Anne Collins Books

Based on the classic story by Johanna Spyri. Heidi loves living in the mountains with her grandfather and her friend Peter, and is homesick when she moves to Frankfurt. Will she make it back to her beloved mountains? Read it yourself with Ladybird is one of Ladybird's best-selling series. For over thirty-five years it has helped young children who are learning to read develop and improve their reading skills. Each Read it yourself book is very carefully written to include many key, high-frequency words that are vital for learning to read, as well as a limited number of story words that are introduced and practised throughout. Simple sentences and frequently repeated words help to build the confidence of beginner readers and the four different levels of books support children all the way from very first reading practice through to independent, fluent reading. Each book has been carefully checked by educational consultants and can be read independently at home or used in a guided reading session at school. Further content includes comprehension puzzles, helpful notes for parents, carers and teachers, and book band information for use in schools. Heidi is a Level 4 Read it yourself title, ideal for children who are ready to read longer stories with a wider vocabulary and are keen to read independently.

A sumptuous guide to the art of Henry VIII - and what his collection of paintings and artworks reveal about the man and his reign

"Precious Ramotswe is a kind, warm-hearted and large African lady. She is also the only female private detective in Botswana. Her agency - the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - is the best in the country. With the help of her secretary, Mma Makutsi, and her best friend, Mr JLB Matekoni, she solves a number of difficult - and sometimes dangerous - problems. A missing husband, a missing finger and a missing child - she will solve these mysteries in her own special way"--Back cover

Journalist Ed Malone is looking for an adventure, and that's exactly what he finds when he meets the eccentric Professor Challenger: an adventure that leads Malone and his three companions deep into the Amazon jungle, to a lost world where dinosaurs roam free and the natives fight out a murderous war with their fierce neighbours, the ape-men. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World was first published in 1912 and has since established itself as a classic adventure-fantasy story. Cover illustration by Alun Hood

"Anna Karenina" is perhaps the greatest novel of all time. It tells the story of Anna, married to the dull, cold Karenin in 19th century St. Petersburg, Russia. She falls in love with a handsome young soldier, Vronsky. At first Anna is happy, but the story ends in despair, and death. -- from p. 4 of cover.

Who is the masked man that haunts the streets and estancias of old Los Angeles? A friend of the poor and the dispossessed, and a foe of the skulking and cowardly Captain Ramon, he is known only as Zorro - but what is his real name? And what of his relationship to the weak and foppish Don Diego?

"Who are the British? This book will tell you about their lives, TV programmes, business, family life, pets - and the food. This is a book about real people and real life in Britain today"--Back cover note.

The story of England's first great queen - and how she wielded power with a meticulously crafted image

Joe Simpson, with just his partner Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed West Face of the remote 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out with torches, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm in a delirium. Far from causing Joe's death, Simon had paradoxically saved his friend's life. What happened, and how they dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.

It was the storm of the century, a tempest created by so rare a combination of factors that meteorologists deemed it "the perfect storm". When it struck in October, 1991, there was virtually no warning. "She's comin' on, boys, and she's comin' on strong," radioed Captain Billy Tyne of the Andrea Gail from off the coast of Nova Scotia. Soon afterward, the boat and its crew of six disappeared without a trace. The Perfect Storm is a real-life thriller, a stark and compelling journey into the dark heart of nature that leaves listeners with a breathless sense of what it feels like to be caught, helpless, in the grip of a force beyond understanding or control.