All Graded Readers

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Thumbelina Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 Cinderella Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 The Little Mermaid Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Rumplestiltskin Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Shoemaker and the Elves Activity Book & Play

New Edition

Read the famous tale of the old shoemaker. How do the elves help him?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Beauty and the Beast Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Gingerbread Man Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Princess and the Pea Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 The Magic Brocade Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Magic Cooking Pot Activity Book & Play

New Edition

Enjoy the tale of the hungry little girl, her mother, and the magic cooking pot.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Big Baby Finn Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Ugly Duckling Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 The Goose Girl Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

New

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Rumplestiltskin

New Edition

Enjoy the famous tale of the miller's daughter and the little man who can spin gold.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Gingerbread Man

New Edition

Find out what happens when the old woman makes a gingerbread man and he jumps out of the oven ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Thumbelina

New Edition

Follow the adventures of Thumbelina, the little girl who comes from inside a flower.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 Cinderella

New Edition

Enjoy the famous tale of Cinderella, who wanted to go to the prince's party.

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter The Little Match Girl

New

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 The Twelve Dancing Princesses Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Beauty and the Beast

New Edition

Find out what happened when kind, clever Beauty had to live with a beast ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Activity Book & Play

New Edition

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Princess and the Pea

Enjoy the famous tale of the prince who isn't happy. How can he find a real princess?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 The Little Mermaid

Enjoy the sad tale of the mermaid who loved a prince.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Shoemaker and the Elves

Read the famous tale of the old shoemaker. How do the elves help him?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Aladdin Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter The Selfish Giant

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter Perseus

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Mansour and the Donkey Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Little Red Hen Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Magic Cooking Pot

Enjoy the tale of the hungry little girl, her mother, and the magic cooking pot.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Enormous Turnip Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 The Goose Girl

Enjoy the tale of the princess who had to work as a goose girl.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 The Magic Brocade

Enjoy the tale of the old woman's magic brocade. What did her sons do when it blew away?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Ugly Duckling

Follow the adventures of the famous duckling. Why is he big, strange, and ugly?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Big Baby Finn

Enjoy the tale of the Irish giant Finn MacCool and his clever wife Oonah.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Enjoy the famous tale of Snow White and the bad queen who wanted to kill her.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Three Billy Goats Gruff Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Goldilocks and the Three Bears Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Enjoy the tale of the princesses who had holes in their shoes every morning. What did they do every night?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Amrita and the Trees Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Mansour and the Donkey

Enjoy this tale from Morocco, and find out how the hungry old donkey helps Mansour.

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Peach Boy Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Aladdin

Enjoy the famous tale of Aladdin and the wonderful old lamp.

• Where to order

Dominoes Starter Heidi

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?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Jack and the Beanstalk Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Pinocchio Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 Sleeping Beauty Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Peach Boy

Enjoy the famous Japanese tale of Momotaro - Peach Boy - and his friends. Can they fight the ogres?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Enormous Turnip

Read the tale of the man who pulls, and pulls, and pulls the enormous turnip, but cannot move it ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Little Red Riding Hood Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Lownu Mends the Sky Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Fisherman and His Wife Activity Book & Play

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Enjoy the famous tale of the three clever goats and the hungry troll ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 Lownu Mends the Sky

Find out how Lownu mends all the holes in the day sky and in the night sky ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 1 The Little Red Hen

Enjoy the tale of the hard-working hen and her three unhelpful friends...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Amrita and the Trees

Read the tale of Amrita and the forest trees. What happens when the king's men want to chop down the trees?

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 Jack and the Beanstalk

Follow Jack's adventures when he climbs the magic beanstalk

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Fisherman and His Wife

Read the tale of the fisherman's wife who always wants more ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 2 The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

Find out what happens when Town Mouse comes to the country and Country Mouse goes to the town ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Find out what happened when a little girl called Goldilocks went into the three bears' house ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 3 Little Red Riding Hood

Follow the adventures of the little girl who met a wolf in the forest

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 4 Sleeping Beauty

Enjoy the tale of the princess who slept for a hundred years ...

• Where to order

Classic Tales Second Edition Level 5 Pinocchio

Follow the adventures of the wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy ...

• Where to order

Dominoes Starter Sheherazade

Bill Bowler

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Three Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Three Hard Times

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Three Little House on the Prairie

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes One Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Three The Last of the Mohicans

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Three The Secret Agent

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes One Sherlock Holmes: The Emerald Crown

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Three The Count of Monte Cristo

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...

• Where to order

Dominoes Two Emma

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Two Nicholas Nickleby

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Two The Three Musketeers

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Two White Fang

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes One Macbeth

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes One Pollyanna

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Starter The Tempest

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Three Mansfield Park

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Three The Moonstone

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Two Sherlock Holmes: The Norwood Mystery

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Two Typhoon

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Starter The Happy Prince

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes One Five Canterbury Tales

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Starter Tristan and Isolde

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes Two The Turn of the Screw

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?

• Where to order

Dominoes One Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond

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.

