Dominoes

Dominoes Quick Starter Troy

New

Retold by Bill Bowler

'I see Troy in flames years from now - because Paris brings disaster to us,' Queen Hecuba says about her son.

Paris's father, King Priam, wants to kills him. But Paris lives, and later loves Helen - King Menelaus's queen - from Greece. When Paris brings Helen to Troy, war begins between the Trojans and Greeks.

What happens when Paris's brother Hector and the Greek fighter Achilles meet in battle? Who wins the war, and how? Read Troy and find the answers.

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

New

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter The Little Match Girl

New

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter The Selfish Giant

• Where to order

Dominoes Quick Starter Perseus

• 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

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 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 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 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