Vanity Fair Level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library

Thackeray, William

A level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Diane Mowat 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 . . . this famous novel gives us a witty and satirical picture of English society during the Napoleonic wars.

The Fifteenth Character - With Audio Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library

Border, Rosemary

A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Rosemary Border. 'It's an interesting job,' says Sally about her work at Happy Hills. And today is a very exciting day because Zapp the famous singer is coming. Everybody is having a wonderful time. But suddenly something goes wrong - very wrong.

Lottery Winner Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Border, Rosemary

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by Rosemary Border Everybody wants to win the lottery. A million pounds, perhaps five million, even ten million. How wonderful! Emma Carter buys a ticket for the lottery every week, and puts the ticket carefully in her bag. She is seventy-three years old and does not have much money. She would like to visit her son in Australia, but aeroplane tickets are very expensive. Jason Williams buys lottery tickets every week too. But he is not a very nice young man. He steals things. He hits old ladies in the street, snatches their bags and runs away . . .

The Wind in the Willows Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library

Grahame, Kenneth

A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett Down by the river bank, where the wind whispers through the willow trees, is a very pleasant place to have a lunch party with a few friends. But life is not always so peaceful for the Mole and the Water Rat. There is the time, for example, when Toad gets interested in motor-cars - goes mad about them in face . . . The story of the adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger, and Toad has been loved by young and old for over a hundred years.

One Thousand Dollars and Other Plays Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Henry, O.

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by John Escott. Money or love? Which is more important in life? Can money buy anything? Can it help a young man to marry the girl he loves? Does money really make people happy, or does it just cause problems? These four plays about money, love, and life are adapted from short stories written a hundred years ago by the great American storyteller O. Henry. Henry had his own difficulties with money and loneliness, and wrote from personal experience.

The Coldest Place on Earth Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Vicary, Tim

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Tim Vicary In the summer of 1910, a race began. A race to be the first man at the South Pole, in Antarctica. Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman, left London in his ship, the Terra Nova, and began the long journey south. Five days later, another ship also began to travel south. And on this ship was Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian. But Antarctica is the coldest place on earth, and it is a long, hard journey over the ice to the South Pole. Some of the travellers never returned home. This is the story of Scott and Amundsen, and of their famous and dangerous race.

Kidnapped Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library

Stevenson, Robert Louis

A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West 'I ran to the side of the ship. "Help, help! Murder!" I screamed, and my uncle slowly turned to look at me. I did not see any more. Already strong hands were pulling me away. Then something hit my head; I saw a great flash of fire, and fell to the ground . . .' And so begin David Balfour's adventures. He is kidnapped, taken to sea, and meets many dangers. He also meets a friend, Alan Breck. But Alan is in danger himself, on the run from the English army across the wild Highlands of Scotland . . .

The Piano Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Border, Rosemary

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Rosemary Border One day, a farmer tells a farm boy to take everything out of an old building and throw it away. 'It's all rubbish,' he says. In the middle of all the rubbish, the boy finds a beautiful old piano. He has never played before, but now, when his fingers touch the piano, he begins to play. He closes his eyes and the music comes to him - and the music moves his fingers. When he opens his eyes again, he knows that his life is changed for ever . . .

Sister Love and Other Crime Stories Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Escott, John

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by John Escott. Some sisters are good friends, some are not. Sometimes there is more hate in a family than there is love. Karin is beautiful and has lots of men friends, but she can be very unkind to her sister Marcia. Perhaps when they were small, there was love between them, but that was a long time ago. They say that everybody has one crime in them. Perhaps they only take an umbrella that does not belong to them. Perhaps they steal from a shop, perhaps they get angry and hit someone, perhaps they kill . . .

A Christmas Carol - With Audio Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library

Dickens, Charles

A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. Christmas is humbug, Scrooge says - just a time when you find yourself a year older and not a penny richer. The only thing that matters to Scrooge is business, and making money. But on Christmas Eve three spirits come to visit him. They take him travelling on the wings of the night to see the shadows of Christmas past, present, and future - and Scrooge learns a lesson that he will never forget. . . .

