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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Les Misérables Audio CD Pack
New
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
France, 1815. Jean Valjean leaves prison after nineteen years. These are dangerous and troubled times, and life is hard. Valjean must begin a new life, but how can he escape his past, and his enemy, Inspector Javert?
This story for Bookworms is loosely based on the famous novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, one of France's greatest writers. The novel was written in 1862, and the story has been retold many times - in a musical, in plays for radio and theatre, and in more than fifty films for television and cinema.
Useful and free
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Ghosts International: Troll and Other Stories Audio CD Pack
New
In Sweden, nobody wants a troll to come into their garden, but how do you stop them? On a lonely road at night in Oman, Abdul's car breaks down and he takes a ride with a stranger, but perhaps it is safer to walk. In England some young people play a scary game, and in Asia, a soldier returns home - at last.
Every country in the world has stories about ghosts and spirits and monsters of one kind or another. Some people believe in ghosts, and some don't - but everyone enjoys a good ghost story.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Time of Waiting: Stories from Around the World Audio CD Pack
New
When did you last meet a polar bear, or go to a magician for help? These stories offer many different experiences. Some are strange, some are scary, some are sad, some are blackly funny. A few are shocking - when Lin Lin returns home for a funeral, she learns a dark and terrible family secret which may destroy her.
Bookworms World Stories collect stories written in English from around the world. These stories are from Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, and Trinidad.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Oceans Audio CD Pack
New
Thousands of years ago, people looked out across an ocean and asked themselves, 'What is on the other side?' And the bravest of them began to travel and find the answers - beautiful islands, frozen lands, different peoples . . .
And there are still interesting questions about the oceans. How do they change our weather? Why does the water go up and down twice a day? Why do most animals and plants live near the land? And what can possibly live at the bottom of the ocean, thousands of metres down, where there is no light? Surely nothing can stay alive in a place like that ...
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Useful and free
Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Rumplestiltskin e-Book & Audio Pack
Second EditionNew Edition
Enjoy the famous tale of the miller's daughter and the little man who can spin gold.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 San Francisco Audio CD Pack
New
'It's a good place for gold,' said people in the 1840s, and they came from all over the world. 'It's a good place for a prison,' said the US government in the 1920s, and they put Al Capone there on the island of Alcatraz. 'It's a good place for love,' said the hippies in the 1960s, and they put flowers in their hair and came to Haight Ashbury. And San Francisco is still a good place - to take a hundred photographs, or see the Chinatown parade, or just to sit in a coffee shop and be in this interesting, different city . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Shirley Homes and the Lithuanian Case Audio CD Pack
New
Jennifer Bassett
Shirley Homes is a private investigator. She is clever with computers, and knows London like the back of her hand. She laughs when people say, 'Was Sherlock Holmes your grandfather?' Sherlock Holmes, of course, was not a real person, but, like Sherlock, Shirley has good eyes, and good ears. And she knows the right questions to ask.
And in the Lithuanian Case, the right questions are important. Because Shirley must find a missing person - Carrie Williams, aged fifteen. Where is she? Who is she with?
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Useful and free
Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Gingerbread Man e-Book & Audio Pack
Second EditionNew Edition
Find out what happens when the old woman makes a gingerbread man and he jumps out of the oven ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Thumbelina e-Book & Audio Pack
Second EditionNew Edition
Follow the adventures of Thumbelina, the little girl who comes from inside a flower.
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 Cinderella e-Book & Audio Pack
Second EditionNew Edition
Enjoy the famous tale of Cinderella, who wanted to go to the prince's party.
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Beauty and the Beast e-Book & Audio Pack
Second EditionNew Edition
Find out what happened when kind, clever Beauty had to live with a beast ...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Future Energy Audio CD Pack
New
Right now, all over the world, people are using energy. As we drive our cars, work on our computers, or even cook food on a wood fire, we probably do not stop to think about where the energy comes from. But when the gas is gone and there is no more coal - what then?
Scientists are finding new answers all the time. Get ready for the children whose running feet make the energy to bring water to their village; for the power station that uses warm and cold water to make energy; for the car that saves energy by growing like a plant ...
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Useful and free
Useful and free
Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Princess and the Pea e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the famous tale of the prince who isn't happy. How can he find a real princess?
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 The Little Mermaid e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the sad tale of the mermaid who loved a prince.
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Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Dinosaurs Audio CD Pack
Imagine an animal with teeth as big as bananas - and a brain as big as an orange. Or a flying animal with wings as wide as a small plane. Think about a tail that could knock a man's head off, or a mouth with hundreds of teeth. Is it any surprise that people are interested in dinosaurs?
Nobody has ever seen a living dinosaur, but millions of us go every year to stare at the bones of these enormous animals. In books, films and games, we can't get enough of the secrets of the dinosaur world ...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter The Girl with Green Eyes Audio CD Pack
Greg is a porter at the Shepton Hotel in New York.
When a girl with beautiful green eyes asks him for help, Greg can't say no.
The girl's name is Cassie, and she says she is an artist. She tells Greg that her stepfather has her sketchbooks, and now she wants them back.
Cassie says her stepfather is staying at Greg's hotel . . . so what could go wrong?
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Useful and free
Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 The Goose Girl e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the tale of the princess who had to work as a goose girl.
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Useful and free
Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 The Magic Brocade e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the tale of the old woman's magic brocade. What did her sons do when it blew away?
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Useful and free
Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Big Baby Finn e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the tale of the Irish giant Finn MacCool and his clever wife Oonah.
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Ugly Duckling e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Follow the adventures of the famous duckling. Why is he big, strange, and ugly?
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the famous tale of Snow White and the bad queen who wanted to kill her.
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 The Twelve Dancing Princesses e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the tale of the princesses who had holes in their shoes every morning. What did they do every night?
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Dominoes One Jake's Parrot Pack
Paul Hearn and Yetis Ozkan Retold by John Escott
When Jake Stevens goes to work for some months in Ireland, he feels happy. He loves travelling, and talking about his job - making computer games for BananaTech in America.
'Your new game's going to be the best thing at the Irish Computer Games Show!' people at BananaTech Ireland tell him.
But living with a noisy parrot isn't easy, and when Jake asks the most beautiful girl at work out to dinner, she says 'no'.
Then someone steals Jake's game the night before the show. Who - or what - can help him to get it back?
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Dominoes Two The Curse of Capistrano Pack
Johnston McCulley Retold by Bill Bowler
'Señor Zorro is on the road again, they say,' the landlord began.
'Why do I always hear his name?' cried Sergeant Gonzales angrily.
Zorro fights to help the poor and weak in California under the Spanish Governor's rule. Sergeant Gonzales has promised to catch and kill him, so how does Zorro always escape? And how will Señorita Lolita - the only daughter of a fine but poor old family - choose between Zorro, the exciting outlaw, and Don Diego, the rich but boring young man who wants to marry her?
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Mansour and the Donkey e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy this tale from Morocco, and find out how the hungry old donkey helps Mansour.
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Aladdin e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the famous tale of Aladdin and the wonderful old lamp.
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Dominoes Starter Heidi Pack
Johanna Spyri
Retold by Paul Davenport
'I'm not going with you, Aunt Dete!' Heidi cries.
'Oh yes, you are!' Dete answers.
Heidi loves her home in the Swiss mountains, her grandfather, and her friend Peter, the goatherd. So when Aunt Dete takes her away to Frankfurt, she doesn't leave happily.
In Frankfurt, Heidi is soon good friends with Clara Sesemann, a rich but very ill girl in a wheelchair.
But how can Heidi live without the mountains? And what can she do about Fräulein Rottenmeier, the Sesemanns' unfriendly housekeeper?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Kidnapped Audio CD Pack
'I ran to the side of the ship. "Help, help! Murder!" I screamed, and my uncle slowly turned to look at me. I did not see any more. Already strong hands were pulling me away. Then something hit my head; I saw a great flash of fire, and fell to the ground . . .'
And so begin David Balfour's adventures. He is kidnapped, taken to sea, and meets many dangers. He also meets a friend, Alan Breck. But Alan is in danger himself, on the run from the English army across the wild Highlands of Scotland . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Through the Looking-Glass Pack
Lewis Carroll
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 3 - Classics
'I wish I could get through into looking-glass house,' Alice said. 'Let's pretend that the glass has gone soft and . . . Why, I do believe it has! It's turning into a kind of cloud!'
A moment later Alice is inside the looking-glass world. There she finds herself part of a great game of chess, travelling through forests and jumping across brooks. The chess pieces talk and argue with her, give orders and repeat poems . . .
It is the strangest dream that anyone ever had . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Vanity Fair Audio CD Pack
When Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley leave school, their feet are set on very different paths. Kind, foolish Amelia returns to her comfortable home and wealthy family, to await a suitable marriage, while Becky must look out for herself, earning her own living in a hard world. But Becky is neither kind nor foolish, and with her quick brain and keen eye for a chance, her fortunes soon rise, while Amelia's fall.
Greed, ambition, loyalty, folly, wisdom . . . Thackeray's famous novel gives us a witty and satirical picture of English society during the Napoleonic wars.
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Dominoes Three The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Pack
F. Scott Fitzgerald Retold by Clare West
What happens when a man lives his life backwards, or a family owns a diamond as big as the Ritz Hotel?
How can a boring girl become more popular, a careless young woman become more sensible, or a cut-glass bowl destroy a married woman's life?
What does a young man do to save the girl that he likes from an evil ghost, or to forget old feelings for a woman when she marries another man?
Read this collection of short stories by one of America's finest storytellers to find out.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Bridge and Other Love Stories Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Luke is a good-looking young man, but he's not very clever with words. Gemma is clever with words, but what does she want? Lucy and Becky are good friends, but what about Sam? He makes wonderful cakes, but does he make mistakes too? Nina and Dragan are in love, so deeply in love, but they live in the wrong place, at the wrong time ...
All love stories have moments of happiness, pain, misunderstanding, laughter, and sometimes great sadness. But love will
nearly always
find a way ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Peach Boy e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the famous Japanese tale of Momotaro - Peach Boy - and his friends. Can they fight the ogres?
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Enormous Turnip e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Read the tale of the man who pulls, and pulls, and pulls the enormous turnip, but cannot move it ...
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Dominoes Two The Bird of Happiness and Other Wise Tales Pack
Tim Herdon
What is the secret of happiness, or the best thing for a wife to take with her when she leaves home?
How does a man pay for the smell of bread, or decide if he is lucky?
What happens when a friend steals a gift meant for you, or is careless when he tries to make his dreams of a better life come true?
How can you change dirt into gold, or get what you want?
The eight wise tales in this collection can teach us some important lessons about life.
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Three Billy Goats Gruff e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the famous tale of the three clever goats and the hungry troll ...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Weddings Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STAGE 1 - Factfiles (non-fiction)
'The bride wore a long white dress, with flowers in her hair. After the wedding, there was a party, and people gave presents to the bride and groom.' This wedding was nearly two thousand years ago, in Rome. Some things don't change.
But some things do. Today you can have a wedding on a mountain, or under the sea, or 'Elvis' can sing for you. And different things happen in different places. Little birds made of paper, small trees, money in the bride's shoe, and lots of noise - they are all important for weddings somewhere. Welcome to the wonderful world of weddings!
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Lownu Mends the Sky e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Find out how Lownu mends all the holes in the day sky and in the night sky ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Little Red Hen e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the tale of the hard-working hen and her three unhelpful friends...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Amrita and the Trees e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Read the tale of Amrita and the forest trees. What happens when the king's men want to chop down the trees?
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Jack and the Beanstalk e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Follow Jack's adventures when he climbs the magic beanstalk ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Fisherman and His Wife e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Read the tale of the fisherman's wife who always wants more ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Find out what happens when Town Mouse comes to the country and Country Mouse goes to the town ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Goldilocks and the Three Bears e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Find out what happened when a little girl called Goldilocks went into the three bears' house ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Little Red Riding Hood e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Follow the adventures of the little girl who met a wolf in the forest
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 Sleeping Beauty e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Enjoy the tale of the princess who slept for a hundred years ...
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Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Pinocchio e-Book & Audio Pack
Second Edition
Follow the adventures of the wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy ...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 3 - True Stories
Charles Bravo died from the poison antimony. He took three days to die, and the doctors could do nothing to help him.
There were three people who had reasons for wanting Charles Bravo dead - Florence Bravo herself, Charles Bravo's new young wife; Dr James Gully, Florence's former lover; and Mrs Jane Cox, Florence's friend and companion.
But the enquiry into the death in 1876 could not decide who the murderer was, and for more than 130 years people have wondered who did kill Charles Bravo ...
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Earth Then and Now Audio CD Pack
Author: Robert Quinn
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about Earth in the past and Earth today ... How did Earth form? What natural resources does Earth give us?
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Dominoes One Mystery in Muscat Pack
Julie Till
'How long is she in Oman for?'
'Ten days. And then they want to take her back home.'
'Ah, yes. But she's not going back to London. They're never going to see her again!'
Jamie and Taymour overhear this strange conversation near their homes in Muscat. Two men want to kill an important visitor, it seems. But who is the woman in danger? And what can the boys do to save her?
Can they, their sisters Sarah and Nadine, and their Australian friend Ruth find the answer to the mystery?
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Dominoes Three The Vesuvius Mosaic Pack
Joyce Hannam
'We have some wonderful mosaics in Pompeii, but I've never seen a better one than this!'
After the young Roman mosaic designer Felix starts work in Pompeii, his whole life changes. There he falls in love with the beautiful Greek slave Agathe, who can see into the future.
When the volcano Vesuvius sends hot ash over the city, Felix - and Agathe's brother Alcander - ride to the port of Misenum for help. But will they reach admiral Gaius Plinius in time, and will they ever see Agathe alive again?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Gazing at Stars: Stories from Asia Audio CD Pack
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - World Stories
How fair is fair trade? When the American models leave the Malaysian island after their fashion shoot, they take away more than just photographs, and leave behind a family that will never be the same again.
Bookworms World Stories collect stories written in English from around the world. These stories from China, India, Malaysia, and Singapore, are by writers Lui Hong, Attia Hosain, Preeta Samarasan, Hwee Hwee Tan, Ridjal Noor, Shashi Deshpande, Ovidia Yu, Nora Adam, Nirupama Subramanian, and Catherine Lim.
