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Sophie (book Series)
Sophie is a series of six Children's literature, children's books written by Dick King-Smith, and illustrated by David Parkins. The six books were written between 1988 and 1995. Plot It is implied that the canon takes place from mid-1991 to December 1995 (see below for details), and follows the adventures of the titular character, Sophie, between the ages of four-and-a-bit, and roughly one week after her eighth birthday (Christmas Day, 1995). It is implied in 'Sophie Hits Six' that her family lives somewhere near Wessex, but at the end of the final book, the family relocate to the Scottish Highlands. The youngest of three children, she lives with her mother and father, and her identical twin brothers - Matthew and Mark - both two years older than her. She is a keen animal lover, and over the course of the six books she acquires various pets, including a cat (Tomboy), a rabbit (Beano), a dog (Puddle), and finally a pony (Lucky). During this time she starts school, goes on fam ...
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Children's Literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's literature can be traced to traditional stories like fairy tales, that have only been identified as children's literature in the eighteenth century, and songs, part of a wider oral tradition, that adults shared with children before publishing existed. The development of early children's literature, before printing was invented, is difficult to trace. Even after printing became widespread, many classic "children's" tales were originally created for adults and later adapted for a younger audience. Since the fifteenth century much literature has been aimed specifically at children, often with a moral or religious message. Children's literature has been shaped by religious sources, like Puritan traditions, or by more philosophical and scientif ...
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Dick King-Smith
Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011), was an English writer of children's books, primarily using the pen name Dick King-Smith. He is best known for '' The Sheep-Pig'' (1983). It was adapted as the movie '' Babe'' (1995) and translations have been published in fifteen languages. He was awarded an Honorary Master of Education degree by the University of the West of England in 1999 and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours. Early life, military service King-Smith was born on 27 March 1922 in Bitton, Gloucestershire and grew up in the West Country, his father was Captain Ronald King-Smith DSO MC, who ran several paper mills. King-Smith was educated at Beaudesert Park School and Marlborough College. He was a soldier in World War II, serving with the Grenadier Guards in Italy, and a farmer for 20 years before he became a teacher at Farmborough Primary School and author. King-Smith's first book was ''The ...
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David Parkins
David Alan Parkins (born 2 November 1955) is a British cartoonist and illustrator who has worked for D.C. Thomson, publisher of '' The Beano'' and '' The Dandy''. Now based in Canada, he illustrates children's picture books. Parkins was born in Brighton, but moved to Grantham, Lincolnshire at the age of five. He didn't take up art until sixth form, when he also began drawing caricatures of his teachers. He studied Wildlife Illustration at Dyfed College of Art for a year, before switching to graphic design at Lincoln College of Art, specialising in illustration. Graduating in 1979, he became a freelance illustrator, working on postcards, school textbooks, newspapers and magazines as well as comics. Parkins' first work for ''The Beano'' was on "Billy Whizz" in 1989. He quickly made his mark on the strip and the character, and made several changes, the most notable of these being the introduction of Billy's new lightning bolt tracksuit in May 1992. In 1990, he started to draw "Fr ...
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Rabbit
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit species and its descendants, the world's 305 breeds of domestic rabbit. ''Sylvilagus'' includes 13 wild rabbit species, among them the seven types of cottontail. The European rabbit, which has been introduced on every continent except Antarctica, is familiar throughout the world as a wild prey animal and as a domesticated form of livestock and pet. With its widespread effect on ecologies and cultures, the rabbit is, in many areas of the world, a part of daily life—as food, clothing, a companion, and a source of artistic inspiration. Although once considered rodents, lagomorphs like rabbits have been discovered to have diverged separately and earlier than their rodent cousins and have a number of traits rodents lack, like two extra ...
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Pony
A pony is a type of small horse (''Equus ferus caballus''). Depending on the context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. Compared to a larger horse, a pony may have a thicker coat, mane and tail, with proportionally shorter legs, a wider barrel, heavier bone, a thicker neck and a shorter, broader head. The word ''pony'' derives from the old French ''poulenet'', meaning foal, a young, immature horse. Small horses and ponies were traditionally used for riding, driving and as pack beasts. During the Industrial Revolution, particularly in Great Britain, many were used as pit ponies, hauling loads of coal in the mines. In the modern era they may be kept as children's mounts, for recreational or competitive riding or driving, or for cultural or conservation reasons. Ponies are generally considered intelligent and friendly. They are sometimes also described as stubborn ...
