythian (6-7th centuries BC) jade pendant of the endangered Saiga antelope, as finely carved as anything by Faberg ; a bronze Bacchus head from a tripod table belonging to the Emperor Augustus; a limestone bear carved in 3rd millenium BC Bactria. "The point of the exhibition, as its title announces, is to celebrate the fascinating, and often peculiar stories attached to works of art. The criterion for what is presented has little to do with the value of objects and therefore it differs from the more conventional 'Cabinet of Curiosities'. Nor does it reflect the current canon of what is seen as beautiful or culturally significant, although there are significant and beautiful works of art by anyone's standards. The catalogue is, hopefully, the work of a storyteller's art." Oliver Hoare

To re-engage students with literacy, teachers need an entry point that recognizes and honors students’ out-of-school identities. This book looks at how artifacts (everyday objects) access the daily, sensory world in which students live. Exploring how artifacts can generate literacy learning, the book shows teachers how to use a family photo, heirloom, or recipe to tell intergenerational tales; how to collaborate with local museums and cultural centers; how to create new material artifacts; and much more. Featuring vignettes, lesson examples, and photographs, the text includes chapters on community connections, critical literacy, adolescent writing, and digital storytelling. Book Features: A theoretical framework for teaching literacy that unites the domains of home and school and brings students’ passions to the forefront.A fresh, integrated synthesis of the fields of New Literacy Studies, multimodality, material cultural studies, and literacy education.New field-tested ideas for creating lessons that improve literacy standards. “This engaging book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how artifactual knowledge and practices cross borders in ways that can lead to powerful learning.” —Rebecca Rogers, University of Missouri–St. Louis “Pahl and Rowsell provide a rich framework for approaching and engaging everyday artifacts as potential sites of story, community building, and identity performance. . . . They open significant new avenues to literacy educators.” —From the Foreword by Lesley Bartlett and Lalitha Vasudevan, both at Teachers College, Columbia University

This book takes a dramatically original approach to the history of humanity, using objects which previous civilisations have left behind them, often accidentally, as prisms through which we can explore past worlds and the lives of the men and women who lived in them. The book's range is enormous. It begins with one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands, a chopping tool from the Olduvai gorge in Africa, and ends with an object from the 21st century which represents the world we live in today. Neil MacGregor's aim is not simply to describe these remarkable things, but to show us their significance - how a stone pillar tells us about a great Indian emperor preaching tolerance to his people, how Spanish pieces of eight tell us about the beginning of a global currency or how an early Victorian tea-set tells us about the impact of empire. Each chapter immerses the reader in a past civilisation accompanied by an exceptionally well-informed guide. Seen through this lens, history is a kaleidoscope - shifting, interconnected, constantly surprising, and shaping our world today in ways that most of us have never imagined. An intellectual and visual feast, it is one of the most engrossing and unusual history books published in years.

“Will educate and enlighten Canadians for generations to come. It's a must-read for anyone seeking to understand Canada's residential-school saga. Most importantly, it's a touchstone of community for those survivors and their families still on the path to healing.”—Waubgeshig Rice, journalist and author of Moon of the Crusted Snow Picking Up the Pieces tells the story of the making of the Witness Blanket, a living work of art conceived and created by Indigenous artist Carey Newman. It includes hundreds of items collected from residential schools across Canada, everything from bricks, photos and letters to hockey skates, dolls and braids. Every object tells a story. Carey takes the reader on a journey from the initial idea behind the Witness Blanket to the challenges in making it work to its completion. The story is told through the objects and the Survivors who donated them to the project. At every step in this important journey for children and adults alike, Carey is a guide, sharing his process and motivation behind the art. It’s a personal project. Carey’s father is a residential school Survivor. Like the Blanket itself, Picking Up the Pieces calls on readers of all ages to bear witness to the residential school experience, a tragic piece of Canada’s legacy.