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Medicine Then and Now Audio CD Pack
Author: Louise & Richard Spilsbury
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about medicine in the past and medicine today ... What was the world's first antibiotic? What medicine can cure malaria?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Formula One Audio CD Pack
Alex Raynham
STAGE 3 - Factfiles (non-fiction)
It's an exciting life - full of fast cars, money, and travel. The names of Formula One champions are known all over the world. And everywhere young drivers dream of success one day in Monaco, Melbourne, Monza ...
But it is a difficult life too. Drivers need strong bodies - and minds. They need to think quickly, drive hard, and sometimes look death in the face. This is the dangerous, exciting world of Formula One - where the world's best drivers have only seconds to win or lose a race.
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 How We Make Products Audio CD Pack
Author: Alex Raynham
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about how we make different products ... How many parts are there in a car? How do we make chocolate bars?
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Sound and Music Audio CD Pack
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Author: Richard Northcott
Read and discover all about sound and music ... What are sound waves? What type of musical instrument is a koto?
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Wonderful Ecosystems Audio CD Pack
Author: Louise & Richard Spilsbury
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about wonderful ecosystems on Earth ... How are polar bears adapted to living in a frozen ecosystem? What are decomposers?
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Sheherazade Pack
King Shahriyar cannot trust women. Every afternoon he marries a wife, but the next morning he always kills her. One day, the Vizier cannot find any more wives for the King. What can he do?
'I can be Shahriyar's new wife!' says Sheherazade, his older daughter. 'God willing I can stay alive, and help the women of our country.'
But how can Sheherezade stay alive for a thousand and one nights? And does Shahriyar learn to trust women again in the end?
This famous 'story of stories' has the answers.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Songs from the Soul: Stories from Around the World Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
Good luck in Malaysia, bad news in New Zealand, a chicken and a jug of cider in Britain, a goat and a pumpkin in India, fun and games in a cyber café in Nigeria ... The countries change, but people's lives are always strange and wonderful in any place.
Bookworms World Stories collect stories written in English from around the world. These stories are by Shahana Chaudhury, Mary McCluskey, Nandita Ray, Suchitra Karthik Kumar, Susan
Costello, Anthony C. Diala,
Preeta Krishna, and Folakemi Emem-Akpan.
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Incredible Energy Audio CD Pack
Author: Louise & Richard Spilsbury
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about incredible energy... What is kinetic energy? What types of energy does electricity give us?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Our World in Art Audio CD Pack
Author: Richard Northcott
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about our world in art ... What are still lifes? Why do artists use perspective?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Animals in the Air Audio CD Pack
Author: Robert Quinn
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about animals in the air ... What is the fastest bird in the world? What are flying foxes?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 World Wonders Audio CD Pack
Barnaby Newbolt
What are the most beautiful, the most interesting, the most wonderful things in the world? The Great Pyramid, the Great Wall of China, the Panama Canal - everyone has their favourites. And there are natural wonders too - Mount Everest, Niagara Falls, and the Northern Lights, for example.
Here is one person's choice of eleven wonders. Some of them are made by people, and others are natural. Everyone knows the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef - but what about the Iguazú Falls, or the old city of Petra? Come and discover new wonders ...
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 All About Islands Audio CD Pack
Author: James Styring
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about islands around the world ... How do islands form? Which island has dragons?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Materials To Products Audio CD Pack
Author: Alex Raynham
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about the materials that people use to make products ... How is glass made? What are microchips?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Festivals Around the World Audio CD Pack
Richard Northcott
Read and discover all about festivals around the world ... When is the festival of Diwali? What do people do at Halloween?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Animals at Night Audio CD Pack
Author: Rachel Bladon
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about amazing animals at night ... Why do some animals come out at night? What special senses do nocturnal animals have?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 How to Stay Healthy Audio CD Pack
Author: Julie Penn
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about how to stay healthy... How much water should you drink every day? Why is exercise good for you?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Why We Recycle Audio CD Pack
Author: Fiona Undrill
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about why we recycle waste ... What waste materials can we recycle? How long does plastic take to decompose?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Animals in Art Audio CD Pack
Author: Richard Northcott
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about animals in art, all around the world... Where can you see animals in art? What are the oldest animal pictures?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Animal Life Cycles Audio CD Pack
Author: Rachel Bladon
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about amazing animal life cycles ... Which animals hatch from eggs? What is metamorphosis?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Cells and Microbes Audio CD Pack
Author: Louise and Richard Spilsbury
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about amazing cells and microbes ... What are the smallest living things on Earth? How do antibiotics work?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Helping Around the World Audio CD Pack
Author: Sarah Medina
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about helping around the world ... Who helps refugees? What do animal charities do?
Useful and free
Dominoes One The Travels of Ibn Battuta Pack
'My first journey was a pilgrimage to Mecca. I got on a donkey and said "Goodbye" to my parents in Tangier when I was 21. My mother cried.'
In this way Ibn Battuta, one of the greatest travellers in the world, begins telling his story to his nephew, Ahmed.
His many journeys take him to new and interesting places far from home. He sees many strange and wonderful things, has many funny and frightening experiences, and meets many different
people along the
way.
This is his story...
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 All About Space Activity Book
Author: Alistair McCallum
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Clothes Then and Now Activity Book
Author: Alistair McCallum
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 A Cup of Kindness: Stories from Scotland Audio CD Pack
Eona Macnicol, Malcolm Laing, Ian Rankin, George Mackay Brown, and Susie Maguire
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 3 - World Stories
In Edinburgh a detective listens to a confession; in Orkney an old man lives with the ghosts of his past. In the Outer Hebrides some travellers learn a lesson; in Glasgow a young woman steals a meeting with a famous actor; and in a small town somewhere a pigeon dies. These stories are as richly varied as the land of Scotland itself.
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Life in Rainforests Audio CD Pack
Author: Cheryl Palin
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about life in tropical rainforests ... What is the biggest tropical rainforest? Where do orang-utans sleep?
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 All About Desert Life Audio CD Pack
Author: Julie Penn
Series Editor: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about desert life around the world ... How do animals stay cool in the desert? Why are deserts getting bigger?
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Dominoes Two Saladin Pack
Nina Prentice
'Well, Yusuf, are you sure that you want to be a soldier?'
'I'll do my best, Uncle.'
When Yusuf went to Aleppo to learn to fight under General Shirkuh, no one knew what this young man would do with his life.
But years later, Yusuf became the great and chivalrous general, Saladin - the man who helped to bring Muslims together to win back the holy city of Jerusalem from the Franks. This is his story...
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Exploring Our World Audio CD Pack
Author: Jacqueline Martin
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about explorers and exploring... Why is exploring important? Where did the first explorers go?
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Your Amazing Body Audio CD Pack
Author: Robert Quinn
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about your amazing body... How many bones are there in your skeleton? What do your white blood cells do?
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Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Your Five Senses Activity Book
Author: Julie Penn
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Clothes Then and Now
Author: Richard Northcott
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
Read and discover all about clothes in the past and clothes today... Where were your clothes made? What is a fashion victim?
Useful and free
Dominoes One Sherlock Holmes: The Emerald Crown Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Janet Hardy-Gould
A man from the British royal family leaves an expensive gold and emerald crown at Holder and Stevenson's - one of the best banks in London. When someone tries to take the crown from Mr Holder's desk, he asks Sherlock Holmes for help. Who wants the crown and why? Only Sherlock can find the answers.
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Dominoes One True Heroes of Sport Pack
Donatella Fitzgerald
Some people in the world of sport are heroes only because they are the best at their sport. But the sportsmen and sportswomen in this book - Oscar Pistorius, Michael Phelps, Wilma Rudolph and Natalie du Toit - are all that and much more. All of them went through bad times and learned to be stronger people through sport. Because it isn't living through good times, but living through bad times that makes you into a true hero!
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Dominoes One Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Pack
Jules Verne
Text adaptation by Lesley Thompson
When ship after ship goes down in the Atlantic, Dr Pierre Aronnax and his servant, Conseil, journey from Paris to learn more. What - or who - is attacking these ships?
Aronnax, Conseil, and the Canadian, Ned Land, find the answer to this question when they meet the strange Captain Nemo.
After a long journey under the sea in Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus, the doctor and his friends plan to leave for the
surface.
But how can they escape?
Useful and free
Dominoes Three Dian and the Gorillas Pack
Over the years hunters, poachers, and war have killed many of the gorillas of central Africa. But there are still a few hundred living high in the mists of the Virunga Mountains.
When Dian Fossey first saw a family of wild mountain gorillas in the Virungas she knew that she must help these wonderful animals. This true story tells of the twenty years she lived with them, watched them, wrote about them, and protected them. In the end, she gave her life for
them.
Useful and free
Dominoes Three Hard Times Pack
Charles Dickens
Text adaptation by Susan Kingsley
Thomas Gradgrind believes that facts and money are more important than feelings and imagination. After Cissy Jupe - a circus child - is left alone in the world, Gradgrind takes her into his house, looking after her and teaching her facts with his own children Tom and Louisa. Some years later the Gradgrind family meets hard times. Louisa becomes a prisoner in a loveless marriage, and Tom has problems at work.
In the end, Thomas Gradgrind learns the importance
of feelings
and imagination.
Useful and free
Dominoes Three My Family and Other Animals Pack
Gerald Durrell
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
The weather in England that summer had been so awful that Gerald's mother sold the family house and took her children to live on the Mediterranean island of Corfu. Between lessons, the ten-year-old Gerald was free to walk round the sunny island and discover the wonderful people and animals living there.
This is the story of Gerald's adventures with the fascinating animals of Corfu, and, of course, with his surprising family and their friends.
Useful and free
Dominoes Three Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Jeremy Page
Miss Mary Morstan has a strange story to tell.
Since her father disappeared, she has received a large pearl through the post on the same day, every year, for six years. Who is sending them? And what about her father's paper with the words 'The Sign of Four' written on it?
Sherlock Holmes alone can solve these mysteries.
Useful and free
Dominoes Three The Secret Agent Pack
Joseph Conrad
Text adaptation by Lesley Thompson
Adolf Verloc is a double agent, working for both the British police and a foreign country. He pretends to live a normal life, with his wife, Winnie, and has a shop in London, which, at night, becomes a meeting place for anarchists. One day Verloc is told to plant a bomb - but the plan goes terribly wrong
Does Verloc really love Winnie, or is she just part of his cover? Can Winnie ever forgive him? Who is Verloc really working for?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Green Planet Pack
Once 'green' was just a colour. Now we use it to talk about a way of looking at our world and thinking about the environment. But how green is our planet today?
From nuclear power plants to Nemo the clownfish, from polar bears to pesticides, from Greenpeace to global warming, this book brings together many different stories that have made environmental history.
Read it, and perhaps you too can help to make our planet greener!
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Red Dog Audio CD Pack
Louis de Bernières
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
Red Dog was a Red Cloud kelpie, an Australian sheepdog. His life was full of excitement and adventure. He travelled all over Western Australia, and never really had an owner. But he had many, many friends, and he always knew where to go for a good meal.
Louis de Bernières collected these stories about the life of a real dog in Western Australia. They are all true stories - some are funny, some are sad, but all are unforgettable. Everybody should have a friend like Red Dog.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Marco Polo and the Silk Road Audio CD Pack
For a child in the great city of Venice in the thirteenth century, there could be nothing better than the stories of sailors. There were stories of strange animals, wonderful cities, sweet spices, and terrible wild deserts where a traveller could die.
One young boy listened, waited, and dreamed. Perhaps one day his father and uncle would return. Perhaps he too could travel with them to great markets in faraway places. For young Marco Polo, later the greatest traveller of his time, a dangerous, exciting world was waiting...
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Gandhi Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
Who will speak for the poor? Who will listen to slaves, and those who have no rights? Who will work for a future where everyone is equal? Who will give up his house, job and money to fight for people who are shut out by everyone else?
'I will,' said Mohandas Gandhi. And he began to fight in a way the world had not seen before - not with weapons, and wild crowds, and words of hate, but with the power of non-violence. This is the story of a man who became the Father of the Nation in his own country of India, and a great leader for the whole world.
Useful and free
Dominoes Three Little House on the Prairie Pack
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Text adaptation by Jann Huizenga
'Let's go see the West,' said Pa. 'The land is flat and the grass grows thick and high. Animals run freely and there are no settlers. Only Indians live there.'
So, more than a hundred years ago, the Ingalls family went by covered wagon into Kansas - Indian Territory. This is the true story of how they lived in those exciting, difficult, and sometimes dangerous, times.
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Great Migrations Audio CD Pack
Author: Rachel Bladon
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about great animal migrations... Why do animals migrate? How do they find their way?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Wild Weather Audio CD Pack
Author: Jacqueline Martin
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about different types of weather... What is a hurricane? Where is the coldest place on Earth?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Typhoon Pack
Joseph Conrad
Text adaptation by Tim Herdon
'There's some bad weather out there,' Captain MacWhirr said to himself just before he sailed his ship, the Nan-Shan, into the middle of the most terrible storm in the South China Sea.
The typhoon brings out the best in some men on the ship, and the worst in others.
Can MacWhirr bring the ship through the storm safely?
And what will happen to all the poor Chinese workers travelling home down in
the ship's hold?
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter A Pretty Face Pack
Zoe Baker works in a bookstore. She also likes acting, and she has a part in the play Romeo and Juliet. Mike Morrison writes about the play for the newspaper. What does he write about Zoe? Is Zoe a good actress ... or is she just 'a pretty face'?
What does Zoe think when she reads the newspaper? What does she do?
Useful and free
Dominoes Three Mansfield Park Pack
Jane Austen
Text adaptation by Clare West
'Why shouldn't we offer to take care of her? She could live with us at Mansfield.'
In this way Mrs Norris persuades her sister, Lady Bertram, and Lady Bertram's husband, Sir Thomas, to ask their poor niece Fanny Price to live with them at Mansfield Park.
At first Fanny is unhappy there. Then, after she makes friends with her young cousins, things improve. But what happens when the cousins are older, and starting to think of love?
