This collection of enlightening and stimulating articles, written by some of the most important figures in school librarianship, demonstrates how teacher-librarians, classroom teachers, and administrators can work together to create a 21st century school library media program. With topics that emphasize student success, leadership, partnerships, curriculum design, collaborative planning and teaching, literacy, 21st century skills, emerging technologies, and so much more, this compendium br...

'I went to the public baths and after I undressed I could hear someone whistling. I looked round to see if I could see anybody about, but I couldn't, so I got into the bath and lay back to relax. As soon as I did, of course, I looked up and saw a man putting in the glass windows that had been blown out the night before.' Joan Adams, LichfieldOn the night of 7 September 1940, bombs rained down on the defenceless and unprepared population of London for nine long hours. In No...

'I remember standing on top of our local glen with a block of wood, expecting thousands of Germans coming down from the sky. What was I going to do with the block of wood? I never knew.' Leonard JacksonOn 22 June 1940 France surrendered to Germany and the invasion of Britain seemed a very real possibility.The Home Guard was formed to defend our villages and towns. Members came from reserved occupations, those who had failed their medicals, the elderly and the young...

'On leaving the plane I can only say I felt very lonely, except that the sky was full of bullets coming upwards. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before my feet hit the ground with a thud. Almost as soon as my feet touched the ground, I was to find that I had landed directly in front of the muzzle of a German Machine Gun and I received a burst of fire straight at me. I can remember being hit and spinning round with a sudden yell of shock and finishing up flat on my back... I lay there rather da...

‘I was talking and laughing with a school friend in the street when suddenly there was the eerie wailing notes of the air raid siren filling the air. I can remember that our laughter stopped straight away, and I recall feeling chilled and scared. Doors were opened and people came out of their houses looking up to the sky … It was a Sunday morning on a beautiful summer’s day with blue skies and really warm sunshine. But within minutes our lives had changed, and the child in me had gone,...

‘Yes we were scared. It could be seen on the faces of the men. No food didn’t help. We stopped to suck pebbles during the day as our tongues began to swell through lack of water … We had an order come through to us one day. Every man for himself. And then the soldiers – Belgian, French and British – were side by side in silent soddy ranks in columns, zig-zagged across the beaches. I still believe this was done to minimise casualties. We had to wade out up to our necks in water to get onto ...

Drawing material from the Imperial War Museum's extensive aural archive, Joshua Levine brings together voices from both sides of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain to give us a unique, complete and compelling picture of this turbulent time.In June 1940, British citizens prepared for an imminent German onslaught. Hitler's troops had overrun Holland, Belgium and France in quick succession, and the British people anticipated an invasion would soon be upon them. From July to October, ...

During the 1930s, war with Germany became increasingly likely. The British Government believed that it would start with massed ranks of enemy planes, dropping bombs and poison gas on civilians in major towns and cities, terrifying them into surrendering. When war broke out, preparations to protect the population were piecemeal and inadequate. As anticipated, people were shocked by the first raids and the response of rescue services was chaotic. But far from breaking morale...

The Imperial War Museum holds a vast archive of interviews with soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians of most nationalities who saw action during WW2. As in the highly-acclaimed Forgotten Voices of the Great War, Max Arthur and his team of researchers spent hundreds of hours digging deep into this unique archive, uncovering tapes, many of which have not been listened to since they were created in the early 1970s. The result will be the first complete oral history of World War 2....

Since 1854 the Victoria Cross has been the highest award for gallantry in the British Armed Forces. It bears the simple legend 'For Valour', but behind it are thrilling and ultimately humbling tales of unimaginable bravery. SUPREME COURAGE tells the tales of some of those who have won the medal, bringing this badge of honour alive with breath-taking accounts of courage in action. Visiting battle-scenes across the globe, peppering his accounts with letters and first-hand accounts, Sir Peter...

On 6 June 1944 Britain woke up to a profound silence. Overnight, 160,000 Allied troops had vanished and an eerie emptiness settled over the country. The majority of those men would never return.This is the story of that extraordinary 24 hours.Using a wealth of first person testimonies, renowned historian Max Arthur recounts a remarkable new oral history of D-Day, beginning with the two years leading up to the silent day whi...

The World War II exploits of the legendary RAF air gunner, "a true hero who repeatedly cheated death," from the author of Flying into Hell ( The Times).Born into grinding poverty in Scotland, Wallace McIntosh had not heard of Christmas until he was seven, and never celebrated his birthday until his late teens, but he could steal, kill and skin a sheep before he was twelve and snare anything that could be cooked in a pot. Leaving school at thirteen...