Surprising history of ordinary things Learn the fascinating history and trivia you never knew about things we use daily from the host of The Story Behind podcast. Everyday objects and major events in history: Every single thing that surrounds us has a story behind it. Many of us learn the history of humans and the major inventions that shaped our world. But what you may not have learned is the history of objects we surround ourselves with every day. You might not even know how the major events in history (World Wars, ancient civilizations, revolutions, etc.) influenced the inventions of things we use today. The history and science behind the ordinary: From the creator of The Story Behind podcast comes this revelatory new book. The Story Behind will give insight into everyday objects we don’t think much about when we use them. Topics covered in the podcast will be examined in more detail along with many new fascinating topics. Learn how lollipops got started in Ancient Egypt, how podcasts were invented, and why Comic Sans was created. Learn the torture device origins of certain exercise equipment and the espionage beginnings of certain musical instruments. Ordinary things from science to art, food to sports, customs to fashion, and more are explored. Readers will: • Understand the wonders behind everyday objects • Learn truly obscure history and fun facts that will change the way they see the world • Learn how major historic events still affect us today through seemingly mundane things • Become formidable trivia masters

Everyone loves scary stories and award-winning comedy writer/director Carl Reiner invites readers to huddle close as he tells a young boy's tale of the mysterious house next door. Something with red beams of light shooting from its eyes was coming down the basement stairs. It came closer and closer... the hair on the back of my neck was sticking straight out. I finally saw it- and it was alive! As the story becomes spookier and spookier, Reiner pauses to ask "Shall we turn the page- or is it too scary?" That's for you to decide! Parents and children can read along together as they listen to spooky sound effects and Carl Reiner's hilarious performance of Tell Me a Scary Story... on the accompanying CD.

With contributors drawn from a broad range of disciplines, The Modern Period Room brings together a carefully selected collection of essays to consider the interiors of the modern era and their more recent reconstructions from a variety of different viewpoints. Contributions from leading design historians, architects and curators of the history of the domestic interior in the UK engage with the issues and conventions surrounding the modern period room to expose the conflicting tensions that lie beneath the conceptual and physical strategy of the modern period room's representational technique. Exploring themes and examples by prestigious architects, such as Ernö Goldfinger, Truus Schroeder and Gerrit Rietveld, the authors reveal the specific coding of presented interior spaces. This illustrated new take on the historiography of twentieth century show interiors enables historians and theorists of architecture, design and social history to investigate the contexts in which this representational device has been used.

Six years since the First Edition of Literacy and Education, the ways we think about literacy have changed. The book continues to be an accessible guide to current theory on literacy with practical applications in the classroom, but has a new focus on the ecologies of literacy, and on participatory and visual ways of researching literacy.

Teaching Tough Topics shows teachers how to lead students to become caring citizens as they read and respond to quality children’s literature. It focuses on topics that can be challenging or sensitive, yet are significant in order to build understanding of social justice, diversity, and equity. Racism, Homophobia, Bullying, Religious Intolerance, Poverty, and Physical and Mental Challenges are just some of the themes explored. The book is rooted in the belief that by using picture books, novels, poetry, and nonfiction, teachers can enrich learning with compassion and empathy as students make connections to texts, to others, and to the world.

Literacy, Media, Technology considers the continued significance of popular culture forms such as postcards, film, television, games, virtual worlds and social media for educators. Following multiple pathways through technological innovation, the contributors reflect on the way in which digital and portable devices lead to new and emerging forms of reading, participating and creating. Rejecting linear conceptualisations of progression, they explore how time is not linear as technological advances are experienced in multiple ways linked to different personal, social, political and economic trajectories. The contributors describe a range of practices from formal and informal education spaces and interrogate some of the continuities and discontinuities associated with literacy, media and technology at a time when rapidly evolving communicative practices often meet intransigence in educational systems. The chapters adopt diverse forms: historical perspectives, personal story and reflection, project reports, document analysis, critical reviews of resources, ethnographic accounts, and analyses of meaning-making within and beyond educational institutions. Together, they provide multiple insights into the diverse and fluid relationships between literacy, media, technology, and everyday life, and the many ways in which these relationships are significant to educational research and practice.