Useful and free
Dominoes Three The Last of the Mohicans Pack
James Fenimore Cooper
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
The year is 1757. The English and the French are at war in North America. Two sisters - Cora and Alice - want to visit their father, General Munro. They begin their dangerous journey with the handsome English officer, Duncan Heyward and the Indian guide, Magua.
On the way they meet friends and enemies, and many adventures. Some people will be heroes and some people will die. And what will happen to their friend Uncas, the last of the Mohican Indians?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two The Drive to Dubai Pack
Julie Till
When his father is arrested in Dubai, Kareem has to move fast. He must show that his father is not a thief and prove that his family is honest. For Kareem is going to marry the beautiful and intelligent Samira Al-Hussain, and she could never marry someone from a bad family.
So Kareem and his brother get to work quickly - with a little help from Samira.
Useful and free
Dominoes Two The Lost World Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Susan Kingsley
'You said that you wanted danger, didn't you?' says McArdle, the editor of the Daily Gazette. And he sends his young reporter, Malone, on a strange journey into South America with the famous Professor Challenger.
Challenger believes he can find a lost world full of dinosaurs in the middle of the Amazon forest. But this world is dangerous to reach, and, once the Professor and his small group of explorers arrive, things get even more
dangerous for them.
Will they return alive?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 All About Plants Audio CD Pack
Author: Julie Penn
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about amazing plants... How many types of plant are there? Why are plants important?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Nicholas Nickleby Pack
Charles Dickens
Text adaptation by Tim Herdon
When his father dies a poor man, Nicholas Nickleby goes to London with his mother and sister, Kate. He hopes for help from his rich Uncle Ralph. But Ralph Nickleby is only interested in making money.
So Nicholas takes a teaching job at Dotheboys Hall - a terrible school belonging to Mr Wackford Squeers. There he helps a poor boy called Smike who has no one to look after him.
Leaving Dotheboys, Nicholas makes both friends and enemies on
his journey towards
better things. But will Smike, who travels with him, ever find the happy family life that he so dearly wants?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Scotland Audio CD Pack
Steve Flinders
Stage 1 - Factfiles
More than 20 million visitors come to Scotland each year. Some love it for its long white beaches and quiet green hills. Some like the busy cities, with their shops and museums, castles and parks. Others come to see the home of their parents and grandparents, to hear Scottish music, to find their family tartan. And some come to visit the whiskey distilleries, eat wonderful food, and go to one of the world's biggest street parties. Scotland has something for everybody. Come and find what Scotland has for you.
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Wonders of the Past Audio CD Pack
Author: Kathryn Harper
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about wonders of the past, all around the world... Where is Chichen Itza? What is the Taj Mahal?
Useful and free
Dominoes Three Revolution Pack
Jann Huizenga and Linda Huizenga
'All men are created equal...'
When Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in June 1776, in the American Declaration of Independence, he started something that was very much bigger than he imagined.
This book looks at the history around that Declaration, and at the Revolution that led to the birth of the United States of America.
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Mulan Pack
Retold by Janet Hardy-Gould
When the Emperor calls every man to join the army and fight the enemy, Mulan's father is old and ill, and cannot go. Wearing men's clothes and riding a horse, Mulan leaves her family and fights bravely for the Emperor in her father's place.
She is soon a hero for all the soldiers in the Chinese army. One of them, Ye Ming, is her best friend. But does he know that she is a woman? And can Mulan fall in love with a riend?
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Sinbad Pack
Retold by Janet Hardy-Gould
Sinbad the sailor spends many years at sea. He visits strange countries, meets some strange people and some frightening animals. He is sometimes rich, sometimes poor and always in danger. But all the time he is learning from his adventures, until finally he returns home to Baghdad, an older and wiser man.
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter The Great Fire of London Pack
It's London, 1666. It's a hot, dry summer. A small fire starts in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane. Soon the city of London is burning and the fire-fighters can't stop the fire. People are running from their houses down to the River Thames.
But how does the fire begin and who can stop it? What is the King of England doing to help?
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter William Tell and Other Stories Pack
Retold by John Escott
The men and the woman in this book - William Tell, Tom Blood, Lord Bao, King Matthias, Johnny Appleseed, and Lady Godiva - are all real people from history.
But every time someone tells an old story, they change things in it, to make them bigger, better, and more exciting. So what is true in this book and what is not? Read all six of the stories, and see what you think.
Useful and free
Dominoes Three The Count of Monte Cristo Pack
Alexandre Dumas
Text adaptation by Clare West
Marseille, France, 1815. It is Edmond Dantès' wedding day. But his enemies have other plans, and Edmond is arrested and sent to the terrible island prison of Château d'If. For fourteen long years he waits for the right moment to escape.
And now Edmond is a rich man, with many disguises, and a new name. The Count of Monte Cristo begins his revenge...
Useful and free
Dominoes Two The Three Musketeers Pack
Alexandre Dumas
Text adaptation by Clare West
It is the year 1627, and young d'Artagnan comes to Paris with a dream - to become a King's Musketeer. Three of these brave soldiers - Porthos, Athos and Aramis - soon become his friends.
After a short time d'Artagnan has fallen in love and into great danger. Can the three musketeers and d'Artagnan fight against the evil plans of the beautiful Milady and the cruel Cardinal Richelieu?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two White Fang Pack
Jack London
Text adaptation by John Escott
Life is hard and dangerous for both people and animals in the frozen Canadian North. For a wolf like White Fang it is a continuous fight to find food - a fight in which many animals die.
When White Fang meets the people of the North - first Indians and then White Men - he learns to live with them like a dog. But some men are cruel to their dogs and others are kind. Will White Fang's life be any easier now?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Emma Pack
Jane Austen
Text adaptation by Barbara Mackay
Emma Woodhouse is beautiful, clever and rich. She lives alone with her father, and spends a lot of her time thinking about future husbands - for her friends. When she meets Harriet Smith, a poor girl with no family, Emma decides that she must find a husband for her. Harriet is pleased to be Emma's friend - but will Emma's matchmaking make Harriet happy?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Ariadne's Story Pack
Joyce Hannam
'When he went home to Athens, the great prince Theseus left me on the island of Naxos. But why did he leave me? Everyone says that he was tired of me. But when we met, I was the princess of Crete and the most beautiful woman in the Aegean Sea.'
Ariadne's story is one woman's tale of secret love, adventure and of escape - both from danger and from a life that she wanted to leave far behind her - many years ago in Ancient Greece...
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Transportation Then and Now Audio CD Pack
Author: James Styring
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about transportation in the past and today... What were the first planes made of? How fast can solar cars travel?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Everest Story Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
Stage 3 - Factfiles
It is beautiful to look at, hard to reach, and terribly difficult to climb. Winds of 200 kilometres per hour or more scream across it day and night, while temperature falls to -20 °C or lower. Every year, some who try to climb the highest mountain in the world do not return.
But for a century people have been coming to climb Everest - some alone, some in groups, but all with a dream of going to the highests place in the world. This is their story.
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Amazing Minibeasts Audio CD Pack
Author: Cheryl Palin
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about amazing minibeasts... How many legs does a spider have? Why are earthworms important?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Free Time Around the World Audio CD Pack
Author: Julie Penn
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about favorite free-time activities around the world... Where is dog sledding popular? What is beach cricket?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Super Structures Audio CD Pack
Author: Fiona Undrill
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about super structures around the world... What are dams made of? How tall can a skyscraper be?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 3 Wonderful Water Audio CD Pack
Author: Cheryl Palin
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about wonderful water... Why is water important? What is the biggest ocean animal?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 All About Ocean Life Audio CD Pack
Author: Rachel Bladon
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about life in and near the oceans... Which tree can live in salt water? How do whales breathe?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Incredible Earth Audio CD Pack
Author: Richard Northcott
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about our incredible Earth... What is a volcano? Where is the deepest lake on Earth?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 4 Machines Then and Now Audio CD Pack
Author: Robert Quinn
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about machines in the past and today... When did people invent the wheel? What is a nanobot?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 5 Homes Around the World Audio CD Pack
Author: Jacqueline Martin
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about homes around the world... What materials are homes made of? Why do people build homes on stilts?
Useful and free
Oxford Read and Discover Level 6 Food Around the World Audio CD Pack
Author: Robert Quinn
Series Editior: Hazel Geatches
The Audio CD Pack contains a copy of the book along with an audio CD with a recording of the complete text in both British and American English.
Listen and read to discover all about food around the world... Where are cacao trees grown? What drink can you make from cherries?
Useful and free
Dominoes One Five Canterbury Tales Pack
Geoffrey Chaucer
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
The year is 1386 and the first flowers of spring are here. A number of pilgrims are going to Canterbury to visit the tomb of Saint Thomas Becket, and they all tell stories on the way.
Who should be the stronger in a marriage - the husband or the wife? And what happens when two men fall in love with the same woman? In these five stories from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales we find different answers to these questions from the Knight, the Wife of Bath, the
Clerk of
Oxford, the Merchant, and the Franklin.
Useful and free
Dominoes One Housemates Pack
Alison Watts
Chris leaves his home in a small town in Australia to go and study at the University of Sydney. He needs to find somewhere to live.
But it's not easy to find a house to share in a big city. Every house has its problems, and not all of Chris's housemates are easy to live with. In fact, some of them are very difficult people!
Can Chris find the house that he needs with housemates that he can live with?
Useful and free
Dominoes One Pollyanna Pack
Eleanor H. Porter
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
When Pollyanna's farther dies, she goes to live with her Aunt, Miss Polly Harrington. Miss Harrington likes doing good, but she doesn't like children very much!
Pollyanna always tries to find the good in everything. She soon makes many different people in her new home feel happier. But is Miss Polly's life going to change for better or worse after her niece arrives? And what happens to Pollyanna when she has a very bad accident?
Useful and free
Dominoes One Studio Five Pack
Anthony Manning
Fay loves making The Friends' Hour for Studio Five, but her boss - Jason - is always angry with her. One day, a young man - Simon Jones - phones her show. Soon Fay must find Simon, and work hard to keep her job. Then her best friend - Wing - stops helping her. What can Fay do now? Can she and Wing stay friends?
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Blackbeard Pack
Retold by John Escott
The year is 1717. It is a bad time to be the captain of a ship in the Caribbean because of pirates. The most frightening pirate on the sea is Edward Teach, or 'Blackbeard'.
'The Governor of Virginia wants us all dead!' Blackbeard thinks. 'But can he kill me - the most famous pirate in the Caribbean? No!'
This is his story...
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Changing Places Pack
Alan Hines
Hal works at the zoo every day and his life isn't exciting until he meets Tim. Tim is a movie star. He has a difficult life, and he is unhappy until he meets Hal. But when they meet, and agree to change places, interesting things start to happen. And, by changing places, the two men learn what is truly important in their lives.
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Kidnap! Pack
One cold winter morning, a famous movie star and her teenage daughter are driving along a country road...
A blue van is waiting for them. Tom is in the van, but he's not a kidnapper - he's an artist. He usually draws pictures for adventure stories. Now he's in a real life adventure.
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter The Big Story Pack
'Bring me something new and exciting. Bring me a BIG story!' says Rosie's editor at The Record newspaper.
And, when she leaves the office, Rosie does find a story. A story that is bigger then she expects. A story that takes her across Europe, into a dangerous world of art and art thieves.
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter The Happy Prince Pack
Oscar Wilde
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
The Happy Prince is a beautiful golden statue high up on a column in the city. Everyone loves him.
He feels sad about the city's poor people, but what can he do? He can't leave his column. Then the swallow arrives, and helps the Happy Prince to do many good things.
But what about the swallow's dream of flying to Egypt? And what does the Mayor do when the Happy Prince loses all his gold?
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter The Tempest Pack
William Shakespeare
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
Prospero, the Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda are far away from home, alone on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. They want to return to Milan...
Then, one day, Prospero sees a ship near the island carrying his greatest enemies. Prospero, with the help of his magic and the island spirit, Ariel, makes a magic storm - a tempest - to bring them to the island.
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Tristan and Isolde Pack
Retold by Bill Bowler
Tristan and Isolde are in love, but Isolde must marry King Mark. So a happy love story seems impossible...
The lovers meet every day but then, one night, King Mark finds them together. Now Tristan must leave the castle, but he is badly hurt and dying. Only Isolde can help him.
Can Isolde find Tristan in time? Can their love survive?
Useful and free
Dominoes Three The Faithful Ghost and Other Tall Tales Pack
Selected by Bill Bowler
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
A 'Tall Tale' is a story that's hard to believe, and the five tall tales in this book all tell of ghosts. Some have dark secrets buried in the past, others bring messages for the living. Some are laughable, some are sad, and some are just evil.
Sometimes there's a logical explanation for the strangest happenings, but often things cannot be explained by logic alone. Either way, you're sure to find some frightening reading between the covers of this book.
Useful and free
Dominoes Three The Moonstone Pack
Wilkie Collins
Text adaptation by Merinda Wilson
The Moonstone is a beautiful yellow diamond that was stolen from the statue of a Moon god in India. When Franklin Blake brings it to Rachel Verinder's house in Yorkshire for her birthday, it brings bad luck with it.
How many people will the Moonstone hurt? How many must die before the diamond's revenge is complete?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two A Close Shave Pack™
Aardman
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
When Wallace the inventor meets Wendolene in her wool shop, he falls in love with her at once. But why does her dog, Preston, hate Wallace's dog, Gromit?
Then, after Wallace's new sheep-shaving and pullover-making machine falls into the wrong hands, things start to go very wrong.
Can Gromit save Wallace from the danger of a 'close shave'?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Eight Great American Tales Pack
O. Henry
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
What does a poor young woman do when she loses her boyfriend or wants to find one? What little lies do we tell to make ourselves look better in the eyes of those that we love? How can a friend save someone who is sure that they are going to die? What happens when someone's clever plans all go wrong? These sweetly surprising short stories - about both good times and bad - are sometimes sad, and sometimes funny. But all of them are sure to make you think.
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Sherlock Holmes: The Norwood Mystery Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Jeremy Page
'For me, Watson, life is not so interesting,' says Holmes.
'I loved to read the newspaper, hoping to find some news of an interesting crime for me to investigate or a dangerous criminal for me to catch. Where are all those clever criminals these days?'
