In the Retro Hugo Award–nominated novel that inspired the Syfy miniseries, alien invaders bring peace to Earth—at a grave price: “A first-rate tour de force” (The New York Times). In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems. Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems. “Frighteningly logical, believable, and grimly prophetic . . . Clarke is a master.” —Los Angeles Times

What was it like to be a child in England between the fifth and eleventh centuries? Who looked after children, how were they educated, what games did they play, and when did they have to take on adult responsibilities? What happened at birth, when were they weaned, what did they eat, how were they cared for, and how were they mourned if they died? In this ground-breaking book, Dr Sally Crawford teases out the world of the early medieval English child through a wide-ranging investigation of the archaeological, historical and literary evidence, including excavated cemeteries and settlements, medical texts, law codes and wills, annals, lives of the saints, and riddles, to paint a colourful picture of childhood in the Anglo-Saxon past.

A thoughtful picture book illustrating the power of small acts of kindness, from the award-winning author of Sophie's Squash.

Unique guide to the main developments in adult-child relations during the last one hundred years.

“This charming short work recalls The Little Prince in its depiction of childhood sensibilities pitted against an often illogical and absurd adult world” (Publishers Weekly). A fable for all ages and a massive bestseller in the author’s home country of Vietnam, Ticket to Childhood captures the texture of childhood in all of its richness. Narrated by a man looking back, it explores the small miracles and tragedies, the misadventures and misdeeds, that made up his life. We meet his long-lost friends, none of whom can forget how rich their lives once were. Even if Nguyen Nhat Anh can’t take us back to our own younger days, he proves himself a master at capturing those innocent times with great deftness—in a novel that also offers “a startlingly vivid portrait of 21st-century Vietnam and its growing pains” (Shelf Awareness). “A hugely appealing and engaging author.” —The New Criterion

Childhood Transformed provides a pioneering study of the remarkable shift in the nature of working-class childhood in the nineteenth century from lives dominated by work to lives centered around school. The author argues that this change was accompanied by substantial improvements for many in the home environment, in health and nutrition, and in leisure opportunities. The book breaks new ground in providing a wide-ranging survey of different aspects of childhood in the Victorian period, the early chapters examining life at work in agriculture and industry, in the home and elsewhere, while the later chapters discuss the coming of compulsory education, together with changes in the home and in leisure activities. A separate section of the book is devoted to the treatment of deprived children, those in and out of the workhouse, on the streets, and also in prison, industrial schools and reformatories. Offering a fresh and more focused approach to the history of working-class children, this book should be of interest to all lecturers and students of nineteenth-century social history.