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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
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Les Misérables
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
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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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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Gazing at Stars: Stories from Asia
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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Gandhi
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.
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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.
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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.
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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 4 The Price of Peace: Stories from Africa
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?
Useful and free
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...
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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 Disaster!
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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The History of the English Language
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 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.
Useful and free
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 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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Land of my Childhood: Stories from South Asia
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 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?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Great Crimes
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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Nelson Mandela
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?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Doors to a Wider Place: Stories from Australia
Retold by Christine 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 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 . . .
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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
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Heat and Dust
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
Heat and dust - these simple, terrible words describe the Indian summer. Year after year, endlessly, it is the same. And everyone who experiences this heat and dust is changed for ever.
We often say, in these modern times, that sexual relationships have changed, for better or for worse. But in this book we see that things have not changed. Whether we look back sixty years, or a hundred and sixty, we see that it is not things that change, but people. And, in
the heat and
dust of an Indian summer, even people are not very different after all.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Riddle of the Sands
Erskine Childers
Retold by Peter Hawkins
STAGE 5 - Thriller & Adventure
When Carruthers joins his friend Arthur Davies on his yacht Dulcibella, he is expecting a pleasant sailing holiday in the Baltic Sea. But the holiday turns into an adventure of a different kind. He and Davies soon find themselves sailing in the stormy waters of the North Sea, exploring the channels and sandbanks around the German Frisian Islands, and looking for a secret - a secret that could mean great danger for England.
Erskine Childers' novel, published in 1903, was the first great modern spy story, and is still as exciting to read today as it was a hundred years ago.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Treading on Dreams: Stories from Ireland
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 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 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
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Desert, Mountain, Sea
Sue Leather
STAGE 4 - True Stories
Three different parts of the world, but all of them dangerous, lonely places. Three different women, but all of them determined to go - and to come back alive!
Robyn Davidson walked nearly 3,000 kilometres across the Australian desert - with a dog and four camels.
Arlene Blum led a team of ten women to the top of Annapurna - one of the highest mountains in the world. Only eight came down again.
Naomi James sailed
around the world alone, on a journey
lasting more than 250 days.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Jeeves and Friends - Short Stories
P.G. Wodehouse
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
What on earth would Bertie Wooster do without Jeeves, his valet? Jeeves is calm, tactful, resourceful, and has the answer to every problem. Bertie, a pleasant young man but a bit short of brains, turns to Jeeves every time he gets into trouble. And Bertie is always in trouble.
These six stories include the most famous of P. G. Wodehouse's memorable characters. There are three stories about Bertie and Jeeves, and three about Lord Emsworth,
who, like Bertie, is
often in trouble, battling with his fierce sister Lady Constance, and his even fiercer Scottish gardener, the red-bearded Angus McAllister . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Decline and Fall
Evelyn Waugh
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
After a wild, drunken party, Paul Pennyfeather is forced to leave Oxford and begin a new life out in the wide world. His experiences take him from a boys' private school in Wales, where he meets some rather strange people, to a life of luxury in a grand country house and the Ritz Hotel, and then to seven years' hard labour in prison. Where will it all end?
The black humour of this story about English society in the 1920s is as fresh today as it was when the
novel was
first written.
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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
. . .
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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 4 The Unquiet Grave - Short Stories
M.R. James
Retold by Peter Hawkins
STAGE 4 - Fantasy & Horror
If you find a locked room in a lonely inn, don't try to open it, even on a bright sunny day. If you find a strange whistle hidden among the stones of an old church, don't blow it. If a mysterious man gives you a piece of paper with strange writing on it, give it back to him at once. And if you call a dead man from his grave, don't expect to sleep peacefully ever again.
Read these five ghost stories by daylight, and make sure your door is locked.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea
Arthur Ransome
Retold by Ralph Mowat
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
The four Walker children never meant to go to sea. They had promised their mother to stay safely in the harbour, and to be home on Friday in time for tea.
But there they are in someone else's boat, drifting out to sea in a thick fog. When the fog lifts, they can turn round and sail back to the harbour. But then comes the wind and the storm, driving them out even further across the cold North Sea . . .
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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
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 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 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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Bride Price
Buchi Emecheta
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
When her father dies, Aku-nna and her young brother have no one to look after them. They are welcomed by their uncle because of Aku-nna's 'bride price' - the money that her future husband will pay for her.