Then, suddenly, a wild, excited young man runs up the stairs to Holmes' room. He has a story to tell about a strange crime that took place in Norwood. But who is the criminal? And is he dangerous?
Life, for Holmes,
suddenly starts to get interesting.
Useful and free
Dominoes Two The Turn of the Screw Pack
Henry James
Text adaptation by Christine Lindop
A young woman arrives at a large country house. Her job is to look after the two children who live there, but she soon discovers that there is something very strange about both the house and the children. The longer she stays, the more she feels that the two children are in danger - or is it that the children are the danger, and the person in danger is herself?
Useful and free
Dominoes Two Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories Pack
Oscar Wilde
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
The three stories in this book are about ordinary people, people like you and me; but they find themselves in surprising situations.
Lord Arthur Savile, a rich man with no enemies, finds out that he must do something terrible before he can marry. Poor young Hughie Erskine gives money to an old beggar - but the beggar is not what he seems. And Lord Murchison falls in love with a mystery woman - but what is the strange secret behind the door in Cumnor Street?
Useful and free
Dominoes One The Wild West Pack
How much do you know about the Wild West? What do you know about cowboys and Indians, about wagon trails and gunfights?
Inside this book you will find the true story of the Wild West, and of some of the famous people who lived and worked there. People like Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Billy the Kid - and Annie Oakley, the best shot in the West.
Useful and free
Dominoes One Macbeth Pack
William Shakespeare
Text adaptation by Alistair McCallum
A dark, rainy day in Scotland, long ago. Returning from battle, Macbeth and his friend Banquo meet three witches. 'Macbeth, the king!' they say, but Macbeth is not a king, he is just a simple soldier.
Macbeth and Banquo cannot forget the witches' words. Soon Macbeth is king, but his wife walks in her sleep at night, and dreams of blood. What lies in the future for Banquo? And how many people must die before Scotland finds peace once more?
Useful and free
Dominoes One Deep Trouble Pack
Lesley Thompson
Amy and Matt are bored. They don't want to study for their exams. They want to have a good time. So they drive to the marina at West Palm Beach, and Matt jumps onto one of the boats. 'We can go anywhere!' he jokes.
But when the owners of the boat come back and find them, Amy and Matt are in deep trouble. Matt is a good swimmer and enjoys scuba-diving, but now he must dive for their lives.
Useful and free
Dominoes One From the Heart Pack
Anna is a new student at Oxford University. When she arrives in Oxford, she meets Selim, and they become good friends. But Selim is not English, and living in a different country is not easy for him. Anna tries to help but she knows that her father isn't going to like it.
Selim and Anna have each other. But is that enough? And can they find true happiness together?
Useful and free
Dominoes One Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
'He's an intelligent man. He was once rich and is now poor. His wife loved him once, but she doesn't love him now. And he's thirty or forty years old.'
One look at an old hat, and Sherlock Holmes can tell you a lot about its owner. He sees - and thinks - a lot more than the people around him, and when a beautiful blue diamond disappears, Sherlock is the only man in London who can find it.
Useful and free
Dominoes One The Real McCoy & Other Ghost Stories Pack
Lesley Thompson
'Are you scared, Gordon?' asks Heather.
Four friends talk of ghosts in a hotel in Scotland. That night Gordon sees and hears something strange in his room. But is it really the ghost of Lord McCoy?
These six stories tell of ghosts - friendly, sad, and bad - from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, America - and Egypt!
Useful and free
Dominoes One The Teacher's Secret and Other Folk Tales Pack
Retold by Joyce Hannam
Are men cleverer than women? Is a poor man cleverer than a rich man? And what about teachers? Are they always cleverer than their students?
The people in these six well-known folk tales from around the world all want to be clever. But are some of them just stupid?
Useful and free
Dominoes One The Wrong Trousers™ Pack
Aardman
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
It's Gromit the dog's birthday, and his friend Wallace gives him an unusual present - a pair of Techno-trousers.
At first Wallace uses the trousers to take Gromit for walks, but when the penguin comes to stay, he uses them one night for something different - very different.
This strange story won the Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film in 1993.
Useful and free
Dominoes Starter Around the World in Eighty Days Pack
Jules Verne
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler
'Today you can go round the world in eighty days,' says Phileas Fogg.
'Do it, and I pay you 20,000 pounds,' says his friend Stuart.
This is the beginning of one of Jules Verne's most exciting stories. Phileas Fogg must get back to London by December 21st or lose all his money. And with the help of his servant, Passepartout, Fogg travels in many ways - from train to elephant - and has some surprising adventures on the way.
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Dominoes Starter Journey to the Centre of the Earth Pack
Jules Verne
Text adaptation by Merinda Wilson
In Hamburg, Germany, Professor Otto Lidenbrock comes home with an old Icelandic book. In it there is a message about a journey to the centre of the Earth.
This is the beginning of one of Jules Vernes most exciting stories.
'Is this message true? We must go to Iceland and see!' says Lidenbrock excitedly. But his nephew, Axel, wants to stay at home.
Can Lidenbrock and Axel and their Icelandic guide, Hans find the
centre of the Earth? And can they all
get home alive after their many underground adventures?
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Dominoes Starter Rip Van Winkle & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Pack
Washington Irving
Text adaptation by Alan Hines
In the first of these stories, Rip van Winkle sleeps for over twenty years, and then wakes up to a world that he no longer understands. In the other story, Ichabod Crane, the school teacher, meets a headless rider in the middle of a dark night. These two classic tales of the supernatural by Washington Irving have been popular for nearly two hundred years.
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Dominoes One The Curse of the Mummy Pack
Joyce Hannam
For thousands of years the dead body of the young king Tutankhamun slept under the sands of Egypt. Then, in the autumn of 1922, Howard Carter and his friends find and open his tomb door. These are exciting times, and Carter's young helper Tariq tells the story in his diary.
But soon people begin to die. Who or what is the killer? Is Tutankhamun angry with them for opening his tomb? And who is the beautiful French girl with the face of Tutankhamun's
long-dead wife?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Climate Change Audio CD Pack
Barnaby Newbolt
STAGE 2 - Factfiles
It's a terrible problem - or it's really not as bad as people say. There will be sudden big changes - or slower changes that we can learn to live with. It means the end for many animals, people, even whole islands - but will this happen soon, or hundreds of years from now?
What is the true story about climate change? Why is it happening, and what can we do about it? If we learn about the past, then perhaps there will be time to make changes for the future...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Price of Peace: Stories from Africa Audio CD Pack
Retold by Christine Lindop
STAGE 4 - World Stories
Careful, Connie, please. Your little sister's eyes are looking angry. Look at the sudden lines around her mouth. Connie, a sister is a good thing. Even a younger sister. 'Mercy, who are you going out with?'
Connie gets an answer to her question, but it is not the answer she wants to hear. And what is the price of peace between sisters?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Deserts Audio CD Pack
Janet Hardy-Gould
STAGE 1 - Factfiles
Look at a desert, and what do you see? Nothing much - just a hot, flat, dry place, with lots of sand, and no animals or people.
But look again. There are deserts with mountains, and deserts with snow. There are millions of people - some live in towns, and some move across the desert all the time. There are plants that live for hundreds of years, and animals that can sleep for months under the ground, When you look closely, the desert is a wonderful place,
full of exciting
things...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Playing with Fire: Stories from the Pacific Rim Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 3 - World Stories
He smiled, showing teeth yellow from cigarette smoke. He looked at his desk diary, then at her papers again. 'Mmm... a hundred pesos a month, Why, that's one thousand two hundred pesos a year. Surely, you can afford to buy me a forty-peso dinner!'
How can Marina say no? How can she refuse the Chief's next request? He is an evil man, but she needs her promotion...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Titanic Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - Factfiles
On a quiet sea, the biggest ship in the world is waiting. There is no noise from the engines. Up in the night sky there are hundreds of stars. Behind the ship, an iceburg - a great mountain of ice - goes slowly away into the black night.
In the beautiful first-class rooms, rich passengers eat and listen to music. Down in the third-class cabins, families sleep. An exciting new life is waiting for them in America.
But for many of the
people in this small 'city on
the sea', this is their last night alive...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Little Lord Fauntleroy Audio CD Pack
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Cedric Errol is seven years old. He lives with his mother in a little house in New York. They don't have much money, but mother and son are good friends. Cedric is a kind, friendly little boy, and everybody likes him. His father was English, but he is now dead, and Cedric and his mother are alone in the world.
But one day a lawyer arrives from England with some very surprising news about Cedric's grandfather...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Beautiful Game Audio CD Pack
Steve Flinders
STAGE 2 - Factfiles
Some call it football, some call it soccer, and to others it's 'the beautiful game'. By any name, it's a sport with some fascinating stories. There is murder in Colombia, and a game that lasts for two days where many players never see the ball. There's the French writer who learnt lessons about life from playing football, and the women players who had to leave the club grounds because 'Women's football isn't nice'.
The cups, the leagues, the World Cup
finals, the stars,
the rules - they're all part of the world's favourite sport, the beautiful game.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Great Crimes Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 4 - Factfiles
It is more than forty years since the Great Train Robbery. But what happened to the rest of the money that was taken? Two million pounds has never been found. Perhaps some of the robbers would like to know the answer to this question too...
Many great crimes end in a question. Who really killed President Kennedy? What happened to Shergar? Who knows the truth about Azaria Chamberlain? Not all the answers are known. Join the world's detectives and discover the love, death, hate, money, and mystery held in the stories of these great crimes.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Disaster! Audio CD Pack
Mary McIntosh
STAGE 4 - Factfiles
From out of the sky, from under the earth, from far out at sea - disaster comes. We build and invent new things - and sometimes bring disaster on ourselves. Today television and the Internet mean that we can watch disasters as they happen, and see their terrible results.
From Pompeii to the Asian Tsunami, from the Great Fire of London to Chernobyl, the stories of disasters are frightening, but they have much to tell us. Disasters bring stories of fear, pain,
loss, and
death - but also of people whose extraordinary bravery and feeling for others will touch your heart.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The History of the English Language Audio CD Pack
Brigit Viney
STAGE 4 - Factfiles
About a quarter of the people in the world today speak or use English. In homes and schools, offices and meeting rooms, ships and airports, people are speaking English...
How has this happened? How did English begin, and what will become of it in the future? The history of the English language is a journey through space and time, from thousands of years ago to today and beyond, and to all parts of the world. Come on that journey and meet the monks and
soldiers, the kings
and scientists, the printers, poets, and travellers who have helped to make the English of today.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Land of my Childhood: Stories from South Asia Audio CD Pack
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - World Stories
'My brother preferred being with mother and me. He used to help us prepare vegetables in the kitchen or make the bread. But what he liked best was listening to my mother's stories.'
But those childhood days are long gone, and now a great distance divides sister and brother, children and mother.
The stories in this volume of World Stories come from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The writers are Romesh Gunesekera, M. Athar Tahir, Chitra Divakaruni, Anu Kumar, Anne Ranasinghe, Ruskin Bond, Anita Desai, Vijita Fernando, and Amara Bavani Dev.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Long White Cloud: Stories from New Zealand Audio CD Pack
Retold by Christine Lindop
STAGE 3 - World Stories
Nani Tama looked at each of us - Dad, Auntie Hiraina, my cousin Timi, and myself. His eyes were angry. 'You fullas want me to die here in this room? Looking at these four walls? When the whakapapa is not yet finished?'
But Nani Tama gets his own way, and his grandson drives him through the night, to find the missing pieces from the family history.
The stories from this volume of World Stories are by New Zealand writers James Courage, Witi Ihimaera, Philip Mincher, and Joy Cowley.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Doors to a Wider Place: Stories from Australia Audio CD Pack
Retold by Christing Lindop
STAGE 4 - World Stories
'When it came to football, Billy was different. Black hands grab the ball. Black feet kick the ball. Black hopes rise up with the ball to the sickly white sky. No one can stop him now. He forgets about the river, and the people of his blood . . .'
But who can forget their own past? Billy finds that the ties which hold him to the people of his blood are strong indeed . . .
The stories in this volume of World Stories
are by Australian writers Mena
Abdullah & Ray Mathew, Judith Wright, Archie Weller, Dal Stivens, David Malouf, Marion Halligan.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Nelson Mandela Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 4 - Factfiles
In 1918 in the peaceful province of Transkei, South Africa, the Mandela family gave their new baby son the name Rolihlahla - 'troublemaker'. But the young boy's early years were happy ones, and he grew up to be a good student and an enthusiastic sportsman.
Who could imagine then what was waiting for Nelson Mandela - the tireless struggle for human rights, the long years in prison, the happiness and sadness of family life, and one day the title of President of
South
Africa?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Changing their Skies: Stories from Africa Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
'Then a letter came for Aloo from a famous college in America. They offered him a place . . . a place with a scholarship. Aloo could not believe it at first. He read the letter again and again.'
Aloo is very happy, but soon he finds that it is not so easy. He will need money to live on, money for his plane ticket . . . And then there is Mother . . .
The stories in this volume of World Stories come from Malawi,
South Africa, and Tanzania by African
writers Steve Chimombo, Farida Karodia, and M. G. Vassanji.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Dancing with Strangers: Stories from Africa Audio CD Pack
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 3 - World Stories
'Sometimes I think this search is hopeless. So much has happened since I last saw my friends. Perhaps they have died or the rebels have taken them away. But I know I have to find Laker. I know she needs me.'
In a country torn by war, it is easy to stop hoping. All Atita has is an old photograph. She does not even know if she will recognize Laker after all these years . . .
The stories in this volume of World Stories
are by African writers Jackee
Budesta Batanda, Jack Cope, Mandla Langa, and M. G. Vassanji.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Seasons and Celebrations Audio CD Pack
Jackie Maguire
STAGE 2 - Factfiles
In English-speaking countries around the world people celebrate Easter, Valentine's Day, Christmas, and other special days. Some celebrations are new, like Remembrance Day and Mother's Day; others, like the summer solstice, go back thousands of years.
What happens on these special days? What do people eat, where do they go, what do they do? Why is there a special day for eating pancakes? Who is the 'guy' that children take onto the streets in November? And where do many people like to spend the shortest night of the year in England?
