New Releases by Robin Stevens

Daisy sta per compiere 14 anni e con la sua amica Hazel è tornata a Fallingford, l''antica dimora di famiglia, per festeggiare. Fra gli ospiti, oltre alla bizzarra zia Saskia ci sono zio Felix e il signor Curtis, un amico della ma- dre che si comporta in modo strano (e si contraddice ogni cinque minuti)... Quando uno di loro muore in circostanze misteriose la premiata società investigativa Wells&Wong deve assolutamente entrare in azione e smascherare l''assassino. Ma la signorina Alston, la nuova istitutrice, mette di continuo i bastoni fra le ruote alle giovani detective. Cosa nasconde? E cosa nascondono tutti? Lo spirito di Agatha Christie e Arthur Conan Doyle riaffiora nelle ricerche divertenti e temerarie di due investigatrici in erba.

A very special, limited edition of the second thrilling mystery in the bestselling Murder Most Unladylike series! With a brand-new introduction by author Robin Stevens, and a gorgeous, collectible new package with silver foil detail and sprayed, stencilled edge design. ''Robin Stevens is Agatha Christie for children'' - Katherine Rundell, bestselling author of Impossible Creatures ‘This is that rare thing: a series that gets better with every book’ - Telegraph ----- Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy''s home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy''s glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for Daisy''s birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn''t really about Daisy at all. Naturally, Daisy is furious. Then one of their party falls seriously, mysteriously ill - and everything points to poison. With wild storms preventing anyone from leaving, or the police from arriving, Fallingford suddenly feels like a very dangerous place to be. Not a single person present is what they seem - and everyone is hiding a secret. So when someone very close to Daisy looks awfully suspicious, the Detective Society must do everything they can to reveal the truth . . . no matter the consequences. ''The second book in Robin Stevens'' fabulous Wells and Wong schoolgirl detective series - think St Trinians mixed with Miss Marple. These are thrilling books for tween detectives who adore solving dastardly murders, jolly hockey sticks and iced buns for tea'' Guardian

I am the Honourable Daisy Wells, President of the Detective Society, one of the greatest detectives ever known - and also a fourth former at Deepdean School for Girls. Violet Darby - one of the Big Girls - recently asked me to solve a most puzzling romantic mystery. I knew I''d be able to crack the case, and I did, in just a day and a half. It was one of my greatest triumphs (Hazel Wong, my Vice-President and best friend, is telling me that this is boasting, but it is also the truth). Hazel didn''t believe I would have the patience to write the account of it, but of course, she was wrong. I did write it down, and it came out very well. I now, therefore, present to you: the Case of the Blue Violet.

The first gripping, Agatha Christie-style mystery starring a brilliant new double act: feisty, funny schoolgirl detectives, Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong. When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia''s missing tie. Which they don''t, really.) But then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She thinks it must all have been a terrible accident -- but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now the girls know a murder must have taken place... and there''s more than one person at Deepdean with a motive. Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove a murder happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get there first, naturally), Hazel and Daisy must hunt for evidence, spy on their suspects and use all the cunning, scheming and intuition they can muster. But will they succeed? And can their friendship stand the test?

Use the Champion Tester to determine what your students have learned throughout the Champion program and areas where they need more practice.

Passed down over centuries by celebrated Chan (Zen) masters, these 36 poems selected by a contemporary Buddhist Master are profound in their literary simplicity and direct in their worldly relevance. Addressing the essential features of Chan Buddhist practice and offering practical wisdom for managing day-to-day challenges, each poem captures the essential Chan (Zen) spirit of living in the moment and being open to immediate experience. In addition to their spiritual and philosophical appeal, the poems are accompanied by the author''s lucid and insightful commentaries formed from a lifetime of experience as a spiritual leader of a worldwide Buddhist community. Through the use of lively anecdotes and references to Buddhist scriptures, this collection provides both the Chan practitioner and the general reader illuminating and effective ways to apply Buddhism''s universal wisdom to daily life.

This study expands on previous National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) work that has undertaken the articulation of the academic language construct for broad educational purposes. The primary goal was to describe the language of textbook selections in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and organization of discourse for test development. Specifically, the work reported here has focused on the academic English used in fifth-grade mathematics, science, and social studies textbooks and will contribute to the conceptual discussion of the nature of academic language, and will provide concrete guidelines for test development. The vocabulary analyses included measures of lexical diversity, word frequency, and frequency of multisyllabic and derived words, as well as variety of clause connectors and frequency of nominalizations. In addition, academic vocabulary was identified as specialized (within a discipline) and general (across disciplines). The grammatical analyses included the following features: sentence type, clause type, passive verb forms, prepositional phrases, noun phrases, and participial modifiers. The discourse analyses captured the organizational features of the selections on three levels: rhetorical mode (e.g., exposition and persuasion) and both dominant and supporting text features (e.g., description, classification, and paraphrase). The analyses of textbook language reported here have provided the bases for a profile of typical texts in each subject at the fifth grade that will be part of the foundation for developing academic language proficiency tests. We conclude by illustrating how these profiles can be used in the creation of test specifications. (Contains 13 appendices.).

Annotation pending.

Prepared for unit ECT328 offered by the School of Education in Deakin University''s Open Campus Program.

Prepared for units ECT333, ECT433 (Arts curriculum: teaching music) offered by the School of Education in Deakin University''s Open Campus Program.