'This book contains nuts!' the cover should say. 'Five daddies. Five baddies. And one crazy day!' Get ready for the silliest, funniest day out ever, as five dads and their kids take on a gang of over-the-hill bank robbers! You'll meet sporty dads, funny dads, body-building dads and even windy dads. It's a madcap adventure for children aged 4 and up - and anyone who loves seeing crazy win the day!

CELEBRATING SIXTY YEARS OF COMPOSING POETRY It was sixty years ago when I wrote my first four lines of a poem in English. This was called The Fireplace. I was thirteen years of age and a second year student of The English School in my hometown Morphou, Cyprus. The composition of poetry is an art where words construct sentences, verses using metaphors and symbols, which in turn are based on imagination, facts, and life experiences. A poem does not have to rhyme and yet it can be a stanza, a canto to a loved one, an ode to a hero, a sarcastic remark to emphasise the importance of a point made, an elegy composed to explain feelings arranged as a work of art. What prose can explain in three hundred pages, a poem (as a masterpiece) can express in one single page; with more meaning, using larger-than-life pictures describing timeless classic scenes, memorable events and bringing immortality to life itself.

Winds of ChangeThis is the third book of poems composed by Andreas Sofroniou.In this anthology the reader will discover the philosophical simplicity of his poems; the metaphors and the symbolism are all present in this collection. Uniquely, every poem is preceded by a picture, a drawing, or a photograph, each one closely portrayed.Andreas Sofroniou wrote his first serious poem at the age of thirteen years and published his first collection in 1960. Since then, as an author, he has written thirty-one books, which subjects include: fiction, information technology, philosophy, management, psychology, and poetry.

For us Greeks, 'POIESIS', (poetry) means the creation of anything, in this case structurally using words with specific meaning. The composition of poetry is, therefore, an art where words construct sentences, verses using metaphors and symbols, which in turn are based on imagination, facts, and life experiences.A poem does not have to rhyme and yet it can be a stanza, a canto to a loved one, an ode to a hero, a sarcastic remark to emphasise the importance of a point made, an elegy composed to explain feelings arranged as a work of art. The poems included in this collection have endured time and kept the promise of including all that is described above. The subjects chosen, show such versatility that the reader will require time to read the elevated expression of thoughts and feelings.

ROSE PETALS: --- My pretty little Liz with your blue eyes, And your soft little hands holding the rose; Red, velvety and sweetly scented it may be, Beware though of its prickly little thorns. --- Mummy told me that holding the stem tight And looking at the petals I can make wishes, Thirty of them, and for every wish I pull one And in time, all of my wishes become true. --- My lovely, adorable and innocent small Liz Hold the rose tight, and keep your wishes secret, If that is what mummy said, that is what you do, Your mummy was right, wishes do come true. --- I picked and chose my first petal and wished For the angels not to come and take you away, As they called on my mum and took her away, My next wish is for us to stay together, for ever. --- My sweet and delightful Liz, this is my pledge, Always to be near you, and help you grow up Into a pretty, an attractive lady as your mum was So hold onto that rose, pick a petal a day and wish.

Bad guys are not allowed to have birthdays, pick blueberries, or disturb the baby. So say the four-year-olds who announce life's risks and dangers as they play out the school year in Vivian Paley's classroom. Their play is filled with warnings. They invent chaos in order to show that everything is under control. They portray fear to prove that it can be conquered. No theme is too large or too small for their intense scrutiny. Fantasy play is their ever dependable pathway to knowledge and certainty. " It . . . takes a special teacher to value the young child's communications sufficiently, enter into a meaningful dialogue with the youngster, and thereby stimulate more productivity without overwhelming the child with her own ideas. Vivian Paley is such a teacher."—Maria W. Piers, in the American Journal of Education "[Mrs. Paley's books] should be required reading wherever children are growing. Mrs. Paley does not presume to understand preschool children, or to theorize. Her strength lies equally in knowing that she does not know and in trying to learn. When she cannot help children—because she can neither anticipate nor follow their thinking—she strives not to hinder them. She avoids the arrogance of adult to small child; of teacher to student; or writer to reader."—Penelope Leach, author of Your Baby & Child in the New York Times Book Review "[Paley's] stories and interpretation argue for a new type of early childhood education . . . a form of teaching that builds upon the considerable knowledge children already have and grapple with daily in fantasy play."—Alex Raskin, Los Angeles Times Book Review "Through the 'intuitive language' of fantasy play, Paley believes, children express their deepest concerns. They act out different roles and invent imaginative scenarios to better understand the real world. Fantasy play helps them cope with uncomfortable feelings. . . . In fantasy, any device may be used to draw safe boundaries."—Ruth J. Moss, Psychology Today