Come on a journey through a year of celebrations, from New Year's Eve to Christmas.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Last Chance Audio CD Pack
Phillip Burrows and Mark Foster
STARTER - Thriller & Adventure
'How can Mr Frank be angry now?' thinks Mike happily. His film is good and he is the only cameraman on the volcano. Now he can go home.
But then he finds Jenny and she is dying. Rocks start to move and Mike is afraid. Can they get off the volcano alive? And what happens to Mike's camera and film?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Australia and New Zealand Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STAGE 3 - Factfiles
What do you find in these two countries at the end of the world? One is an enormous island, where only twenty million people live - and the other is two long, narrow islands, with ten sheep for every person. One country has the biggest rock in all the world, and a town where everybody lives under the ground; the other has a beach where you can sit beside the sea in a pool of hot water, and lakes that are bright yellow, green, and blue.
Open this book and start your journey - to two countries where something strange, beautiful or surprising waits around every corner.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Treading on Dreams: Stories from Ireland Audio CD Pack
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - World Stories
'At home we started with an innocent life. Walking home from village dances across pale wet fields, looking at birds on the moonlit lake, playing a tune across the water in the early morning with no other sound in the clear cold air.'
Innocence and experience, loss and longing, humour and sadness run hand in hand through these stories.
The stories in this volume of World Stories are by Irish writers Brian Friel, Edna O'Brien,
William Trevor, Lorcan Byrne,
Frank O'Connor, Claire Keegan, Eamonn Sweeney, and Somerville & Ross.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Red Roses Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
'Who is the man with the roses in his hand?' thinks Anna. 'I want to meet him.'
'Who is the girl with the guitar?' thinks Will. 'I like her. I want to meet her.'
But they do not meet.
'There are lots of men!' says Anna's friend Vicki, but Anna cannot forget Will. And then one rainy day . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Animals in Danger Audio CD Pack
Andy Hopkins and Joc Potter
STAGE 1 - Factfiles
People love and need animals. They keep them in their homes and on their farms. They enjoy going to zoos, and watching animals on films and on TV. Little children love to play with toy animals.
But people are a great danger to animals too. They take their land, and cut down the trees where animals have their homes. They pollute the rivers and seas, and kill big animals for their skins or for medicine. Now there are about 7,000 species of animals in danger.
What can we do
to protect the animals of the world - from us?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Rainforests Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 2 - Factfiles
Deep rivers, tall trees, strange animals, beautiful flowers - this is the rainforest. Burning trees, thick smoke, new roads and cities, dead animals, people without homes - this is the rainforest too. To some people the rainforests mean beautiful places that you can visit; to others they mean trees that they can cut down and sell.
Between 1950 and 2000 half of the world's rainforests disappeared. While you read these words, somewhere in the world people are
cutting down
rainforest trees. What are these wonderful places that we call rainforests - and is it too late to save them?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 England Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 1 - Factfiles
Twenty-five million people come to England every year, and some never go out of London.
But England is full of interesting places to visit and things to do. There are big noisy cities with great shops and theatres, and quiet little villages. You can visit old castles and beautiful churches - or go to festivals with music twenty-four hours a day.
You can have an English afternoon tea, walk on long white beaches, watch a great game of football, or visit a country house. Yes, England has something for everybody - what has it got for you?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 London Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 1 - Factfiles
Come with us to London - a city as old as the Romans, and as new as the twenty-first century. There are places to go - from Oxford Street to Westminster Abbey, from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to Wimbledon Tennis Club. And things to do - ride on the London Eye, visit the markets, go to the theatre, run in the London Marathon.
Big, beautiful, noisy, exciting - that's London.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 New York Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 1 - Factfiles
What can you do in New York? Everything! You can go to some of the world's most famous shops, watch a baseball game, go to the top of a skyscraper, see a concert in Central Park, eat a sandwich in a New York deli, see a show in a Broadway theatre.
New York is big, noisy, and exciting, and it's waiting for you. Open the book and come with us to this wonderful city.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Ireland Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 2 - Factfiles
There are many different Irelands. There is the Ireland of peaceful rivers, green fields, and beautiful islands. There is the Ireland of song and dance, pubs and theatres - the country of James Joyce, Bob Geldof, and Riverdance. And there is the Ireland of guns, fighting, death, and the hope of peace. Come with us and visit all of these Irelands - and many more . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Year of Sharing Audio CD Pack
Harry Gilbert
STAGE 2 - Fantasy & Horror
Richard is bored with the quiet life of his village. He would like to have a motor-car and drive it . . . very fast. But Richard lives in a future world where there are no cars, only bicycles and small villages and green forests.
And now he is twelve years old, and like the other children, he must do his Year of Sharing. He must live alone in the forest with the wild animals. He must learn to share his world; he must learn how animals live and eat and fight . . . and die.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 A Pair of Ghostly Hands and Other Stories
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 3 - Fantasy & Horror
If you wake up in the night and hear a tap running somewhere in the house, what do you do? You get up, of course, and go and turn the tap off. A little later you hear the tap running again. You are alone in the house, and you know you turned the tap off. What do you do then?
The ghosts in these stories all have unfinished business with the living world. They come back from the grave to continue their work, to keep a promise, to look for
something they have lost.
Sometimes they want to help people, sometimes they want to punish them - or kill them.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 As the Inspector Said and Other Stories Audio CD Pack
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 3 - Crime & Mystery
The murder plan seems so neat, so clever. How can it possibly fail? And when Sonia's stupid, boring little husband is dead, she will be free to marry her handsome lover. But perhaps the boring little husband is not so stupid after all . . .
Murder plans that go wrong, a burglar who makes a bad mistake, a famous jewel thief who meets a very unusual detective . . . These five stories from the golden age of crime writing are full of mystery and surprises.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Information Technology Audio CD Pack
Paul A. Davies
STAGE 3 - Factfiles
It is hard to imagine the modern world without information technology. At home, at work, and at play, mobile phones, emails and computers have become part of daily life.
The story of information technology is a story of machines - from the ancient abacus to the small powerful computer chips of today. But it is also a story of people. Meet a woman who wrote computer programs two hundred years ago, a teenage millionaire, a man who began with a paperclip and ended with a house - and the criminals who want your name and your money.
Come and discover the world of information technology.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Martin Luther King Audio CD Pack
Alan C. McLean
STAGE 3 - Factfiles
The United States in the 1950s and 60s was a troubled place. Black people were angry, because they did not have the same rights as whites. It was a time of angry words, of marches, of protests, a time of bombs and killings.
But above the angry noise came the voice of one man - a man of peace. 'I have a dream,' said Martin Luther King, and it was a dream of blacks and whites living together in peace and freedom. This is the story of an extraordinary man, who
changed
American history in his short life.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Recycling Audio CD Pack
Sue Stewart
STAGE 3 - Factfiles
What will we do when there is nowhere to put our rubbish? Every day, all over the world, people drop cans, boxes, paper, and bottles into bins and never think about them again. And the rubbish mountains get bigger and bigger.
But there is another way - a way that makes old paper into houses, broken bottles into jewellery, and old cans into bridges. Anyone can recycle - it's easy, it saves money, and it's a way to say, 'I care about the Earth.' Saving the
world starts with
you - here - now.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Last Sherlock Holmes Story Audio CD Pack
Michael Dibdin
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 3 - Crime & Mystery
For fifty years after Dr Watson's death, a packet of papers, written by the doctor himself, lay hidden in a locked box. The papers contained an extraordinary report of the case of Jack the Ripper and the horrible murders in the East End of London in 1888. The detective, of course, was the great Sherlock Holmes - but why was the report kept hidden for so long?
This is the story that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never wrote. It is a strange and frightening tale . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The USA Audio CD Pack
Alison Baxter
STAGE 3 - Factfiles
Everybody knows about the United States of America. You can see its films, hear its music, and eat its food just about everywhere in the world. Cowboys, jazz, hamburgers, the Stars and Stripes - that's the United States.
But it's a country with many stories to tell. Stories of busy cities, and quiet, beautiful forests and parks. Stories of a country that fought against Britain, and then against itself, to make the United States of today. Stories of rich and
poor, black
and white, Native American and immigrant. And the story of what it is really like to be an American today . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Scarlet Letter Audio CD Pack
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Classics
Scarlet is the colour of sin, and the letter 'A' stands for 'Adultery'. In the 1600s, in Boston, Massachusetts, love was allowed only between a husband and a wife. A child born outside marriage was a child of sin.
Hester Prynne must wear the scarlet letter on her dress for the rest of her life. How can she ever escape from this public shame? What will happen to her child, growing up in the shadow of the scarlet letter? The future holds no joy for Hester Prynne.
And what will happen to her sinful lover - the father of her child?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 David Copperfield Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
'Please, Mr Murdstone! Don't beat me! I've tried to learn my lessons, really I have, sir!' sobs David.
Although he is only eight years old, Mr Murdstone does beat him, and David is so frightened that he bites his cruel stepfather's hand. For that, he is kept locked in his room for five days and nights, and nobody is allowed to speak to him.
As David grows up, he learns that life is full of trouble and misery and cruelty. But he also finds laughter and kindness, trust and friendship . . . and love.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 King's Ransom Audio CD Pack
Ed McBain
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 5 - Crime & Mystery
'Calling all cars, calling all cars. Here's the story on the Smoke Rise kidnapping. The missing boy is eight years old, fair hair, wearing a red sweater. His name is Jeffry Reynolds, son of Charles Reynolds, chauffeur to Douglas King.'
The police at the 87th Precinct hate kidnappers. And these kidnappers are stupid, too. They took the wrong boy - the chauffeur's son instead of the son of the rich tycoon, Douglas King. And they want a ransom of $500,000.
A lot of money. But it's not too much to pay for a little boy's life . . . is it?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Dead of Jericho
Colin Dexter
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Crime & Mystery
Chief Inspector Morse is drinking a pint of beer. He is thinking about an attractive woman who lives not far away. The woman he is thinking of is hanging, dead, from the ceiling of her kitchen. On the floor lies a chair, almost two metres away from the woman's feet.
Chief Inspector Morse finishes his pint, and orders another. Perhaps he will visit Anne, after all. But he is in no particular hurry.
Meanwhile, Anne is still hanging in her
kitchen, waiting for the
police to come and cut her down. She is in no hurry, either.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Garden Party and Other Stories Audio CD Pack
Katherine Mansfield
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
Oh, how delightful it is to fall in love for the first time! How exciting to go to your first dance when you are a girl of eighteen! But life can also be hard and cruel, if you are young and inexperienced and travelling alone across Europe . . . or if you are a child from the wrong social class . . . or a singer without work and the rent to be paid.
Set in Europe and New Zealand, these nine stories by Katherine Mansfield dig deep beneath the appearances of life to show us the causes of human happiness and despair.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Audio CD Pack
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
A pretty young girl has to leave home to make money for her family. She is clever and a good worker; but she is uneducated and does not know the cruel ways of the world. So, when a rich young man says he loves her, she is careful - but not careful enough. He is persuasive, and she is overwhelmed. It is not her fault, but the world says it is. Her young life is already stained by men's desires, and by death.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 The Enemy Audio CD Pack
Desmond Bagley
Retold by Ralph Mowat
STAGE 6 - Thriller & Adventure
On a beautiful summer evening in the quiet town of Marlow, a young woman is walking home from church. She passes a man who is looking at the engine of his car. He turns round, smiles at her . . . and throws acid into her face.
Then her father, the scientist George Ashton, disappears. And her sister, Penny, discovers that her husband-to-be, Malcolm, is a government agent. Why has Ashton disappeared, and why is Malcolm told to hunt for him? Who is George Ashton, anyway?
And who is the enemy?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Ear-rings from Frankfurt Audio CD Pack
Reg Wright
Richard Walton is in trouble again. He has lost his job, and he has borrowed money from his sister, Jennifer - again. And now he has disappeared. Jennifer is looking for him, and so are the police. They both have some questions that they want to ask him.
How did he lose his job? Why did he fly to Frankfurt? Who gave his girlfriend those very expensive gold ear-rings?
Only Richard can answer these questions. But nobody can find Richard.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Grace Darling Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 2 - True Stories
All they could hear was the wind, and the waves crashing on to the rocks. All they could see was the night. They could not see the ship, broken in two. They could not see the people holding on to the dark wet rock, slowly dying of cold. And they could not hear the cries for help - only the wind.
How could they save the people on the rock? Was their wooden boat stronger than the iron ship? Were a man and his daughter stronger than the great waves that broke the ship in two?
The Forfarshire was wrecked off the north-east coast of England in 1838. This is the true story of Grace Darling - a girl who became a famous heroine on that stormy night.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Hamlet Audio CD Pack
William Shakespeare
Retold by Alistair McCallum
STAGE 2 - Playscripts
This famous play by William Shakespeare, written in about 1600, is one of the finest in the English language.
Why does Hamlet, the young Prince of Denmark, look so sad? Why does he often say strange things? His family and friends are worried about him. Perhaps he is mad!
But Hamlet thinks that he has discovered a terrible secret about a recent crime in his family. Now he has no time for Ophelia, the sweet girl who loves him, or his friends, who were at school with him. He sits alone, and thinks, and plans. What will he decide to do? Will he ever be happy again?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 One Thousand Dollars and Other Plays Audio CD Pack
O. Henry
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 2 - Playscripts
Money or love? Which is more important in life? Can money buy anything? Can it help a young man to marry the girl he loves? Does money really make people happy, or does it just cause problems?
These four plays about money, love, and life are adapted from short stories written a hundred years ago by the great American storyteller O. Henry.
Henry had his own difficulties with money and loneliness, and wrote from personal experience.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Return to Earth Audio CD Pack
John Christopher
Retold by Susan Binder
STAGE 2 - Fantasy & Horror
As they walk through a park in the distant future, Harl and Ellen talk about their work and their lives. But they will never have a life together because their work as scientists is more important to them than their love. Harl plans to leave Earth, on a long and dangerous journey through space. Ellen plans to stay on Earth, to change the way the human mind works.