In her new, strange home one man is kind to her and teaches her to become a woman. Soon they are in love, although everyone says he is not a suitable husband for her. The more the world tries to separate them, the more they are drawn together - until, finally, something has to break.
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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
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 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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 This Rough Magic
Mary Stewart
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 5 - Thriller & Adventure
The Greek island of Corfu lies like a jewel, green and gold, in the Ionian sea, where dolphins swim in the sparkling blue water. What better place for an out-of-work actress to relax for a few weeks?
But the island is full of danger and mysteries, and Lucy Waring's holiday is far from peaceful. She meets a rude young man, who seems to have something to hide. Then there is a death by drowning, and then another . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Dublin People - Short Stories
Maeve Binchy
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
A young country girl comes to live and work in Dublin. Jo is determined to be modern and independent, and to have a wonderful time. But life in a big city is full of strange surprises for a shy country girl . . .
Gerry Moore is a man with a problem - alcohol. He knows he must give it up, and his family and friends watch nervously as he battles against it. But drink is a hard enemy to fight . . .
These stories by the Irish writer Maeve Binchy are full of affectionate humour and wit, and sometimes a little sadness.
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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?
Useful and free
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 . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Mr Midshipman Hornblower
C.S. Forester
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
'Hornblower fired. There was a small cloud of smoke, but no bang. This is death, he thought. My pistol was the unloaded one.'
But Horatio Hornblower does not die. He survives the duel with Simpson, learns to overcome his seasickness, and goes on to risk his life many times over. It is 1793, Britain is at war with France, and life on a sailing ship of war is hard and dangerous. But the hardest battles are fought by Hornblower within himself.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Reflex
Dick Francis
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
People who ride racehorses love the speed, the excitement, the danger - and winning the race. Philip Nore has been riding for many years and he always wants to win - but sometimes he is told to lose. Why?
And what is the mystery about the photographer, George Millace, who has just died in a car crash?
Philip Nore knows the answer to the first question, and he wants to find out the answer to the second. But as he begins to learn George
Millace's secrets, he
realizes that his own life is in danger.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Silver Sword
Ian Serraillier
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
Jan opened his wooden box and took out the silver sword. 'This will bring me luck,' he said to Mr Balicki. 'And it will bring you luck because you gave it to me.'
The silver sword is only a paper knife, but it gives Jan and his friends hope. Hungry, cold, and afraid, the four children try to stay alive among the ruins of bombed cities in war-torn Europe. Soon they will begin the long and dangerous journey south, from Poland to Switzerland, where they hope to find their parents again.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Whispering Knights
Penelope Lively
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Fantasy & Horror
'I don't know that you have done anything wrong,' Miss Hepplewhite said. 'But it is possible that you have done something rather dangerous.'
William and Susie thought they were just playing a game when they cooked a witch's brew in the old barn and said a spell over it, but Martha was not so sure. And indeed, the three friends soon learn that they have called up something dark and evil out of the distant past . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Meteor and Other Stories
John Wyndham
Retold by Patrick Nobes
STAGE 6 - Fantasy & Horror
It was just a smooth round metal ball, less than a metre in diameter. Although it was still hot from its journey through the huge nothingness of space, it looked quite harmless. But what was it, exactly? A meteor, perhaps - just one of those pieces of rock from outer space that occasionally fall down on to the planet Earth. But meteors don't usually make strange hissing sounds . . .
In this collection of four of his famous science-fiction stories, John
Wyndham creates
visions of the future that make us think carefully about the way we live now.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
There are so many things that a mother wishes to teach her daughter. How to lose your innocence but not your hope. How to keep hoping, when hope is your only joy. How to laugh for ever.
This is the story of four mothers and their daughters - Chinese-American women, the mothers born in China, and the daughters born in America. Through their eyes we see life in pre-Revolutionary China, and life in downtown San Francisco; women struggling to find a cultural
identity that can
include a past and a future half a world apart.
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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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Eagle of the Ninth
Rosemary Sutcliff
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
In the second century AD, when the Ninth Roman Legion marched into the mists of northern Britain, not one man came back. Four thousand men disappeared, and the Eagle, the symbol of the Legion's honour, was lost.
Years later there is a story that the Eagle has been seen again. So Marcus Aquila, whose father disappeared with the Ninth, travels north, to find the Eagle and bring it back, and to learn how his father died. But the tribes of the north are wild and dangerous, and they hate the Romans . . .
Useful and free
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?
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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.