• Where to order

Dominoes Starter Around the World in Eighty Days

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 A Passage To India

E. M. Forster

STAGE 6 - Classics

A mysterious incident at the Marabar Caves, involving Adela Quested, newly arrived from England, and Dr Aziz, an Indian doctor, leads to a drama that divides the British and Indian communities in anger, distrust, and fear.
Forsters great novel brings to life all the dangers and misunderstandings of colonialism but, as Forster himself wrote, the story is about something wider than politics, about the search of the human race for a more lasting home, about the universe as embodied in the Indian earth and the Indian sky, about the horror lurking in the Marabar Caves...

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Little Lord Fauntleroy

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...

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Lord Jim

Joseph Conrad
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 4 - Classics

A hundred years ago a seaman's life was full of danger, but Jim, the first mate on board the Patna, is not afraid of danger. He is young, strong, confident of his bravery. He dreams of great adventures - and the chance to show the world what a hero he is.

But the sea is no place for dreamers. When the chance comes, on a calm moonlit night in the Indian Ocean, Jim fails the test, and his world falls to pieces around him. He disappears into the jungles of south-east Asia, searching for a way to prove himself, once and for all . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following eight titles:

Brat Farrar
David Copperfield
Deadlock
Far from the Madding Crowd
Ghost Stories
Great Expectations
Sense and Sensibility
Wuthering Heights

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following eight titles:

American Crime Stories
Cry Freedom
The Enemy
Jane Eyre
Night Without End
Oliver Twist
Pride and Prejudice
Tess of the d'Urbervilles

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Ethan Frome

Edith Wharton
Retold by Susan Kingsley

STAGE 3 - Classics

Life is always hard for the poor, in any place and at any time. Ethan Frome is a farmer in Massachusetts. He works long hours every day, but his farm makes very little money. His wife, Zeena, is a thin, grey woman, always complaining, and only interested in her own ill health.

Then Mattie Silver, a young cousin, comes to live with the Fromes, to help Zeena and do the housework. Her bright smile and laughing voice bring light and hope into the Fromes' house - and into Ethan's lonely life.

But poverty is a prison from which few people escape . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Persuasion

Jane Austen
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 4 - Classics

At nineteen Anne Elliot refuses an offer of marriage from Frederick Wentworth, persuaded to do so by Lady Russell, a friend of her dead mother. Wentworth is a sailor, with no money and an uncertain future, says Lady Russell - just a nobody, certainly not worthy of a baronet's daughter.

Eight years later Wentworth returns, a rich and successful captain, looking for a wife. Anne is still unmarried, but Captain Wentworth clearly prefers the company of the two Musgrove girls . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 5 - Classics

Into the narrow social world of New York in the 1870s comes Countess Ellen Olenska, surrounded by shocked whispers about her failed marriage to a rich Polish Count. A woman who leaves her husband can never be accepted in polite society.

Newland Archer is engaged to young May Welland, but the beautiful and mysterious Countess needs his help. He becomes her friend and defender, but friendship with an unhappy, lonely woman is a dangerous path for a young man to follow - especially a young man who is soon to be married.

• Where to order

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Three Strangers and Other Stories

Thomas Hardy
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 3 - Classics

On a stormy winter night, a stranger knocks at the door of a shepherd's cottage. He is cold and hungry, and wants to get out of the rain. He is welcomed inside, but he does not give his name or his business. Who is he, and where has he come from? And he is only the first visitor to call at the cottage that night . . .

In these three short stories, Thomas Hardy gives us pictures of the lives of shepherds and hangmen, dukes and teachers. But rich or poor, young or old, they all have the same feelings of fear, hope, love, jealousy . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Wind in the Willows

Kenneth Grahame
Retold by Jennifer Bassett

STAGE 3 - Classics

Down by the river bank, where the wind whispers through the willow trees, is a very pleasant place to have a lunch party with a few friends. But life is not always so peaceful for the Mole and the Water Rat. There is the time, for example, when Toad gets interested in motor-cars - goes mad about them in fact . . .

The story of the adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger, and Toad has been loved by young and old for over a hundred years.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Last Sherlock Holmes Story

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Railway Children

Edith Nesbit
Retold by John Escott

STAGE 3 - Human Interest

'We have to leave our house in London,' Mother said to the children. 'We're going to live in the country, in a little house near a railway line.'

And so begins a new life for Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. They become the railway children - they know all the trains, Perks the station porter is their best friend, and they have many adventures on the railway line.

But why has their father had to go away? Where is he, and will he ever come back?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Cranford

Elizabth Gaskell
Retold by Kate Mattock

STAGE 4 - Classics

Life in the small English town of Cranford seems very quiet and peaceful. The ladies of Cranford lead tidy, regular lives. They make their visits between the hours of twelve and three, give little evening parties, and worry about their maid-servants. But life is not always smooth - there are little arguments and jealousies, sudden deaths and unexpected marriages . . .

Mrs Gaskell's timeless picture of small-town life in the first half of the nineteenth century has delighted readers for nearly 150 years.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Scarlet Letter

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?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 David Copperfield

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Far from the Madding Crowd

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Love among the Haystacks

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 . . .