When Harl returns to Earth, Ellen will be long dead . . . and the world will be a very different
place.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Stories from the Five Towns Audio CD Pack
Arnold Bennett
Retold by Nick Bullard
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Arnold Bennett is famous for his stories about the Five Towns and the people who live there. They look and sound just like other people, and, like all of us, sometimes they do some very strange things. There's Sir Jee, who is a rich businessman. So why is he making a plan with a burglar? Then there is Toby Hall. Why does he decide to visit Number 11 Child Row, and who does he find there? And then there are the Hessian brothers and Annie Emery - and the little problem of twelve thousand pounds.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Tales from Longpuddle Audio CD Pack
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - Classics
Tony Kytes is a favourite with the girls but he's not terribly clever. If you meet an old girlfriend and she asks for a ride home in your wagon, do you say yes? And then if you meet the girl you are planning to marry, what do you do? Very soon, Tony is in a great muddle, and does not know how to escape from it.
These stories are set in an English country village of the nineteenth century, but Hardy's tales of mistakes and muddles and marriages belong in any place, at any time.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Children of the New Forest Audio CD Pack
Captain Marryat
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
England in 1647: King Charles is in prison, and Cromwell's men are fighting the King's men. These are dangerous times for everybody.
The four Beverley children have no parents; their mother is dead and their father died while fighting for the King. Now Cromwell's soldiers have come to burn the house - with the children in it.
The four of them escape into the New Forest - but how will they live? What will they eat? And will Cromwell's soldiers find them?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Importance of Being Earnest Audio CD Pack
Oscar Wilde
Retold by Susan Kingsley
STAGE 2 - Playscripts
This famous play by Oscar Wilde is one of the finest comedies in the English language.
Algernon knows that his friend Jack does not always tell the truth. For example, in town his name is Ernest, while in the country he calls himself Jack. And who is the girl who gives him presents 'from little Cecily, with all her love'?
But when the beautiful Gwendolen Fairfax says that she can only love a man whose name is Ernest, Jack decides to
change his name, and become
Ernest forever. Then Cecily agrees to marry Algernon, but only if his name is Ernest, too, and things become a little difficult for the two young men.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Love of a King Audio CD Pack
Peter Dainty
STAGE 2 - True Stories
All he wanted to do was to marry the woman he loved. But his country said 'No!'
He was Edward VIII, King of Great Britain, King of India, King of Australia, and King of thirty-nine other countries. And he loved the wrong woman.
She was beautiful and she loved him - but she was already married to another man.
It was a love story that shook the world. The King had to choose: to be King, or to have love . . . and leave his country, never to return.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Audio CD Pack
Edgar Allan Poe
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - Crime & Mystery
The room was on the fourth floor, and the door was locked - with the key on the inside. The windows were closed and fastened - on the inside. The chimney was too narrow for a cat to get through. So how did the murderer escape? And whose were the two angry voices heard by the neighbours as they ran up the stairs? Nobody in Paris could find any answers to this mystery.
Except Auguste Dupin, who could see further and think more clearly than other people. The answers to the mystery were all there, but only a clever man could see them.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Mystery of Allegra Audio CD Pack
Peter Foreman
STAGE 2 - Fantasy & Horror
Allegra is an unusual name. It means 'happy' in Italian, but the little girl in this story is sometimes very sad. She is only five years old, but she tells Adrian, her new friend, that she is going to die soon. How does she know?
And who is the other Allegra? The girl in a long white nightdress, who has golden hair and big blue eyes. The girl who comes only at night, and whose hands and face are cold, so cold . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Pit and the Pendulum and Other Stories Audio CD Pack
Edgar Allan Poe
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 2 - Fantasy & Horror
Everybody has bad dreams. Horrible things move towards you in the dark, things you can hear but not see. Then you wake up, in your own warm bed, and turn over to go back to sleep.
But imagine that you wake up on a hard floor, in a darkness blacker than the blackest night. You listen to the silence, and smell a wet dead smell. Death is all around you, waiting . . .
In these stories by Edgar Allan Poe, death whispers at you from every dark corner, and fear can send you mad . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Songs of Distant Earth and Other Stories
Arthur C. Clarke
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 4 - Fantasy & Horror
'High above them, Lora and Clyde heard a sound their world had not heard for centuries - the thin scream of a starship coming in from outer space, leaving a long white tail like smoke across the clear blue sky. They looked at each other in wonder. After three hundred years of silence, Earth had reached out once more to touch Thalassa . . .'
And with the starship comes knowledge, and love, and pain.
In these five science-fiction stories Arthur C. Clarke takes us travelling through the universe into the unknown, but always possible future.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Washington Square Audio CD Pack
Henry James
Retold by Kieran McGovern
STAGE 4 - Classics
When a handsome young man begins to court Catherine Sloper, she feels she is very lucky. She is a quiet, gentle girl, but neither beautiful nor clever; no one had ever admired her before, or come to the front parlour of her home in Washington Square to whisper soft words of love to her.
But in New York in the 1840s young ladies are not free to marry where they please. Catherine must have her father's permission, and Dr Sloper is a rich man. One day Catherine will have a fortune of 30,000 dollars a year . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Far from the Madding Crowd Audio CD Pack
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
Bathsheba Everdene is young, proud, and beautiful. She is an independent woman and can marry any man she chooses - if she chooses. In fact, she likes her independence, and she likes fighting her own battles in a man's world.
But it is never wise to ignore the power of love. There are three men who would very much like to marry Bathsheba. When she falls in love with one of them, she soon wishes she had kept her independence. She learns that love brings misery, pain, and violent passions that can destroy lives . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter New York Café Audio CD Pack
Michael Dean
STARTER - Fantasy & Horror
It is the year 2030, and an email message arrives at New York Café: 'I want to help people and make them happy!'
But not everybody is happy about the email, and soon the police and the President are very interested in the New York Café.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Orca Audio CD Pack
Phillip Burrows and Mark Foster
STARTER - Thriller & Adventure
When Tonya and her friends decide to sail around the world they want to see exciting things and visit exciting places.
But one day, they meet an orca - a killer whale - one of the most dangerous animals in the sea. And life gets a little too exciting.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Police TV Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STARTER - Crime & Mystery
'Every day someone steals money from people near the shops. We must stop this,' says Dan, a police officer.
The police use TV cameras but it is not easy because there are so many suspects - who is the robber?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Sally's Phone Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
Sally is always running - and she has her phone with her all the time: at home, on the train, at work, at lunchtime, and at the shops.
But then one afternoon suddenly she has a different phone . . . and it changes her life.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Starman Audio CD Pack
Phillip Burrows and Mark Foster
STARTER - Fantasy & Horror
The empty centre of Australia. The sun is hot and there are not many people. And when Bill meets a man, alone, standing on an empty road a long way from anywhere, he is surprised and worried.
And Bill is right to be worried. Because there is something strange about the man he meets. Very strange . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter The Fifteenth Character Audio CD Pack
Rosemary Border
STARTER - Thriller & Adventure
'It's an interesting job,' says Sally about her work at Happy Hills.
And today is a very exciting day because Zapp the famous singer is coming. Everybody is having a wonderful time. But suddenly something goes wrong - very wrong.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Agatha Christie, Woman of Mystery Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 2 - True Stories
What does the name 'Agatha Christie' mean? To many people, it means a book about a murder mystery - a 'whodunnit'. 'I'm reading an Agatha Christie,' people say. 'I'm not sure who the murderer is - I think it's . . .' But they are usually wrong, because it is not easy to guess the murderer's name before the end of the book.
But who was Agatha Christie? What was she like? Was her life quiet and unexciting, or was it full of interest and adventure? Was there a mystery in her life, too?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Love among the Haystacks Audio CD Pack
D.H. Lawrence
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - Classics
It is hay-making time on the Wookey farm. Two brothers are building the haystack, but thinking about other things - about young women, and love. There are angry words, and then a fight between the brothers. But the work goes on, visitors come and go, and the long hot summer day slowly turns to evening.
Then the sun goes down, covering the world with a carpet of darkness. From the hedges around the hayfield comes the rich, sweet smell of wild flowers, and the hay will make a fine, soft bed . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Jungle Book Audio CD Pack
Rudyard Kipling
Retold by Ralph Mowat
STAGE 2 - Classics
In the jungle of Southern India the Seeonee Wolf-Pack has a new cub. He is not a wolf - he is Mowgli, a human child, but he knows nothing of the world of men. He lives and hunts with his brothers the wolves. Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther are his friends and teachers. And Shere Khan, the man-eating tiger, is his enemy.
Kipling's famous story of Mowgli's adventures in the jungle has been loved by young and old for more than a hundred years.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Sense and Sensibility Audio CD Pack
Jane Austen
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
Sometimes the Dashwood girls do not seem like sisters. Elinor is all calmness and reason, and can be relied upon for practical, common sense opinions. Marianne, on the other hand, is all sensibility, full of passionate and romantic feeling. She has no time for dull common sense - or for middle-aged men of thirty-five, long past the age of marriage.
True love can only be felt by the young, of course. And if your heart is broken at the age of seventeen, how can you ever expect to recover from the passionate misery that fills your life, waking and sleeping?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Wuthering Heights Audio CD Pack
Emily Brontë
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
The wind is strong on the Yorkshire moors. There are few trees, and fewer houses, to block its path. There is one house, however, that does not hide from the wind. It stands out from the hill and challenges the wind to do its worst. The house is called Wuthering Heights.
When Mr Earnshaw brings a strange, small, dark child back home to Wuthering Heights, it seems he has opened his doors to trouble. He has invited in something that, like the wind, is safer kept out of the house.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Jane Eyre Audio CD Pack
Charlotte Brontë
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
Jane Eyre is alone in the world. Disliked by her aunt's family, she is sent away to school. Here she learns that a young girl, with neither money nor family to support her, can expect little from the world. She survives, but she wants more from life than simply to survive: she wants respect, and love. When she goes to work for Mr Rochester, she hopes she has found both at once. But the sound of strange laughter, late at night, behind a locked door, warns her that her troubles are only beginning.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Oliver Twist Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Richard Rogers
STAGE 6 - Classics
London in the 1830s was no place to be if you were a hungry ten-year-old boy, an orphan without friends or family, with no home to go to, and only a penny in your pocket to buy a piece of bread.
But Oliver Twist finds some friends - Fagin, the Artful Dodger, and Charley Bates. They give him food and shelter, and play games with him, but it is not until some days later that Oliver finds out what kind of friends they are and what kind of 'games' they play . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Butler Did It and Other Plays Audio CD Pack
Bill Bowler
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 1 - Playscripts
How do you get a licence if you want to keep a monkey? What can you do if your wife has a lover? How can you see into the future? Where can you go for an exciting but cheap holiday somewhere hot and far away? How can you persuade your girlfriend or boyfriend to marry you?
The characters in these six original short plays are looking for answers to these questions. While trying to solve their problems, people get into some very funny situations. Each play gives
an amusing
view of life today, and there is often an unexpected ending.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Omega Files Audio CD Pack
Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Fantasy & Horror
In EDI (the European Department of Intelligence in Brussels) there are some very secret files - the Omega Files. There are strange, surprising, and sometimes horrible stories in these files, but not many people know about them. You never read about them in the newspapers.
Hawker and Jude know all about the Omega Files, because they work for EDI. They think fast, they move fast, and they learn some very strange things. They go all over the world, asking difficult questions in dangerous places, but they don't always find the answers . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Audio CD Pack
Lewis Carroll
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - Classics
There, on top of the mushroom, was a large caterpillar, smoking a pipe. After a while the Caterpillar took the pipe out of its mouth and said to Alice in a slow, sleepy voice, 'Who are you?'
What strange things happen when Alice falls down the rabbit-hole and into Wonderland! She has conversations with the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat, goes to the Mad Hatter's tea party, plays croquet with the King and Queen of Hearts . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Cries from the Heart: Stories from Around the World Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
From Botswana to New Zealand, from Jamaica to Nigeria, from Uganda to Malaysia, from India to South Africa, these moving stories show us that the human heart is the same in every place. Fear and pain, happiness and sadness belong to us all.
These eight stories were winning entries in the 2004 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. The writers are Sefi Atta, Adrienne M. Frater, Lauri Kubuitsile, Erica N. Robinson, Jackee Budesta Batanda, Janet Tay Hui Ching,
Anuradha
Muralidharan, and Tod Collins.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Dead Man's Island Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 2 - Thriller & Adventure
Mr Ross lives on an island where no visitors come. He stops people from taking photographs of him. He is young and rich, but he looks sad. And there is one room in his house which is always locked.
Carol Sanders and her mother come to the island to work for Mr Ross. Carol soon decides that there is something very strange about Mr Ross. Where did he get his money from? How can a young man buy an island? So she watches, and she listens - and one night she learns what is behind the locked door.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Death in the Freezer Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 2 - Crime & Mystery
Ellen Shore's family is an ordinary American family, and Ellen is six years old when her brother Al is born. Her parents are very pleased to have a son, but Ellen is not pleased, because now baby Al comes first.
And when they are adults, Al still comes first. He begins a rock band and makes records. Soon he is rich and famous - very rich, but he gives nothing to his sister Ellen. She has a difficult life, with three young kids and very little money. And she learns to hate her rich, famous, unkind brother...
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Five Children and It Audio CD Pack
Edith Nesbit
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Fantasy & Horror
When the children dug a hole in the gravel-pit, they were very surprised at what they found. 'It' was a Psammead, a sand-fairy, thousands of years old.
It was a strange little thing - fat and furry, and with eyes on long stalks. It was often very cross and unfriendly, but it could give wishes - one wish a day. 'How wonderful!' the children said.
But wishes are difficult things. They can get you into trouble . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Romeo and Juliet Audio CD Pack
William Shakespeare
Retold by Alistair McCallum
STAGE 2 - Playscripts
This is the most famous of all Shakespeare's plays - a story of passionate young love.
What's in a name? Does it really matter if you are called Montague or Capulet? When Romeo, son of Lord and Lady Montague, falls in love with the most beautiful girl he's ever seen, he finds out that it does matter. It makes all the difference in the world, because both families hate each other bitterly.
For a time, Romeo and Juliet manage to keep their love secret. But when Romeo is sent away from Verona, and arrangements are made for Juliet to marry Paris, a friend of her father's, hope begins to die. Can any of their friends help the young lovers to be together for ever?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings Audio CD Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery
Horseracing is the sport of kings, perhaps because racehorses are very expensive animals. But when they win races, they can make a lot of money too - money for the owners, for the trainers, and for the people who put bets on them to win.