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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 Brat Farrar
Josephine Tey
Retold by Ralph Mowat
STAGE 5 - Thriller & Adventure
'You look exactly like him! You can take the dead boy's place and no one will ever know the difference. You'll be rich for life!'
And so the plan was born. At first Brat Farrar fought against the idea; it was criminal, it was dangerous. But in the end he was persuaded, and a few weeks later Patrick Ashby came back from the dead and went home to inherit the family house and fortune. The Ashby family seemed happy to welcome Patrick home, but Brat soon realized that somewhere there was a time-bomb ticking away, waiting to explode . . .
Useful and free
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.
Useful and free
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 . . .
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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 Stage 5 Great Expectations Audio CD Pack
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!'
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Cold Comfort Farm
Stella Gibbons
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
The farm lies in the shadow of a hill, and the farmyard rarely sees the sun, even in summer, when the sukebind hangs heavy in the branches. Here live the Starkadders - Aunt Ada Doom, Judith, Amos, Seth, Reuben, Elfine... They lead messy, untidy lives, full of dark thoughts, moody silences, and sudden noisy quarrels.
That is, until their attractive young cousin arrives from London. Neat, sensible, efficient, Flora Poste cannot bear messes
(they are so
uncivilized). She begins to tidy up the Starkadders' lives at once . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Deadheads
Reginald Hill
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 6 - Crime & Mystery
An English rose garden on a summer's day. A small boy watches with interest as his great-aunt cuts the deadheads off the rosebushes with a sharp knife. What could be more peaceful, more harmless?
Young Patrick grows up to be a calm, pleasant man, with a good job, a wife and two children, and the best rose garden for miles around. When somebody tells the police that Patrick Aldermann is killing people, Chief Superintendent Dalziel thinks it's probably all nonsense. But Inspector Pascoe is not so sure . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Night Without End
Alistair MacLean
Retold by Margaret Naudi
STAGE 6 - Thriller & Adventure
On the Polar ice-cap, 640 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, the deadly, icy winds can freeze a man to death in minutes. But the survivors of the crashed airliner are lucky - they are rescued by three scientists from a nearby weather station.
But why did the airliner crash in the first place? Who smashed the radio to pieces? And why does the dead pilot have a bullet hole in his back? The rescue quickly turns into a nightmare: a race through the endless Arctic night, a race against time, cold, hunger - and a killer with a gun.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Dubious Legacy
Mary Wesley
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
In 1944 Henry Tillotson brings his new wife, Margaret, home to his farmhouse in the English countryside. Margaret is a strange, unpleasant woman, determined, it seems, to make Henry's life miserable. 'Poor Henry!' say his friends, as they visit at weekends and holidays. 'What an awful life he has!' But Henry is not at all the sad and disappointed man we might expect him to be. He manages to enjoy life, and indeed, has quite a lot of fun, one way and another . . .
Mary Wesley's story takes a sharp but light-hearted look at love, sex, and marriage - and the things people will do to get what they want.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Morbid Taste For Bones
Ellis Peters
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery
Murder in the twelfth century is no different from murder today. There is still a dead body, though this time with an arrow through the heart instead of a bullet. There is still a need to bury the dead, to comfort the living - and to catch the murderer.
When Brother Cadfael comes to a village in the Welsh hills, he finds himself doing all three of those things. And there is nothing simple about this death. The murdered man's daughter needs Cadfael's help in more ways than one. There are questions about the arrow. And the burial is the strangest thing of all . . .
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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 . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The African Queen
C.S. Forester
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
The African Queen is an old, dirty, ugly, unreliable steamboat. No one would expect a missionary's sister and a rough, uneducated mechanic to take a boat like that down a dangerous river through the forests of Central Africa. But Rose Sayer and Charlie Allnutt do just that.
Why do they do it? The First World War has just begun, and Rose has a wild and crazy plan. She and Charlie set off down the river and come close to death many times, but they survive all dangers - except the danger of falling in love . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery
General Sternwood has four million dollars, and two young daughters, both pretty and both wild. He's an old, sick man, close to death, but he doesn't like being blackmailed. So he asks private detective Philip Marlowe to get the blackmailer off his back.
Marlowe knows the dark side of life in Los Angeles well, and nothing much surprises him. But the Sternwood girls are a lot wilder than their old father realizes. They like men, drink, drugs - and it's not just a question of blackmail.
Useful and free
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 . . .
Useful and free
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!'
Useful and free
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?
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 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.
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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.
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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 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.
