Dominoes

English graded readers series for upper-primary / lower-secondary

Inside Dominoes (26)

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?

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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.

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Dominoes Starter A Pretty Face

John Escott

Zoe Baker works in a bookstore. She also likes acting, and she has a part in the play Romeo and Juliet. Mike Morrison writes about the play for the newspaper. What does he write about Zoe? Is Zoe a good actress ... or is she just 'a pretty face'?

What does Zoe think when she reads the newspaper? What does she do?

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Dominoes Starter Mulan

Retold by Janet Hardy-Gould

When the Emperor calls every man to join the army and fight the enemy, Mulan's father is old and ill, and cannot go. Wearing men's clothes and riding a horse, Mulan leaves her family and fights bravely for the Emperor in her father's place.

She is soon a hero for all the soldiers in the Chinese army. One of them, Ye Ming, is her best friend. But does he know that she is a woman? And can Mulan fall in love with a friend?

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Dominoes Starter Sinbad

Retold by Janet Hardy-Gould

Sinbad the sailor spends many years at sea. He visits strange countries, meets some strange people and some frightening animals. He is sometimes rich, sometimes poor and always in danger. But all the time he is learning from his adventures, until finally he returns home to Baghdad, an older and wiser man.

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Dominoes Starter The Great Fire of London

Janet Hardy-Gould

It's London, 1666. It's a hot, dry summer. A small fire starts in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane. Soon the city of London is burning and the fire-fighters can't stop the fire. People are running from their houses down to the River Thames.

But how does the fire begin and who can stop it? What is the King of England doing to help?

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Dominoes Starter William Tell and Other Stories

Retold by John Escott

The men and the woman in this book - William Tell, Tom Blood, Lord Bao, King Matthias, Johnny Appleseed, and Lady Godiva - are all real people from history.

But every time someone tells an old story, they change things in it, to make them bigger, better, and more exciting. So what is true in this book and what is not? Read all six of the stories, and see what you think.

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Dominoes Starter Blackbeard

Retold by John Escott

The year is 1717. It is a bad time to be the captain of a ship in the Caribbean because of pirates. The most frightening pirate on the sea is Edward Teach, or 'Blackbeard'.

'The Governor of Virginia wants us all dead!' Blackbeard thinks. 'But can he kill me - the most famous pirate in the Caribbean? No!'

This is his story...

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Dominoes Starter Changing Places

Alan Hines

Hal works at the zoo every day and his life isn't exciting until he meets Tim. Tim is a movie star. He has a difficult life, and he is unhappy until he meets Hal. But when they meet, and agree to change places, interesting things start to happen. And, by changing places, the two men learn what is truly important in their lives.

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Dominoes Starter Hercules

Retold by Janet Hardy-Gould

Hercules is the strongest man in the world, but one day he does something very bad.

The priestess at Delphi tells him: 'The gods are angry with you. For twelve years you must work for King Eurystheus, and do twelve tasks for him. When you finish, the gods can forgive your crime.'

Some tasks are easier, and some tasks are more difficult. Can Hercules finish all twelve of them? And what happens when he does?

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Dominoes Starter Kidnap!

John Escott

One cold winter morning, a famous movie star and her teenage daughter are driving along a country road...

A blue van is waiting for them. Tom is in the van, but he's not a kidnapper - he's an artist. He usually draws pictures for adventure stories. Now he's in a real life adventure.

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Dominoes Starter The Big Story

John Escott

'Bring me something new and exciting. Bring me a BIG story!' says Rosie's editor at The Record newspaper.

And, when she leaves the office, Rosie does find a story. A story that is bigger then she expects. A story that takes her across Europe, into a dangerous world of art and art thieves.

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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?

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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.

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Dominoes Starter Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Jules Verne
Text adaptation by Merinda Wilson

In Hamburg, Germany, Professor Otto Lidenbrock comes home with an old Icelandic book. In it there is a message about a journey to the centre of the Earth.

This is the beginning of one of Jules Vernes most exciting stories.

'Is this message true? We must go to Iceland and see!' says Lidenbrock excitedly. But his nephew, Axel, wants to stay at home.

Can Lidenbrock and Axel and their Icelandic guide, Hans find the centre of the Earth? And can they all get home alive after their many underground adventures?

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Dominoes Starter Rip Van Winkle & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Washington Irving
Text adaptation by Alan Hines

In the first of these stories, Rip van Winkle sleeps for over twenty years, and then wakes up to a world that he no longer understands. In the other story, Ichabod Crane, the school teacher, meets a headless rider in the middle of a dark night. These two classic tales of the supernatural by Washington Irving have been popular for nearly two hundred years.

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Dominoes 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?

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Dominoes Starter Around the World in Eighty Days

Jules Verne
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler

'Today you can go round the world in eighty days,' says Phileas Fogg.

'Do it, and I pay you 20,000 pounds,' says his friend Stuart.

This is the beginning of one of Jules Verne's most exciting stories. Phileas Fogg must get back to London by December 21st or lose all his money. And with the help of his servant, Passepartout, Fogg travels in many ways - from train to elephant - and has some surprising adventures on the way.

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