Join Gervase Phinn in the classroom where he faces his greatest challenge: keeping a straight face as teachers and children alike conspire to have him laughing out loud . . . 'So funny, it will echo things that happen in your own life' 5***** Reader Review 'A wonderful, entertaining and enjoyable read. The humour is infectious' 5***** Reader Review ______ 'Could you tell me how to spell "sex" please?' Gervase Phinn thinks he's heard just about everything in his two years as a school inspector, but a surprising enquiry from an angelic six-year-old reminds him never to take children for granted. This year Gervase has lots of important things on his mind - his impending marriage to Christine Bentley (the prettiest headteacher for miles around), finding somewhere idyllic to live in the Yorkshire Dales, and the chance of a promotion. All of which generate their fair share of excitement, aided and abetted as usual by his colleagues in the office. Funny, uplifting and joyful, Head over Heels in the Dales is the third in Gervase Phinn's much-loved series. ______ 'Gervase Phinn's memoirs have made him a hero in school staff-rooms' Daily Telegraph 'A natural storyteller' Yorkshire Post

Gervase Phinn, school inspector, begins his third year with a spring in his step for in April he will marry Christine Bentley, head teacher of Winnery Nook School. But before then he has to suffer the wicked repartee of his fellow inspectors on the subjects of love and marriage. The well-named Mrs Savage still attempts to exert her power via incomprehensible memos, and Connie continues to rule the Staff Development Centre with a broom of iron and duster of disapproval at any dirty marks. In theschools themselves Gervase Phinn faces every challenge with humour that is rarely far from the surface.

This is a warm, funny and mostly true account of the first year that Gervase Phinn spent as a schools' inspector in North Yorkshire. His brilliantly portrayed cast includes his fellow inspectors who range from endearing to eccentric, sporting lords of the manor, Ministry bigwigs, formidable teaching nuns and a very attractive head-teacher who happens to be single, adding up to an enchanting montage of experiences. But it is the children themselves who steal the show, whether fresh-faced from the farms or worldly-wise from the towns. Gervase Phinn is a born raconteur who has transferred his talents to the written word with outstanding success.

Renowned for his charming and hilarious tales of life as a teacher and school inspector, Gervase Phinn gives us a unique window into his own childhood experiences of his life growing up in a pre-war, shiny red-brick house (with an inside toilet) on Richard Road, Rotherham.

A Wayne in a Manger is the hilarious compilation of nativity stories by Gervase Phinn. Discover some wonderfully funny and touching nativity play anecdotes, including children forgetting their lines, ad-libbing, falling of the stage, picking their noses and showing their knickers. One brilliant anecdote tells of an innkeeper who generously says there's plenty of room for Mary and Joseph, while another child, jealous of Joseph's starring role, allows Mary to come in but not Joseph, who can 'push off' ... There's the baby Jesus who suddenly pipes up with 'My name is Tammy, are you my Mommy?' and funniest of all, Mary who tells Joseph, 'I'm having a baby - oh and it's not yours'. Gervase Phinn's A Wayne in a Manger is the perfect gift this Christmas. 'Gervase Phinn's memoirs have made him a hero in school staff-rooms' Daily Telegraph Gervase Phinn is an author and educator from Rotherham who, after teaching for fourteen years in a variety of schools, moved to North Yorkshire to be a school inspector. He has written autobiographies, novels, plays, collections of poetry and stories, as well as a number of books about education. He holds five fellowships, honorary doctorates from Hull, Leicester and Sheffield Hallam universities, and is a patron of a number of children's charities and organizations. He is married with four adult children. His books include The Other Side of the Dale, Over Hill and Dale, Head Over Heels in the Dales,The Heart of the Dales, Up and Down in the Dales and Trouble at the Little Village School.

Continuing where THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DALE ended, Gervase Phinn begins his second year as a schools inspector in Yorkshire. His colourful cast of characters are now becoming firm favourites - the mostly mad staff at County Hall, the teachers who range from saints to stand-ins, and of course the children themselves who find ways of embarrassing school inspectors with innocent ease. Gervase's colleagues rag him unmercifully about his faraway look whenever the name of Christine Bentley of WinneryNook Nursery and Primary School is mentioned, and he realises it is time to take action - but how to put the question? Gervase Phinn has an extraordinary talent to entertain, and OVER HILL AND DALE will make you laugh out loud.

Nebula Award Finalist: A long-awaited savior joins forces with her dark twin to confront the evil threatening their land in the second book of the acclaimed epic fantasy the Great Alta Saga Grown to young womanhood in the mountain region of the Dales and trained for combat by the all-female followers of the goddess Great Alta, Jenna reluctantly accepts the fact that she might well be the Anna, the warrior queen who has long been prophesied. Orphaned three times while still a small child, the now-teenage Jenna is compelled to lend her support and skills to the Dales’ rightful king and his brother, Carum, who holds her heart, for the reign of evil usurper Lord Kalas threatens the future of every worshipper of Alta. But Jenna does not ride alone. Whenever darkness falls, she and her companions—a young priestess in training and an aging warrior—are joined by Skada, white-haired Jenna’s dark sister, who shares her destiny and her soul. But even their combined powers may not be enough to defeat the entrenched malevolence that means to destroy everything and everyone they hold dear. A finalist for the Nebula Award for best novel, Jane Yolen’s White Jenna is a wondrous tale of duty, destiny, peril, romance, and fantasy. Interspersed with the myths and poetry the story engendered, it is a brilliantly imaginative creation of a world, a culture, and their enduring lore.