• Where to order

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Tales from Longpuddle

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Through the Looking-Glass

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Lorna Doone

R.D. Blackmore
Retold by David Penn

STAGE 4 - Human Interest

One winter's day in 1673 young John Ridd is riding home from school, across the wild lonely hills of Exmoor. He has to pass Doone valley - a dangerous place, as the Doones are famous robbers and murderers. All Exmoor lives in fear of the Doones.

At home there is sad news waiting for young John, and he learns that he has good reason to hate the Doones. But in the years to come he meets Lorna Doone, with her lovely smile and big dark eyes. And soon he is deeply, hopelessly, in love . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Washington Square

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Great Expectations

Charles Dickens
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 5 - Classics

In a gloomy, neglected house Miss Havisham sits, as she has sat year after year, in a wedding dress and veil that were once white, and are now faded and yellow with age. Her face is like a death's head; her dark eyes burn with bitterness and hate. By her side sits a proud and beautiful girl, and in front of her, trembling with fear in his thick country boots, stands young Pip.

Miss Havisham stares at Pip coldly, and murmurs to the girl at her side: 'Break his heart, Estella. Break his heart!'

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Sense and Sensibility

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?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Barchester Towers

Anthony Trollope
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 6 - Classics

Mrs Proudie, the warlike wife of the new Bishop of Barchester, brings the Reverend Slope into the Bishop's Palace to help dominate her husband and rule the local clergy. But Slope is a snake in the grass, determined to find a rich wife, to win advancement for himself, even to fight Mrs Proudie if necessary.

Their battle becomes a furious dance, involving rich, pretty Widow Bold, angry Archdeacon Grantly, man-eating Signora Neroni, gentle Mr Harding, confused Parson Quiverful and his fourteen noisy children.

This classic comic story is Trollope's most famous novel.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 6 - Classics

'The moment I first met you, I noticed your pride, your sense of superiority, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others. You are the last man in the world whom I could ever be persuaded to marry,' said Elizabeth Bennet.

And so Elizabeth rejects the proud Mr Darcy. Can nothing overcome her prejudice against him? And what of the other Bennet girls - their fortunes, and misfortunes, in the business of getting husbands?

This famous novel by Jane Austen is full of wise and humorous observation of the people and manners of her times.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Tess of the d'Urbervilles

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll
Retold by Jennifer 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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Importance of Being Earnest

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes: Two Plays

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Withered Arm

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Much Ado About Nothing

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Romeo and Juliet

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?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:

The Call of the Wild
Chemical Secret
A Christmas Carol
Frankenstein
Love Story
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Prisoner of Zenda
The Secret Garden
Skyjack!
Tales of Mystery and Imagination

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:

Black Beauty
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gulliver's Travels
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Little Women
Silas Marner
A Tale of Two Cities
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Three Men in a Boat
Treasure Island

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Jungle Book

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Silas Marner

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?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Jane Eyre

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Oliver Twist

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 The Woman in White

Wilkie Collins
Retold by Richard G. Lewis

STAGE 6 - Thriller & Adventure

The woman in white first appears at night on a lonely heath near London and is next seen at a grave-side in Cumberland. Who is she? Where has she come from, and what is her history? She seems alone and friendless, frightened and confused. And it seems she knows a secret - a secret that could bring ruin and shame to a man who will do anything to keep her silent.

This famous mystery thriller by Wilkie Collins has excitement, suspense, romance, and a plot that twists and turns on every page.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Starter A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain
Retold by Alan Hines

STARTER - Classics

Hank Morgan is a happy young man in Connecticut, USA, in 1879 until one day someone runs into his office and shouts, 'Come quickly, Boss! Two men are fighting.' After this, something very strange happens to him, and his life changes forever.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Starter The Ransom of Red Chief

O. Henry
Retold by Paul Shipton

STARTER - Classics

Bill and Sam arrive in the small American town of Summit with only two hundred dollars, but they need more and Sam has an idea for making a lot of money. When things start to go very wrong, both men soon regret their visit - and their idea.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:

Anne of Green Gables
The Canterville Ghost
The Death of Karen Silkwood
Dracula
Henry VIII and his Six Wives
Huckleberry Finn
New Yorkers
The Piano
Robinson Crusoe
Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Wuthering Heights

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Huckleberry Finn

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe
Retold by Diane Mowat

STAGE 2 - Classics

'I often walked along the shore, and one day I saw something in the sand. I went over to look at it more carefully . . . It was a footprint - the footprint of a man!'

In 1659 Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked on a small island off the coast of South America. After fifteen years alone, he suddenly learns that there is another person on the island. But will this man be a friend - or an enemy?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Black Beauty

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Gulliver's Travels

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Little Women

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Hound of the Baskervilles

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson
Retold by John Escott

STAGE 4 - Thriller & Bestseller

'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?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 A Little Princess

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 A Christmas Carol

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Frankenstein

Mary Shelley

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Call of the Wild

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Picture of Dorian Gray

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Prisoner of Zenda

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?

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Secret Garden

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.

• Where to order