Silver Blaze is a young horse, but already the winner of many races. One night he disappears from his stables, and someone kills his trainer. The police want the killer, and the owner wants his horse, but they can't find them. So what do they do?
They write to 221B Baker Street, London, of course - to ask for the help of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 A Ghost in Love and Other Plays Audio CD Pack
Michael Dean
STAGE 1 - Playscripts
Do you believe in ghosts? Jerry doesn't. He's a nineteen-year-old American, who just wants a good holiday with his friend, Brad. They are travelling round the north of England by bicycle. But strange things begin to happen in the small hotel where they are staying. First, Brad seems to think that he has been there before. And then a girl called Ellen appears . . .
The first of these three original plays is set in the seventeenth century, and the other two take place in modern times. In each play, a ghost comes back from the dead to change the lives of living people.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Five Short Plays Audio CD Pack
Martyn Ford
STAGE 1 - Playscripts
What do you do if you have a boring job in a restaurant, serving fast food to people who have no time to eat? Smile, and do your best? Perhaps it's better to find a place where time doesn't matter so much.
What if you dream of travelling to other countries, but your friends just laugh? Do you stay at home with them? Or do you decide to be more adventurous?
Perhaps you hear that someone has bought the last bag of salt in town. Do you buy
a bag from him at a high
price? Or try to make him give you a bag?
Our world is full of these kinds of problems. They make life interesting, and sometimes very funny. These five short plays show people trying to decide what to do in unexpected or difficult situations.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Ned Kelly: A True Story Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STAGE 1 - True Stories
When he was a boy, he was poor and hungry. When he was a young man, he was still poor and still hungry. He learnt how to steal horses, he learnt how to fight, he learnt how to live - outside the law. Australia in the 1870s was a hard, wild place. Rich people had land, poor people didn't. So the rich got richer, and the poor stayed poor.
Some say Ned Kelly was a bad man. Some say he was a good man but the law was bad. This is the true story of Australia's most famous outlaw.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Pocahontas
Retold by Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - True Stories
A beautiful young Indian girl, and a brave Englishman. Black eyes, and blue eyes. A friendly smile, a laugh, a look of love . . . But this is North America in 1607, and love is not easy. The girl is the daughter of King Powhatan, and the Englishman is a white man. And the Indians of Virginia do not want the white men in their beautiful country.
This is the famous story of Pocahontas, and her love for the Englishman John Smith.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Pocahontas Audio CD Pack
Retold by Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - True Stories
A beautiful young Indian girl, and a brave Englishman. Black eyes, and blue eyes. A friendly smile, a laugh, a look of love . . . But this is North America in 1607, and love is not easy. The girl is the daughter of King Powhatan, and the Englishman is a white man. And the Indians of Virginia do not want the white men in their beautiful country.
This is the famous story of Pocahontas, and her love for the Englishman John Smith.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes: Two Plays Audio CD Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 1 - Playscripts
Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective the world has ever seen, and he knows it. As the famous bank-robber, John Clay, says to him, 'You think of everything, Mr Holmes. You're very clever.' People come to him with problems that no one, not even the police, can solve. Holmes sits, and thinks, and smokes his pipe, and in the end he finds the answer.
In these plays, based on two of his stories, Holmes, helped by his old friend, Dr Watson, uses his great intelligence to solve two unusual and interesting cases.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sister Love and Other Crime Stories Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery
Some sisters are good friends, some are not. Sometimes there is more hate in a family than there is love. Karin is beautiful and has lots of men friends, but she can be very unkind to her sister Marcia. Perhaps when they were small, there was love between them, but that was a long time ago.
They say that everybody has one crime in them. Perhaps they only take an umbrella that does not belong to them. Perhaps they steal from a shop, perhaps they get angry and hit someone, perhaps they kill . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Meaning of Gifts: Stories from Turkey Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - World Stories
'I'm afraid to look in the storeroom. All our food for the winter - where is it now? Inside those hungry guests! They never stop eating! And they never say thank you! And those children - my God, they eat more than their parents!'
Izzet Efendi and his family are afraid that their guests are never going to go home, but what can they do?
Bookworms World Stories collect stories from around the world. This volume has stories by Turkish writers Huseyin Rahmi Gurpinar, Ayse Kilimci, Sait Faik, and Yalvac Ural.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Murder of Mary Jones Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - Playscripts
At the start of this play, the court room is full for today's trial. Two young men, Simon Clark and Dan Smith, stand up. The clerk asks, 'Are you guilty of the murder of Mary Jones?' 'Not guilty!' they reply. But perhaps they are guilty. The police found the murder weapon in their stolen car, and there was blood on Simon's face. If the court finds them guilty, they will go to prison for a very long time.
Can the lawyers find out the
truth, by asking the right
questions? Everyone in court wants to know who murdered Mary Jones, especially her mother, and her boyfriend, Jim. You can help to find the answer, too!
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Witches of Pendle Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 1 - True Stories
Witches are dangerous. They can kill you with a look, or a word. They can send their friend the Devil after you in the shape of a dog or a cat. They can make a clay picture of you, then break it . . . and a few weeks later you are dead.
Today, of course, most people don't believe in witches. But in 1612 everybody was afraid of them. Young Jennet Device in Lancashire knew a lot about them because she lived with the Witches of Pendle. They were her family . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Withered Arm Audio CD Pack
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Classics
A woman and a man . . . words of love whispered on a summer night. Later, there is a child, but no wedding-ring. And then the man leaves the first woman, finds a younger woman, marries her . . . It's an old story.
Yes, it's an old, old story. It happens all the time - today, tomorrow, a hundred years ago. People don't change. But this story, set among the green hills of southern England, has something different about it. Perhaps it is only a dream, or perhaps it is magic - a kind of strange dark magic that begins in the world of dreams and phantoms . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Under the Moon Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 1 - Fantasy & Horror
It is the year 2522, and the planet Earth is dying. The Artificial Ozone Layer is only 300 years old, but it is breaking up fast. Now the sun is burning down on Earth. There is no water. Without water, nothing can live. Trees die, plants die, animals die, people die . . .
In a colony under the moon, people wait for news - news from home, news from the planet Earth. And in a spaceship high above Earth, a young man watches numbers on a computer screen. The numbers tell a story, and the young man is afraid.
The planet Earth is burning, burning, burning . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Cries from the Heart: Stories from Around the World
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
From Botswana to New Zealand, from Jamaica to Nigeria, from Uganda to Malaysia, from India to South Africa, these moving stories show us that the human heart is the same in every place. Fear and pain, happiness and sadness belong to us all.
These eight stories were winning entries in the 2004 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. The writers are Sefi Atta, Adrienne M. Frater, Lauri Kubuitsile, Erica N. Robinson, Jackee Budesta Batanda, Janet Tay Hui Ching,
Anuradha
Muralidharan, and Tod Collins.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Much Ado About Nothing Audio CD Pack
William Shakespeare
Retold by Alistair McCallum
STAGE 2 - Playscripts
There are two love stories in this fast-moving comedy. Brave young Claudio and Leonato's pretty daughter Hero are in love and want to marry, but Don John has a wicked plan to stop their wedding. Will he succeed, or will the truth come out? Will Claudio and Hero marry, after all?
Beatrice and Benedick are always arguing with each other, but how do they really feel? Perhaps they are more interested in each other than they seem to be! Their friends work hard to bring them closer together.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 New Yorkers - Short Stories Audio CD Pack (American English)
O. Henry
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress, an actress - ordinary people living ordinary lives in New York at the beginning of this century. The city has changed greatly since that time, but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are poor, some are happy, some are sad, some have found love, some are looking for love.
O. Henry's famous short stories - sensitive, funny, sympathetic - give us vivid pictures of the everyday lives of these New Yorkers.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Ghost Stories Audio CD Pack
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 5 - Fantasy & Horror
After dinner we turned the lights out and played 'hide-and-seek'. In the dark, I touched a hand, a very cold hand. Now, because of the game, I had to hide in the dark with . . . with this cold person - not speaking, not knowing who it was. Slowly the others found us, hid with us, until we were all there - all thirteen. Thirteen? But there were only twelve people in the house!
We touched each other in the dark, counting. Thirteen. Quickly, nervously, I lit a match to see . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 American Crime Stories Audio CD Pack
Retold John Escott
STAGE 6 - Crime & Mystery
'Curtis Colt didn't kill that liquor store woman, and that's a fact. It's not right that he should have to ride the lightning - that's what prisoners call dying in the electric chair. Curtis doesn't belong in it, and I can prove it.' But can Curtis's girlfriend prove it? Murder has undoubtedly been done, and if Curtis doesn't ride the lightning for it, then who will?
These seven short stories, by well-known writers such as Dashiel Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, and Nancy Pickard, will keep you on the edge of your seat.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Remember Miranda Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Cathy Wilson is driving to Norfolk, to begin her new job with the Harvey family. She is going to look after the two young children, Tim and Susan. Cathy meets the children's father, and their grandmother, and their aunt. She meets Nick, the farmer who lives across the fields. But she doesn't meet Miranda, the children's mother, because Miranda is dead.
She died two years ago, and Cathy cannot learn anything about her. Everybody remembers Miranda, but nobody wants to talk about her . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 A Little Princess Audio CD Pack
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Sara Crewe is a very rich little girl. She first comes to England when she is seven, and her father takes her to Miss Minchin's school in London. Then he goes back to his work in India. Sara is very sad at first, but she soon makes friends at school.
But on her eleventh birthday, something terrible happens, and now Sara has no family, no home, and not a penny in the world . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp Audio CD Pack
Retold by Judith Dean
STAGE 1 - Fantasy & Horror
In a city in Arabia there lives a boy called Aladdin. He is poor and often hungry, but one day he finds an old lamp. When he rubs the lamp, smoke comes out of it, and then out of the smoke comes a magical jinnee.
With the jinnee's help, Aladdin is soon rich, with gold and jewels and many fine things. But can he win the love of the Sultan's daughter, the beautiful Princess Badr-al-Budur?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Christmas in Prague Audio CD Pack
Joyce Hannam
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
In a house in Oxford three people are having breakfast - Carol, her husband Jan, and his father Josef. They are talking about Prague, because Carol wants them all to go there for Christmas.
Josef was born in Prague, but he left his home city when he was a young man. He is an old man now, and he would like to see Prague again before he dies. But he is afraid. He still remembers another Christmas in Prague, many long years ago - a Christmas that changed his life for ever . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Goodbye, Mr Hollywood Audio CD Pack
John Escott
STAGE 1 - Thriller & Adventure
Nick Lortz is sitting outside a café in Whistler, a village in the Canadian mountains, when a stranger comes and sits next to him. She's young, pretty, and has a beautiful smile. Nick is happy to sit and talk with her.
But why does she call Nick 'Mr Hollywood'? Why does she give him a big kiss when she leaves? And who is the man at the next table - the man with short white hair?
Nick learns the answers to these questions three long days later - in a police station on Vancouver Island.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Love or Money? Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery
It is Molly Clarkson's fiftieth birthday. She is having a party. She is rich, but she is having a small party - only four people. Four people, however, who all need the same thing: they need her money. She will not give them the money, so they are waiting for her to die. And there are other people who are also waiting for her to die.
But one person can't wait. And so, on her fiftieth birthday, Molly Clarkson is going to die.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Mary, Queen of Scots Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - True Stories
England and Scotland in the 1500s. Two famous queens - Mary, the Catholic Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, the Protestant Queen of England. It was an exciting and a dangerous time to be alive, and to be a queen.
Mary was Queen of Scotland when she was one week old. At sixteen, she was also Queen of France. She was tall and beautiful, with red-gold hair. Many men loved her and died for her.
But she also had many enemies - men who said: 'The death of Mary is the life of Elizabeth.'
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 One-Way Ticket Audio CD Pack
Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Tom Walsh had a lot to learn about life. He liked travelling, and he was in no hurry. He liked meeting people, anyone and everyone. He liked the two American girls on the train. They were nice and very friendly. They knew a lot of places. Tom thought they were fun. Tom certainly had a lot to learn about life.
This is a collection of short stories about adventures on trains. Strange, wonderful, and frightening things can happen on trains - and all of them happen here.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Audio CD Pack
Mark Twain
Retold by Nick Bullard
STAGE 1 - Classics
Tom Sawyer does not like school. He does not like work, and he never wants to get out of bed in the morning. But he likes swimming and fishing, and having adventures with his friends. And he has a lot of adventures. One night, he and his friend Huck Finn go to the graveyard to look for ghosts.
They don't see any ghosts that night. They see something worse than a ghost - much, much worse . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Coldest Place on Earth Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - True Stories
In the summer of 1910, a race began. A race to be the first man at the South Pole, in Antarctica. Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman, left London in his ship, the Terra Nova, and began the long journey south. Five days later, another ship also began to travel south. And on this ship was Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian.
But Antarctica is the coldest place on earth, and it is a long, hard journey over the ice to the South Pole. Some of the travellers never returned to their homes again.
This is the story of Scott and Amundsen, and of one of the most famous and dangerous races in history.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Elephant Man Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - True Stories
He is not beautiful. His mother does not want him, children run away from him. People laugh at him, and call him 'The Elephant Man'.
someone speaks to him - and listens to him! At the age of 27, Joseph Merrick finds a friend for the first time in his life.
This is a true and tragic story. It is also a famous film.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Lottery Winner Audio CD Pack
Rosemary Border
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Everybody wants to win the lottery. A million pounds, perhaps five million, even ten million. How wonderful! Emma Carter buys a ticket for the lottery every week, and puts the ticket carefully in her bag. She is seventy-three years old and does not have much money. She would like to visit her son in Australia, but aeroplane tickets are very expensive.
Jason Williams buys lottery tickets every week too. But he is not a very nice young man. He steals things. He hits old ladies in the street, snatches their bags and runs away . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Monkey's Paw Audio CD Pack
W. W. Jacobs
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 1 - Fantasy & Horror
Outside, the night is cold and wet. Inside, the White family sits and waits. Where is their visitor?
There is a knock at the door. A man is standing outside in the dark. Their visitor has arrived.
