Books published by publisher Batsford Ltd

Build up your child’s knowledge of, and interest in, chess through an imaginative, fun series of games and activities. This follow-up to The Batsford Book of Chess for Children features the same two cheeky chess-playing kids, Jess and Jamie, discussing the games in child-friendly language. The exercises include puzzles, crosswords, easy chess "variants," and a guess-the-next-move section.

Do things in style, with this essential advice from a real British butler to the rich and famous! Which fork should you use? How do you open a bottle of champagne? Let an English butler with more than ten years' experience get your table etiquette up to snuff! Nicholas Clayton covers everything from napkin folding, cutlery, and glasses to eating soup, spaghetti, escargots, and artichokes. With diagrams to illustrate all those tricky little rules, and a range of tips and hints, this book will teach you manners fit for a king.

Learn Chinese the easy way . . . without even trying! Thanks to games, simple tracing, diagrams, and other fun activities, you can effortlessly master the intricacies of the Chinese language. This guide for the absolute beginner equips you with the fundamentals of Mandarin and helps you become proficient at pinyin, so you can pronounce any Chinese word, understanding perfect pitch and tone, basic grammar, and vocabulary. Discover and practice writing Chinese characters and explore the stories behind the ancient graphics. Written by native speaker and enthusiastic teacher Freya Yang, this modern language book is perfect for beginners.

Who better to ensure the nation's table manners come up to scratch than an English butler with over 10 years' experience? With the revival in good manners, etiquette, spelling and grammar, this is a timely book on table manners and dining etiquette to ensure grace at the table at all times.Covers all aspects of eating etiquette from napkin folding, cutlery, glasses, bread rolls (never use a knife!) and silver service to how to eat soup, spaghetti, escargots and artichokes and open a bottle of champagne. With diagrams for those tricky table placements and eating actions and a range of tips and hints, the book is the last word on how to eat. It will ensure that you and your family never let the side down whatever the company you keep while dining.

A follow up to Chess for Children, this is a very imaginative way of building up your children's knowledge and interest in chess through a series of fun chess games and activities. The same two cheeky children, Jess and Jamie, talk though the games in language that kids would relate to - and this time they are joined by their friends Harry and Marnie so that group chess games can be explored. The book includes puzzles and games, some easy 'variants' of chess, and a guess-the-next move section, along with 'revision' pages to help remind children of the chess basics. All are accompanied by easy-to-read chess boards and fun illustrations. Chess in schools and clubs is growing all the time and our author is a leading light in kids chess, teaching at many London schools, including Dulwich College. The book works well as a companion to the earlier book, Chess for Children, but also as a standalone activity book. Whether your child is just beginning to learn chess or already immersed in the subject, this book will help encourage their interest and love of the subject. A great book for both parents and teachers. Suitable for children aged 7 and up.

There has never been a war like the one in the Pacific between the American Allies and the Empire of Japan. Unrivalled in its scope, it was a clash of cultures that turned tropical islands into killing grounds and laid waste cities with weapons of mass destruction. It turned World War II into a global war and ended with Japan's surrender. Here, an expert panel of ex-servicemen and military historians describe with clarity and dramatic detail each step of the conflict, providing a unique account of the myriad operations and underlying strategy of the bitter struggle to defeat Japan.

Chess is experiencing a new wave of popularity in schools, and it's educational too. Organisations like Chess in Schools are promoting it as the perfect way to develop analytical thinking skills, foster the competitive instinct and provide a lot of fun along the way. This cute, character-based book, aimed at children aged 7 and up, is a complete guide to chess for those starting out in the game. In straightforward, animated language, Jess and Jamie two rough-and-tumble kids who are obsessed with chess explain everything you need to know, from first sitting down at the board to sneaky tricks to help you beat your opponents. The book explains who the pieces are and how they move (and that we're talking about pawns, not prawns), how to reach checkmate (or, in Jess's words, 'how to kill the king'), and the concept of the opening, middlegame and endgame. It also introduces the idea of chess etiquette - and explains why: sometimes no one wins and a game ends in stalemate. Friendlier and more fun than the average children's chess book, The Batsford Book of Chess for Children should become an essential addition to any child's bookshelf.

Connect the dots . . . and see 45 iconic buildings from around the world! From Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater to Jorn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House, these dot-to-dots present the world’s most stunning architectural marvels. Each drawing has over 300 dots, and you can color in the completed picture. The images include: the Guggenheim Museum, Battersea Power Station, Habitat 67, and the Chrysler Building as well as works by Mies van der Rohe, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Alvar Aalto, Zaha Hadid, and Le Corbusier. Solving these puzzles is the perfect mindful activity!

Meet Trudi Treble and Barry Bass: they’re here to take kids on a musical journey! With their help, children aged 5 to 9 will begin to learn the language of music and understand clefs, staves, notes, and rhythm. In addition to great games, such as making an edible stave and notes with candy, budding musicians will start to play some of the most popular instruments, including the piano, guitar, and recorder. Appealing, comics-style illustrations make the experience thoroughly enjoyable.

A back-to-basics guide on coding for absolute beginners—no prior experience required! So you want to think like a coder? Surprise—you probably already do. You don’t need experience to learn how to code; you just need a little common sense. This accessible, fun book provides puzzles and exercises, suitable for all ages, to help you think logically, work within constants, and deconstruct problems. It turns everyday situations into opportunities to develop coding skills and become comfortable with the basics—from learning the language and different types of data to algorithms, loops, conditional statements, functions, variables, and debugging. And you won’t even have to turn on the computer!