Oxford Bookworms Library

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 On the Edge

Gillian Cross
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 3 - Thriller & Adventure

When Tug wakes up, he is not in his own bedroom at home. The door is locked and there are bars across the window. Loud music hammers through the house and through his head. Then a woman comes in and says that she is his mother, but Tug knows that she is not his mother . . .

Outside, Jinny stares through the trees at the lonely house on the hill. She hears strange noises, but she turns away. After all, it's none of her business . . .

• Where to order

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 . . .

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Crown of Violet

Geoffrey Trease
Retold by John Escott

STAGE 3 - Thriller & Adventure

High up on a stone seat in the great open-air theatre of Athens, Alexis, son of Leon, watches the Festival of Plays - and dreams of seeing his own play on that famous stage.

So, as the summer passes, Alexis writes his play for the next year's Festival. But then, with his friend Corinna, he learns that Athens has enemies - enemies who do not like Athenian democracy, and who are planning a revolution to end it all . . .

• Where to order

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.

• Where to order

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.

• Where to order

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.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Ear-rings from Frankfurt Audio CD Pack

Reg Wright

Richard Walton is in trouble again. He has lost his job, and he has borrowed money from his sister, Jennifer - again. And now he has disappeared. Jennifer is looking for him, and so are the police. They both have some questions that they want to ask him.

How did he lose his job? Why did he fly to Frankfurt? Who gave his girlfriend those very expensive gold ear-rings?

Only Richard can answer these questions. But nobody can find Richard.

• Where to order

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Justice

Tim Vicary

STAGE 3 - Thriller & Adventure

London: November.

Terrorists blow up the Queen's coach outside Parliament. The Queen escapes, but five people are killed, and forty others badly hurt - ordinary, innocent people, like Alan Cole, the Queen's coachman, who loses his leg in the bombing. And for Alan and his daughter Jane there is more terror to come, in the search for the truth behind the bombing. Will the terrorists be caught and brought to justice?

But what kind of justice? What can give Alan Cole his leg back, or give life back to people who have been blown to pieces by a bomb?

• Where to order

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 . . .

• Where to order