The visitor waits. He has been in India for many years. What has he got? He has brought the hand of a small, dead animal - a monkey's paw.
Outside, in the dark, the visitor smiles and waits for the door to open.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Phantom of the Opera Audio CD Pack
Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Fantasy & Horror
It is 1880, in the Opera House in Paris. Everybody is talking about the Phantom of the Opera, the ghost that lives somewhere under the Opera House. The Phantom is a man in black clothes. He is a body without a head, he is a head without a body. He has a yellow face, he has no nose, he has black holes for eyes. Everybody is afraid of the Phantom - the singers, the dancers, the directors, the stage workers . . .
But who has actually seen him?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Wizard of Oz Audio CD Pack
L. Frank Baum
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 1 - Fantasy & Horror
Dorothy lives in Kansas, USA, but one day a cyclone blows her and her house to a strange country called Oz. There, Dorothy makes friends with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.
But she wants to go home to Kansas. Only one person can help her, and that is the country's famous Wizard. So Dorothy and her friends take the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, to find the Wizard of Oz . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 White Death Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 1 - Thriller & Adventure
Sarah Harland is nineteen, and she is in prison. At the airport, they find heroin in her bag. So, now she is waiting to go to court. If the court decides that it was her heroin, then she must die.
She says she did not do it. But if she did not, who did? Only two people can help Sarah: her mother, and an old boyfriend who does not love her now. Can they work together? Can they find the real criminal before it is too late?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Anne of Green Gables Audio CD Pack
L.M. Montgomery
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew want to adopt an orphan, to help on the farm at Green Gables. They ask for a boy, but they get Anne, who has red hair and freckles, and who talks and talks and talks.
They didn't want a girl, but how can they send a child back, like an unwanted parcel? So Anne stays, and begins a new life in the sleepy, quiet village of Avonlea in Canada.
But it is not so quiet after Anne comes to live there . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Dracula Audio CD Pack
Bram Stoker
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Fantasy & Horror
In the mountains of Transylvania there stands a castle. It is the home of Count Dracula - a dark, lonely place, and at night the wolves howl around the walls.
In the year 1875 Jonathan Harker comes from England to do business with the Count. But Jonathan does not feel comfortable at Castle Dracula. Strange things happen at night, and very soon, he begins to feel afraid. And he is right to be afraid, because Count Dracula is one of the Un-Dead - a vampire that drinks the blood of living people . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Henry VIII and his Six Wives Audio CD Pack
Janet Hardy-Gould
STAGE 2 - True Stories
There were six of them - three Katherines, two Annes, and a Jane. One of them was the King's wife for twenty-four years, another for only a year and a half. One died, two were divorced, and two were beheaded. It was a dangerous, uncertain life.
After the King's death in 1547, his sixth wife finds a box of old letters - one from each of the first five wives. They are sad, angry, frightened letters. They tell the story of what it was like to be the wife of Henry VIII of England.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Huckleberry Finn Audio CD Pack
Mark Twain
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Classics
Who wants to live in a house, wear clean clothes, be good, and go to school every day? Not young Huckleberry Finn, that's for sure.
So Huck runs away, and is soon floating down the great Mississippi River on a raft. With him is Jim, a black slave who is also running away. But life is not always easy for the two friends.
And there's 300 dollars waiting for anyone who catches poor Jim . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 New Yorkers - Short Stories Audio CD Pack (British English)
O. Henry
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress, an actress - ordinary people living ordinary lives in New York at the beginning of this century. The city has changed greatly since that time, but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are poor, some are happy, some are sad, some have found love, some are looking for love.
O. Henry's famous short stories - sensitive, funny, sympathetic - give us vivid pictures of the everyday lives of these New Yorkers.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Sherlock Holmes Short Stories Audio CD Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 2 - Crime & Mystery
Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective of them all. He sits in his room, and smokes his pipe. He listens, and watches, and thinks. He listens to the steps coming up the stairs; he watches the door opening - and he knows what question the stranger will ask.
In these three of his best stories, Holmes has three visitors to the famous flat in Baker Street - visitors who bring their troubles to the only man in the world who can help them.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Canterville Ghost Audio CD Pack
Oscar Wilde
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 2 - Fantasy & Horror
There has been a ghost in the house for three hundred years, and Lord Canterville's family have had enough of it. So Lord Canterville sells his grand old house to an American family. Mr Hiram B. Otis is happy to buy the house and the ghost - because of course Americans don't believe in ghosts.
The Canterville ghost has great plans to frighten the life out of the Otis family. But Americans don't frighten easily - especially not two noisy little boys - and the poor ghost has a few surprises waiting for him.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Death of Karen Silkwood Audio CD Pack
Joyce Hannam
STAGE 2 - True Stories
This is the story of Karen Silkwood. It begins with her death.
Why does her story begin where it should end? Certain people wanted her death to be an ending. Why? What were they afraid of? Karen Silkwood had something to tell us, and she believed that it was important. Why didn't she live to tell us? Will we ever know what really happened? The questions go on and on, but there are no answers.
This is a true story. It happened in Oklahoma, USA, where Karen Silkwood lived and worked . . . and died.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 A Christmas Carol Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 3 - Classics
Christmas is humbug, Scrooge says - just a time when you find yourself a year older and not a penny richer. The only thing that matters to Scrooge is business, and making money.
But on Christmas Eve three spirits come to visit him. They take him travelling on the wings of the night to see the shadows of Christmas past, present, and future - and Scrooge learns a lesson that he will never forget.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Chemical Secret Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 3 - Thriller & Adventure
The job was too good. There had to be a problem - and there was.
John Duncan was an honest man, but he needed money. He had children to look after. He was ready to do anything, and his bosses knew it.
They gave him the job because he couldn't say no; he couldn't afford to be honest. And the job was like a poison inside him. It changed him and blinded him, so that he couldn't see the real poison - until it was too late.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Frankenstein Audio CD Pack
Mary Shelley
Retold by Patrick Nobes
STAGE 3 - Fantasy & Horror
Victor Frankenstein thinks he has found the secret of life. He takes parts from dead people and builds a new 'man'. But this monster is so big and frightening that everyone runs away from him - even Frankenstein himself!
The monster is like an enormous baby who needs love. But nobody gives him love, and soon he learns to hate. And, because he is so strong, the next thing he learns is how to kill . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Love Story Audio CD Pack
Erich Segal
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 3 - Human interest
This is a love story you won't forget. Oliver Barrett meets Jenny Cavilleri. He plays sports, she plays music. He's rich, and she's poor. They argue, and they fight, and they fall in love.
So they get married, and make a home together. They work hard, they enjoy life, they make plans for the future. Then they learn that they don't have much time left.
Their story has made people laugh, and cry, all over the world.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Skyjack! Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 3 - Thriller & Adventure
When a large plane is hijacked, the Prime Minister looks at the list of passengers and suddenly becomes very, very frightened.
There is a name on the list that the Prime Minister knows very well - too well. There is someone on that plane who will soon be dead - if the hijackers can find out who he is!
And there isn't much time. One man lies dead on the runway. In a few minutes the hijackers will use their guns again. And the Prime Minister knows who they are going to kill.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Tales of Mystery and Imagination Audio CD Pack
Edgar Allan Poe
Retold by Margaret Naudi
STAGE 3 - Fantasy & Horror
The human mind is a dark, bottomless pit, and sometimes it works in strange and frightening ways. That sound in the night . . . is it a door banging in the wind, or a murdered man knocking inside his coffin? The face in the mirror . . . is it yours, or the face of someone standing behind you, who is never there when you turn round?
These famous short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, that master of horror, explore the dark world of the imagination, where the dead live and speak, where fear lies in every shadow of the mind . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Call of the Wild Audio CD Pack
Jack London
Retold by Nick Bullard
STAGE 3 - Classics
When men find gold in the frozen north of Canada, they need dogs - big, strong dogs to pull the sledges on the long journeys to and from the gold mines.
Buck is stolen from his home in the south and sold as a sledge-dog. He has to learn a new way of life - how to work in harness, how to stay alive in the ice and the snow . . . and how to fight. Because when a dog falls down in a fight, he never gets up again.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Prisoner of Zenda Audio CD Pack
Anthony Hope
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 3 - Thriller & Adventure
'We must leave for Zenda at once, to find the King!' cried Sapt. 'If we're caught, we'll all be killed!'
So Rudolf Rassendyll and Sapt gallop through the night to find the King of Ruritania. But the King is now a prisoner in the Castle of Zenda. Who will rescue him from his enemies, the dangerous Duke Michael and Rupert of Hentzau?
And who will win the heart of the beautiful Princess Flavia?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Secret Garden Audio CD Pack
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
Little Mary Lennox is a bad-tempered, disagreeable child. When her parents die in India, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle in a big, lonely, old house.
There is nothing to do all day except walk in the gardens - and watch the robin flying over the high walls of the secret garden . . . which has been locked for ten years. And no one has the key.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Tale of Two Cities Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Ralph Mowat
STAGE 4 - Classics
'The Marquis lay there, like stone, with a knife pushed into his heart. On his chest lay a piece of paper, with the words: Drive him fast to the grave. This is from JACQUES.'
The French Revolution brings terror and death to many people. But even in these troubled times people can still love and be kind. They can be generous and true-hearted . . . and brave.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Black Beauty Audio CD Pack
Anna Sewell
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
When Black Beauty is trained to carry a rider on his back, or to pull a carriage behind him, he finds it hard at first. But he is lucky - his first home is a good one, where his owners are kind people, who would never be cruel to a horse.
But in the nineteenth century many people were cruel to their horses, whipping them and beating them, and using them like machines until they dropped dead. Black Beauty soon finds this out, and as he describes his life, he has many terrible stories to tell.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Audio CD Pack
Robert Louis Stevenson
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 4 - Fantasy & Horror
You are walking through the streets of London. It is getting dark and you want to get home quickly. You enter a narrow side-street. Everything is quiet, but as you pass the door of a large, windowless building, you hear a key turning in the lock. A man comes out and looks at you. You have never seen him before, but you realize immediately that he hates you. You are shocked to discover, also, that you hate him.
Who is this man that everybody hates? And why is he coming out of the laboratory of the very respectable Dr Jekyll?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Gulliver's Travels Audio CD Pack
Jonathan Swift
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Classics
'Soon I felt something alive moving along my leg and up my body to my face, and when I looked down, I saw a very small human being, only fifteen centimetres tall . . . I was so surprised that I gave a great shout.'
But that is only the first of many surprises which Gulliver has on his travels. He visits a land of giants and a flying island, meets ghosts from the past and horses which talk.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Little Women Audio CD Pack
Louisa May Alcott
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
When Christmas comes for the four March girls, there is no money for expensive presents and they give away their Christmas breakfast to a poor family. But there are no happier girls in America than Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They miss their father, of course, who is away at the Civil War, but they try hard to be good so that he will be proud of his 'little women' when he comes home.
This heart-warming story of family life has been popular for more than a hundred years.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Silas Marner Audio CD Pack
George Eliot
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Classics
In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again. The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living.
But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away? What will Silas do then? What could possibly comfort him for the loss of his only friend?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Hound of the Baskervilles Audio CD Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Patrick Nobes
STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery
Dartmoor. A wild, wet place in the south-west of England. A place where it is easy to get lost, and to fall into the soft green earth which can pull the strongest man down to his death.
A man is running for his life. Behind him comes an enormous dog - a dog from his worst dreams, a dog from hell. Between him and a terrible death stands only one person - the greatest detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Three Men in a Boat Audio CD Pack
Jerome K. Jerome
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
'I like work. I find it interesting . . . I can sit and look at it for hours.'
With ideas like this, perhaps it is not a good idea to spend a holiday taking a boat trip up the River Thames. But this is what the three friends - and Montmorency the dog - decide to do. It is the sort of holiday that is fun to remember afterwards, but not so much fun to wake up to early on a cold, wet morning.
This famous book has made people laugh all over the world for a hundred years . . . and they are still laughing.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Treasure Island Audio CD Pack
Robert Louis Stevenson
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
'Suddenly, there was a high voice screaming in the darkness: "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!" It was Long John Silver's parrot, Captain Flint! I turned to run . . .'
But young Jim Hawkins does not escape from the pirates this time. Will he and his friends find the treasure before the pirates do? Will they escape from the island, and sail back to England with a ship full of gold?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Give us the Money
Maeve Clarke
STARTER - Crime & Mystery
'Every day is the same. Nothing exciting ever happens to me,' thinks Adam one boring Monday morning.
But today is not the same. When he helps a beautiful young woman because some men want to take her bag, life gets exciting and very, very dangerous.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Picture of Dorian Gray Audio CD Pack
Oscar Wilde
Retold by Jill Nevile
STAGE 3 - Fantasy & Horror
'When we are happy, we are always good,' says Lord Henry, 'but when we are good, we are not always happy.'
Lord Henry's lazy, clever words lead the young Dorian Gray into a world where it is better to be beautiful than to be good; a world where anything can be forgiven - even murder - if it can make people laugh at a dinner party.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Piano Audio CD Pack
Rosemary Border
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
One day, a farmer tells a farm boy to take everything out of an old building and throw it away. 'It's all rubbish,' he says.
In the middle of all the rubbish, the boy finds a beautiful old piano. He has never played before, but now, when his fingers touch the piano, he begins to play. He closes his eyes and the music comes to him - and the music moves his fingers.
When he opens his eyes again, he knows that his life has changed forever...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son Audio CD Pack
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery
Dr Huxtable has a school for boys in the north of England. When the Duke of Holdernesse decides to send his young son there, that is good news for the school. The Duke is a very important person, and Dr Huxtable is happy to have his son in the school.
But two weeks later Dr Huxtable is the unhappiest man in England. Why? And why does he take the train down to London and go to Baker Street? Why does he need the help of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes?
Because someone has kidnapped the Duke's son . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The President's Murderer Audio CD Pack
Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Thriller & Adventure
The President is dead!
A man is running in the night. He is afraid and needs to rest. But there are people behind him - people with lights, and dogs, and guns.
A man is standing in front of a desk. His boss is very angry, and the man is tired and needs to sleep. But first he must find the other man, and bring him back - dead or alive.
Two men: the hunter and the hunted. Which will win and which will lose?
Long live the President!
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