Tall Poppies

With her public school education, trust fund and castle for a family home, Elizabeth Savage has seemingly led a privileged life. But the one thing she really wants, the chance to prove herself in the world of work, is the one thing she can’t get. New Yorker Nina Roth, on the other hand, was born the wrong side of the tracks, and it’s sheer grit and determination that have made her the successful career woman she is. Set on making a better life for herself, she’s done what needed to be done. But has she gone one step too far? Two women from two different worlds, but these tall poppies have much more in common than they think. And, as both will find, the trouble with being a tall poppy is people will try and cut you down to size...

What would make a dedicated public school teacher decide to homeschool her own children? In her new book, "Educating Your Gifted Child: How One Public School Teacher Embraced Homeschooling," Celi Trepanier shares her journey from a top teacher in traditional schools to a disillusioned parent struggling to get an appropriate and challenging education for her gifted sons. How is the current educational system failing our gifted and twice-exceptional students? How can parents fight for the education their children need and deserve? What options do parents and their gifted children have? Celi addresses these concerns and more in "Educating Your Gifted Child."

One woman – two loves . . . - Dorset, 1917. If it's not enough that a girl from a good background is forced to work as a maid, Livia Carr is then violated by her master and falls pregnant. But help unexpectedly comes from her attacker’s son, Richard, a WWI hero who is not expected to live much longer. He marries her, and his death, though expected, comes as a great blow. Into the breach steps Livia's first love, Denton Elliott - but he does not know the truth about her child's parentage . . .

In the same vein as 1984's TTall Poppies', eight successful Australian women discuss their lives, ambitions and what makes them tick. Anne Summers, Sallyanne Atkinson, Colleen McCullough and Robyn Archer are among those interviewed.

In 2010, American photographers Amy Stein (born 1970) and Stacy Arezou Mehrfar (born 1977) embarked on a month-long road trip throughout New South Wales, one of the six states that make up Australia. They were interested in investigating the Australian social phenomenon of the Tall Poppy Syndrome, in which successful people, or the “tall poppies,” get “cut down to size,” and are resented or ridiculed because their talents or achievements distinguish them from their peers. Is the syndrome real? Can it be documented or observed? Can a Tall Poppy hide in plain sight? Stein and Mehrfar set out to explore quintessential Australian life and find what evidence they could of the existence of this syndrome. They spent their days meeting and photographing everyday Australians—from schoolchildren in their plaid uniforms to young surfers playing at the beach to grandmothers meeting at their social clubs—all the while learning about the relationship between the group and the individual within Australian society. The resulting photographs in Tall Poppy Syndrome present their investigation into and observations of Australian society.

The first in an epic trilogy, Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies is "a remarkably rich saga . . . which has plenty of action and adventure à la Dumas, but moments also of Tolstoyan penetration--and a drop or two of Dickensian sentiment" (The Observer [London]). At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Her destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean shortly before the outbreak of the Opium Wars in China. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners on board, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a free-spirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship-brothers. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the exotic backstreets of Canton. With a panorama of characters whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, Sea of Poppies is "a storm-tossed adventure worthy of Sir Walter Scott" (Vogue).

Media Unmade presents the definitive story of the decade in which big media in Australia was cut down to size – a decade that forever altered what had until then been perceived as the unbreachable foundations of the industry in this country. Drawing on insights from his ringside seat, independent journalist, commentator and Mumbrella founder Tim Burrowes knits together the big events and conversations with key players then and now to reveal the drama and tell the stories behind the changes that every consumer of Australian media has witnessed over the past decade. In this unprecedented account, Tim considers how the newspaper rivers of gold evaporated, TV viewers turned to Netflix, and radio listeners started streaming instead. He covers how networks went broke, the ABC came under sustained attack, and how News Corporation's phone hacking drama in the UK delivered Rupert Murdoch to the most humble day of his life. Of course there is no drama without people and as much as Media Unmade is the tale of the fluctuating fortunes of some of the country's best-known companies, it also presents the compelling stories of the powerful personalities who have shaped them – from the Murdochs, to Antony Catalano and Greg Hywood, to Kim Williams and James Packer, Gina Rinehart, Alan Jones, Michelle Guthrie, Justin Milne and Kerry Stokes. Against the existential threat embodied by Google and Facebook, Australia's media companies remade their broken business models and plotted takeovers in a battle for survival. And just when the worst seemed to be over, COVID-19 delivered the biggest advertising recession of all time, pushing every media company to the brink.

What's giftedness all about? Some of the most popular writers in the gifted community aim to answer aspects of that very question in Perspectives on Giftedness: Sound Advice from Parents and Professionals. This volume presents essays from parents who have been there, educators who are working to get it right, and psychologists and other professionals who understand the rich complexity that is so often part and parcel of giftedness. With a plethora of wisdom, a touch of wit, and oodles of compassion, the writers cover a range of topics related to giftedness, gifted children, gifted education, twice exceptionality, and gifted adults. Perspectives on Giftedness offers an array of perspectives in the hope that doing so helps each of us develop our own and provides a bit of a lifeline during those times when we feel ourselves treading the gifted waters. Through their essays, these writers remind us that we're all sharing the same pool. And they welcome us to jump in!

Includes interview with Pat OShane.