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Wellington Boot
The Wellington boot was originally a type of leather boot adapted from Hessian boots, a style of military riding boot. They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The "Wellington" boot became a staple of practical foot wear for the British aristocracy and middle class in the early 19th century. The name was subsequently given to waterproof boots made of rubber and they are no longer associated with a particular class. They are now commonly used for a range of agricultural and outdoors pursuits. Design and use Wellington boots in contemporary usage are waterproof and are most often made from rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a halogenated polymer. They are usually worn when walking on wet or muddy ground, or to protect the wearer from heavy showers and puddles. They are generally just below knee-high although shorter boots are available. The "Wellington" is a common and necessary safety or hygiene shoe in diverse industrial settings ...
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Malapropisms
A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra, regarding switchhitters, "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious." Malapropisms often occur as errors in natural speech and are sometimes the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals. Philosopher Donald Davidson has said that malapropisms show the complex process through which the brain translates thoughts into language. Humorous malapropisms are the type that attract the most attention and commentary, but bland malapropisms are common in speech and writing. Etymology The word "malapropism" (and its earlier form, "malaprop") comes from a character named "Mrs. Malaprop" in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play ''The Rivals''. Mrs. Malaprop ...
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Kittens
A kitten is a juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are totally dependent on their mothers for survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. After about two weeks, kittens develop quickly and begin to explore the world outside their nest. After a further three to four weeks, they begin to eat solid food and grow baby teeth. Domestic kittens are highly social animals and usually enjoy human companionship. Etymology The word "kitten" derives from the Middle English word , which in turn came from the Old French or . Juvenile big cats are called "cubs" rather than kittens; either term (but usually more commonly "kitten") may be used for the young of smaller wild felids, such as ocelots, caracals, and lynxes. Development A feline litter usually consists of two to five kittens, but litters with one to more than ten are known. Kittens are typically born after a gestation lasting between 64 and 67 days, with an average l ...
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Albinism
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the terms mean that written reports of albinistic animals can be difficult to verify. Albinism can reduce the survivability of an animal; for example, it has been suggested that albino alligators have an average survival span of only 24 hours due to the lack of protection from UV radiation and their lack of camouflage to avoid predators. It is a common misconception that all albino animals have characteristic pink or red eyes (resulting from the lack of pigment in the iris allowing the blood vessels of the retina to be visible), however this is not the case for some forms of albinism. Familiar albino animals include in-bred strains of laboratory animals (rats, mice and rabbits), but populations of naturally occurring albino animals exist in the w ...
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Terrier
Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary greatly in size from just to over 60 kg (132 lb, e.g. Black Russian Terrier) and are usually categorized by size or function. There are five different groups of terrier, with each group having different shapes and sizes. History Most terrier breeds were refined from the older purpose-bred dogs. The gameness of the early hunting terriers was exploited by using them in sporting contests. Initially, terriers competed in events such as clearing a pit of rats. The dog that was fastest in killing all the rats won. In the eighteenth century some terriers were crossed with hounds to improve their hunting, and some with fighting dog breeds to "intensify tenacity and increase courage". Some of the crosses with fighting dogs, bul ...
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Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records "The Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred" and for his appearances in comedy films including '' Two-Way Stretch'' (1960) and the '' Carry On'' series. His other screen roles include the astronaut Vincent Mountjoy in '' The Mouse on the Moon'' (1963), Albert Perks in '' The Railway Children'' (1970), the barman Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Frenzy'' (1972) and the pretentious hotel guest Mr Hutchinson in the '' Fawlty Towers'' episode "The Hotel Inspectors" (1975). On television, he was a regular and prolific reader for the BBC series '' Jackanory'' from 1966 to 1991, he narrated the children's programme ''The Wombles'' (1973–1975) and he played the title role in the CBeebies series '' Old Jack's Boat'' (2013–2015). In the 1966 film ''Daleks' ...
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Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips in 1963, Compact Cassettes come in two forms, either already containing content as a prerecorded cassette (''Musicassette''), or as a fully recordable "blank" cassette. Both forms have two sides and are reversible by the user. Although other tape cassette formats have also existed - for example the Microcassette - the generic term ''cassette tape'' is normally always used to refer to the Compact Cassette because of its ubiquity. Its uses have ranged from portable audio to home recording to data storage for early microcomputers; the Compact Cassette technology was originally designed for dictation machines, but improvements in fidelity led to it supplanting the stereo 8-track cartridge and ...
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