Out of the hundreds of wars that ravaged the twentieth century, the three wars covered in this book were the longest and blackest. In total they lasted 20 years and killed nearly 100,000,000 people. The writers in this collection of stories and poems are friend and foe - British and German, Russian and American. The first story is from All Quiet on the Western Front by the German Erich Maria Remarque, perhaps the most moving war novel ever written. Other writers - Russian, German, and English - convey in verse the tragedy and waste of the 'Great War'. The six British Children's writers write about World War II - Robert Westall and Robert Swindells on the 'home' war, Michael Morpugo about a 'war horse', Jill Paton Walsh on the war at sea, and Ian Serraillier and Anne Hohn on refugees in occupied Europe. Young girls - Anne Frank and Tatiana Vassieleva - provide war diaries. Since 1945 no one has suffered as much as the people of Vietnam. In her moving story Rachel Anderson shows not only a nation's suffering but how war can brutalise soldiers. Finally, the women's poems on the two world wars show that war is a woman's affair as well as a man's.

Like nothing else, sport today is international. So this book of stories and poems contains a wide range of games played in all English-speaking countries: ice hockey as well as swimming and wrestling, baseball as well as soccer and boxing, cricket as well as fishing and ice dancing, gymnastics as well and running and basketball.All the poems and three of the stories are written by women. Some pit women against men, in swimming and pool. Some pose problems that women face in playing the game according to rules written by men. Some suggest the power and solidarity that sport can give women.The authors come from Britain and Canada, the USA, and the West Indies. They include such well-known writers as Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, Alan Stilltoe, Margaret Atwood, Barry Hines, and Damon Runyan.

This collection features over fourteen mystery stories to puzzle and amaze. Perfect for young readers, the collection includes stories that range from creepy school computers to amateur bank robbers; from lost villages to deadly Christmas presents. Both funny and serious in tone, readers are sure to be intrigued by the variety.

Covering a range of topics, settings and styles, the book offers the first comprehensive study of short fiction from the First World War.

The Great War is raging in France and for girls like Florence and Dorothy it's a liberating time ...but also a dangerous one. As Dorothy risks her life working in the local munitions factory, Florence dreams of becoming a nurse - but when her wish comes true and she heads off to France to nurse the soldiers, she realizes that her dream is actually a living nightmare. But Dorothy is determined to help as many soldiers as she can, no matter what side they're on, and if she can't, she'll die trying ...This outstanding story is full of raw emotion and a real sense of the enormous hardship faced by men and women during the First World War.

Vova is a fifteen year old boy living in Kiev. His first love is playing football, but when the Nazis invade the Ukraine in 1941, priorities change, and Vova and his sister join the partisans, to attempt to fight the enemy. Soon Vova is given the chance to play football again, but in a gamewith very high stakes - if Vova's team win, they will be shot. Vova and his team have to decide whether to disgrace their country and lose the game, or whether to win - and die.* Match of Death is based on actual events that took place during the Second World War.* James Riordan undertook extensive research, travelling to Kiev to interview the sons of those who took part in the match.

Billy's life is changed forever when he is injured by a bomb.Angry and disfigured he is visited by a soldier who gives him a gift that will give him somthing to live for.