"We got addicted ourselves," says Emma Cross, art co-ordinator at Orion Primary School, Barnet, north London. As parents and children swarm around the final exhibition of a six-week, whole-school project, she smiles nervously. "I'll be really happy if they buy 80 per cent of them," she says, gesturing to the images, which have been created using Photoshop and are now strung on display panels.

Heroism is lauded by society, but what people have hailed as heroic has changed dramatically over time

From a snack mixed with animal fat to a worldwide drink of choice, coffee has been keeping us going for centuries. Victoria Neumark takes a look at its colourful and contentious history

Winning an A-level science prize has boosted physics in a Yorkshire school.

The creator of Hairy Maclary doesn't have a dog. But Lynley Dodd finds inspiration for the scruffy mutt all around her

Belonging to a gang is a vital part of the search for personal identity during the years of adolescence

All families have stories to tell. Adoption adds an extra emotional twist

The Body Never Lies: the lingering effects of cruel parenting
By Dr Alice Miller. WW Norton & Co £16.99
Alice Miller agrees with Philip Larkin about your mum and dad, but Victoria Neumark would like a more positive outlook

From ice cream to chocolate, Heston Blumenthal's new resource shows how cooking can make science fascinating and fun

What Scientists Think
By Jeremy Stangroom
Routledge £9.99
Does anyone know what's going on? For the non-scientist, one of the more baffling aspects of science is the way that scientists, when interviewed, often seem to say that they don't really know. Speaking as one who knows absolutely nothing (apart from that the Earth goes round the Sun, which, to be honest, I always have to check mentally against Cassell's Golden Book of Astronomy, eagerly perused when I was 10), I can't believe this. Having done all those years of science, they must know something.

Comrade Pavlik
By Catriona Kelly Granta £17.99
I Choose to Live
By Sabine Dardenne Virago £12.99
Surviving with Wolves
By Misha Defonseca Portrait £17.99
Three children, three stories told in three very different voices but with one common theme: adversity. One story from the Second World War, one from 1930s Ukraine in the era of forced collectivisation, one survivor's account of a paedophile scandal of 1990s Belgium. Damage done in childhood, we are told, cannot readily be undone. This notion, propounded by Freud, is widely accepted; childhood is somehow more precious than the rest of life

From discounted and colourful materials to fundraising mouse mats, Victoria Neumark tours the highlights of the Arts Zone

Can you tiptoe through the entire school day without causing offence? Victoria Neumark shows you the way