Underwater Farmyard

Web-feet sheep, sea-cows, water pigs, and aquatic version of other farm animals live on an underwater farm tended by mermaids amidst seaweed, oysters, and a swinging octopus musician.

To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy brings together a dazzling array of contemporary poets (sixty in fact) to write about each of the of the sixty years of Her Majesty's reign. Celebrated writers as Simon Armitage, Gillian Clarke, Wendy Cope, Geoffrey Hill, Jackie Kay, Michael Longley, Andrew Motion, Don Paterson and Jo Shapcott, alongside some of the newest young talent around - address a moment or event from their chosen year, be it of personal or political significance or both. Through a series of specially commissioned poems, Jubilee Lines offers a unique portrayal of the country and times in which we have lived since 1952, culminating in an essential portrait of today: the way we speak, the way we chronicle, the way we love and fight, the way we honour and remember. Brilliantly introduced and edited by Carol Ann Duffy, Jubilee Lines is an unforgettable commemoration: not only a monarch's reign but of a way of living for generations of her peoples.

The Britannica Book of the Year 2010 provides a valuable veiwpoint of the people and events that shaped the year and serves as a great reference source for the latest news on the ever changing populations, governments, and economies throughout the world. It is an accurate and comprehensive reference that you will reach for again and again.

… there is nothing more powerful than the courage of a fearful heart … Fourteen-year-old Gil Lake, haunted by his father’s death in a kayaking accident, is at the river with his best-friend Danni and her brother, Percy, when a strange bird drops a hollow stone at Percy’s feet. When Gil sees a beautiful green-eyed girl through the stone, Danni throws it into a whirlpool. Percy jumps after it; she leaps to rescue him. Fear holds Gil back a fateful moment before he follows. Drawn ferociously down, he emerges into a winter night. Danni approaches, dressed strangely and carrying a flaming torch. She has been here for months. The whirlpool’s "Underwater Bridge" bends time as a prism bends light: they are in ninth-century Britain, in the Norse stronghold of Orkney, after the fall of Camelot … Among exiled knights and Viking warlords, Gil finds loyal friends, dangerous enemies, and a cowardly mind-reading pony. He learns horsemanship and swordplay, and, from the Celtic monk, Aidan, the power of the shape-shifting Change-Things. All will be tested as he sets sail on the longship Silver Dragon to challenge the brutal usurper of Camelot, learn the true fate of his father, and find his green-eyed girl. … Come with him to a land greener and more beautiful and more dangerous than any you have ever known. Come join the Warriors of Tir nan Og …

The 13th edition of the International Who's Who in Poetry is a unique and comprehensive guide to the leading lights and freshest talent in poetry today. Containing biographies of more than 4,000 contemporary poets world-wide, this essential reference work provides truly international coverage. In addition to the well known poets, talented up-and-coming writers are also profiled. Contents: * Each entry provides full career history and publication details * An international appendices section lists prizes and past prize-winners, organizations, magazines and publishers * A summary of poetic forms and rhyme schemes * The career profile section is supplemented by lists of Poets Laureate, Oxford University professors of poetry, poet winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, winners of the Pulitzer Prize for American Poetry and of the King's/Queen's Gold medal and other poetry prizes.