Humphrey Carpenter

The authorized biography of the creator of Middle-earth. In the decades since his death in September 1973, millions have read THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION and become fascinated about the very private man behind the books. Born in South Africa in January 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was orphaned in childhood and brought up in near-poverty. He served in the first World War, surviving the Battle of the Somme, where...

A collection of thoroughly modern retellings that pick out the very best of Shakespeare. Told from different points of view, each story has its own flavor and style. Witness the agony of Othello as he is goaded to murder, the farcial events of Much Ado About Nothing, the Hollywood antics of Anthony and Cleopatra, the despair of Hamlet among others.

The last thirty years have witnessed one of the most fertile periods in the history of children's books: the flowering of imaginative illustration and writing, the Harry Potter phenomenon, the rise of young adult and crossover fiction, and books that tackle extraordinarily difficult subjects. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature provides an indispensable and fascinating reference guide to the world of children's literature. Its 3,500 entries...