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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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 The Enemy
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 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 4 Death of an Englishman
Magdalen Nabb
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery
It was a very inconvenient time for murder. Florence was full of Christmas shoppers and half the police force was already on holiday.
At first it seemed quite an ordinary murder. Of course, there are always a few mysteries. In this case, the dead man had been in the habit of moving his furniture at three o'clock in the morning. Naturally, the police wanted to know why. The case became more complicated. But all the time, the answer was right under their noses.
They just
couldn't see it. It was, after all, a very ordinary murder.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Moonspinners
Mary Stewart
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
When Nicola arrives in Crete a day early, she gets more than just an extra day of holiday. She comes to a village where no one can be trusted, and she becomes involved in a murder mystery that puts her own life in danger.
This story is set in a small village in the mountains of Crete. This is an island where people have strong feelings, where arguments begin suddenly, and end quickly. And Nicola has arrived in the middle of an argument that could end very
quickly - with a
gun.
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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
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Deadlock
Sara Paretsky
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 5 - Crime & Mystery
V. I. Warshawski, private investigator, Chicago, USA.
People imagine private detectives to be tired-looking men in raincoats, but Vic is female. She's tough, beautiful, carries a gun - and goes on asking questions until she gets answers.
When her cousin Boom Boom dies in an accident, Vic is naturally upset. She wants to know how and why the accident happened, and she isn't satisfied by the answers she gets. So she goes on asking questions . . . and more people start to die.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick
Retold by A. Hopkins and J. Potter
STAGE 5 - Fantasy & Horror
San Francisco lies under a cloud of radioactive dust. People live in half-deserted apartment buildings, and keep electric animals as pets because so many real animals have died. Most people emigrate to Mars - unless they have a job to do on Earth.
Like Rick Deckard - android killer for the police and owner of an electric sheep. This week he has to find, identify, and kill six androids which have escaped from Mars. They're machines, but they look and sound and
think like
humans - clever, dangerous humans. They will be hard to kill.
The film Blade Runner was based on this famous novel.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Ghost Stories
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 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 5 I, Robot - Short Stories
Isaac Asimov
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 5 - Fantasy & Horror
A human being is a soft, weak creature. It needs constant supplies of air, water, and food; it has to spend a third of its life asleep, and it can't work if the temperature is too hot or too cold.
But a robot is made of strong metal. It uses electrical energy directly, never sleeps, and can work in any temperature. It is stronger, more efficient - and sometimes more human than human beings.
Isaac Asimov was one of the greatest
science-fiction writers, and these
short stories give us an unforgettable and terrifying vision of the future.
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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 6 Cry Freedom
John Briley
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 6 - True Stories
They said Steve Biko was a man of violence; then why did he talk of peace? They said he wanted revolution; so why did he talk of friendship? They said he died of hunger; why was his body broken and bruised?
This is the story of a man's fight with the government of South Africa. It is the story of all people who prefer truth to lies. It is the story of all people who cry 'Freedom', and who are not afraid to die.
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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
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 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 Stage 6 American Crime Stories
Retold by 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 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.
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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 . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 The Fly and Other Horror Stories
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 6 - Fantasy & Horror
Flies are a nuisance. They are annoying when they buzz around you, but you can brush them away with your hand. After all, a fly is only about half the size of your fingernail. But suppose it wasn't. Catch a fly and look at it closely - look at its head, its eyes, its legs. Now imagine that this thing was the size of a human being . . .
These eight stories offer horror in many shapes and forms, in worlds full of monsters and evil spirits, where terror lies waiting in the shadows, and where the living and the dead dance hand in hand.
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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.
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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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Tale of Two Cities
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
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
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
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
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.
Useful and free
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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Thirty-Nine Steps
John Buchan
Retold by Nick Bullard
STAGE 4 - Thriller & Adventure
'I turned on the light, but there was nobody there. Then I saw something in the corner that made my blood turn cold. Scudder was lying on his back. There was a long knife through his heart, pinning him to the floor.'
Soon Richard Hannay is running for his life across the hills of Scotland. The police are chasing him for a murder he did not do, and another, more dangerous enemy is chasing him as well - the mysterious 'Black Stone'. Who are these people? And why do they want Hannay dead?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Three Men in a Boat
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.
Useful and free
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?
Useful and free
Useful and free
Useful and free
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library
Third Edition
English graded readers series for secondary level to adult
Beginner to Advanced
A1 to C1
Read your way to better English with Oxford Bookworms
Useful and free
Useful and free
