My books
Read about my bestselling books on teaching, education, and yob culture. Click on each book for a full profile, plus reviews. You can also leave comments on any of the issues covered in the books.
Fiction
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Snow on the Danube: a wartime thriller and romance
A thrilling historical adventure story set in war-torn Budapest. This story of one man’s quest to save his family, his friends — and, perhaps, his soul — is an unlikely comedy, a document of filial love and a compelling portrait of the horrors of war.
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The Time Devil
A fantastic time-travelling story in the format of a ‘teaching script’, which helps teenage readers improve their ability to skim, scan, summarise, and ask questions.
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Who Do You Love
By turns comic, tragic and romantic, Who Do You Love is a stirring novel which explores the big issues of passion, death and grief; a fast-paced contemporary love story but also moving exploration of what it means to be alive today.
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The Last Day Of Term
Told within a single day, The Last Day of Term is a novel which interweaves the gritty realities of teenage life in an inner-city school with a touching and comic story of a man in crisis.
Non-fiction
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The Mindful English Teacher: A Toolkit for Learning and Well-Being
This unique guide aims to inject a genuine sense of joy into English teaching, using techniques that have been proven to work in a wide range of educational settings.
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Working The System: How to Get the Very Best State Education for your Child
Written by an experienced teacher who has established a reputation as a voice of candour and clarity in the world of modern educational doublespeak, this highly readable guide will help you navigate the complexities of the system and get the very best education for your child.
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Parent Power
The one-stop book for any parent who wants their child to get the most of the British education system.
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Teacher on the Run
Francis Gilbert has been offered a job in the English department at his old school, a nice suburban comprehensive. He feels like he’s landed in toytown. But how long can Gilbert’s dreamland last?
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Yob Nation
A devastating look at the state of Britain today – a country being steadily corroded by the advance of yob culture.
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I’m a Teacher, Get Me Out of Here!
The book that tells you the unvarnished truth about teaching. By turns hilarious, sobering and downright horrifying, this contains the information you won’t find in any school prospectus.
Anthologies
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Freeing Creative Voice
An anthology investigating how educators, creatives, and learners can liberate and uplift their voices through writing, teaching, investigating, and intentional everyday living.
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Creative Power: Investigating Creative Writing & Its Value
An instructive and inspiring collection written by Masters’ students at Goldsmiths’ university, and pupils from South London schools. Essential reading for anyone interested in finding ways of thriving in a fractured world.
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Diversity and Inspiration: a fantastic anthology for creative writers & teachers
This book contains many tips for helping teachers of creative writing, written by my students on the MA Creative Writing and Education at Goldsmiths.
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Inspire: Exciting Ways of Teaching Creative Writing
An anthology written by creative teachers with diverse experience. The focus is on how to teach creative writing in imaginative, practical and socially just ways, helping people of all ages and backgrounds to write.
Study guides
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The Turn of the Screw: The Study Guide Edition
This edition of Henry James’s haunting narrative contains a comprehensive study guide as well as activities that stimulate and engage. Aimed specifically at pupils reading the book as an exam text, there are detailed instructions about how to understand the challenging language, to appreciate the novel’s contexts and to write effective essays.
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Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: The Study Guide Edition
Aimed specifically at pupils reading the book for exams. The complete text is punctuated by analysis and questions on every chapter with answers provided at the back. Essential reading for all students and teachers!
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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Study Guide Edition
This edition of Shelley’s classic horror novel contains a comprehensive study guide, as well as extensive questions for students to help their understanding. Buy the paperback, and you get the e-book for free, so you can use the embedded web links.
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Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: The Study Guide Edition
Aimed specifically at students and teachers reading the book as an exam text, with a detailed introduction that outlines the historical context of the novel, the ways in which it was influenced by the other genres/writers and how it is structured.
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Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: The Study Guide Edition
This edition of Brontë ‘s classic novel contains a comprehensive study guide as well as activities that stimulate and engage. Aimed specifically at students and teachers reading the book as an exam text, there are detailed instructions about how to understand the challenging language, to appreciate the novel’s context and to write effective essays.
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Romeo and Juliet: The Study Guide Edition
Written by a teacher who has taught the text for more than twenty years in various secondary schools, this version is aimed at students who must analyse the text in depth or teachers wanting to deliver outstanding lessons on it. The book contains the complete text together with a parallel modern translation, which most students…
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Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde: The Study Guide Edition
This brilliant edition of Stevenson’s novel may be the answer to your prayers. Written by an experienced teacher and best-selling author, this version is aimed at students who must analyse the text in depth or teachers wanting to deliver outstanding lessons on it.
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Frankenstein – A Study Guide
This is a study devoted to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein which will help both teachers and pupils. It contains a lively series of essays on the different contexts of the novel, its structure and themes, and also offers a great deal of analysis of the text itself. While it is authoritative, it encourages readers to think…
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Jane Eyre – A Study Guide
This is an extremely useful guide to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. It is ideal for students studying the text for A Level or equivalent qualification, but will be helpful to able GCSE students looking for high marks.
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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — A Study Guide
The study guide focuses upon the text of the book, providing generous quotations from the text itself, followed by detailed analysis written in the formal academic style expected in coursework and examinations. An excellent way of revising the book would be to read through the second half of this study guide, absorbing the key quotes,…
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Far From The Madding Crowd — A Study Guide
This guide is ideal for students who are wanting to attain top grades, and could clarify some basic points about literary theory for English Literature undergraduate students if they’re struggling to understand key ideas about contexts, structure and theme, and analysing quotation.
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Wuthering Heights – A Study Guide
For the price of a chocolate bar, you can become an expert on one of the greatest novels in the language. The guide is possibly more useful than many on the market because it is a) modern in its approach b) encourages a personal response to the text — vital if a candidate is going…
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The Hound of the Baskervilles — A Study Guide
This is a detailed, lively study guide on Sherlock Holmes’s most notorious case. It contains a detailed explanation of the contexts of the novella: how and why it came to be written, and the ways in which it invented the concept of the modern detective. In contrast to many other study guides, it encourages the…
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Pride and Prejudice — A Study Guide
This is an up-to-date study guide to Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, aimed at 15-19 year olds and the general reader. The guide is modern in its approach and provides all the necessary information to get a top grade in an exam and/or coursework.
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The Turn of the Screw — A Study Guide
Lively and engaging, this study guide is written by an experienced teacher who understands what needs to be covered. An excellent resource for GCSE and A Level students, or anyone studying the book at school or university.
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Songs of Innocence and Experience: A Study Guide
This is the ultimate study guide to William Blake’s classic poetry collection “Songs of Innocence and Experience”. Written by an experienced teacher and author, it not only contains all of the relevant verse, but also includes substantive comprehension questions and thorough analysis of every poem.