The Kiss: Love Stories from North America - With Audio Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library

Bassett, Jennifer

A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. Love stories with a difference . . . There's a kiss by a fireside that was a mistake, there's a man-hating aunt by the seaside, and a gunman in Texas wanting a fight. There's a white heron flying over a forest, and a messenger running between two benches in a park. And of course, there's a girl who meets a boy . . . These love stories are by US writers Kate Chopin, Stephen Crane, Sarah Orne Jewett, O. Henry, and Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of the famous Anne of Green Gables).

Shirley Homes and the Cyber Thief - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Bassett, Jennifer

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. Shirley Homes, private investigator. Like Sherlock Holmes a hundred years ago, she lives in London, enjoys working on difficult cases, and has some helpful friends. She understands people, is a good listener, and of course, she is clever with computers. In today's world that is important, because a lot of crime is cyber crime. In this second Shirley Homes detective story, Shirley must catch a cyber thief. But how? You can't see a cyber thief, you can't hear a cyber thief. Only the computer knows, and the computer isn't talking . . .

Anne of Green Gables Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Montgomery, L. M.

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew want to adopt an orphan, to help on the farm at Green Gables. They ask for a boy, but they get Anne, who has red hair and freckles, and who talks and talks and talks. They didn't want a girl, but how can they send a child back, like an unwanted parcel? So Anne stays, and begins a new life in the sleepy, quiet village of Avonlea in Canada. But it is not so quiet after Anne comes to live there . . .

The White Stones Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library

Lester Vaughan

A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Lester Vaughan. 'The people on this island don't like archaeologists,' the woman on the ferry says. You only want to study the 4,500 year-old Irish megalithic stones but very soon strange things begin to happen to you. Can you solve the mystery in time?

The President's Murderer - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Bassett, Jennifer

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. The President is dead! A man is running in the night. He is afraid and needs to rest. But there are people behind him - people with lights, and dogs, and guns. A man is standing in front of a desk. His boss is very angry, and the man is tired and needs to sleep. But first he must find the other man, and bring him back - dead or alive. Two men: the hunter and the hunted. Which will win and which will lose? Long live the President!

The Girl with Red Hair - With Audio Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library

Lindop, Christine

A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Christine Lindop. Every day people come to Mason's store - old people, young people, men and women. From his office, and in the store, Mark watches them. And when they leave the store, he forgets them. Then one day a girl with red hair comes to the store, and everything changes for Mark. Now he can't forget the beautiful face, those green eyes, and that red hair . . .

Five Short Plays - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Ford, Martyn

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Martyn Ford. What do you do if you have a boring job in a restaurant, serving fast food to people who have no time to eat? Smile, and do your best? Perhaps it's better to find a place where time doesn't matter so much. What if you dream of travelling to other countries, but your friends just laugh? Do you stay at home with them? Or do you decide to be more adventurous? Perhaps you hear that someone has bought the last bag of salt in town. Do you buy a bag from him at a high price? Or try to make him give you a bag? Our world is full of these kinds of problems. They make life interesting, and sometimes very funny. These five short plays show people trying to decide what to do in unexpected or difficult situations.

Sense and Sensibility - With Audio Level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library

Austen, Jane

A level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. 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?

Leonardo da Vinci Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Raynham, Alex

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Alex Raynham. 'What does the world look like from the moon?' 'How do our bodies work?' 'Is it possible for people to fly?' 'Can I make a horse of bronze that is 8 metres tall?' 'How can we have cleaner cities?' All his life, Leonardo da Vinci asked questions. We know him as a great artist, but he was one of the great thinkers of all time, and even today, doctors and scientists are still learning from his ideas. Meet the man who made a robot lion, wrote backwards, and tried to win a war by moving a river . . .

Age of Innocence - With Audio Level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library

Wharton, Edith

A level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. 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.

Black Beauty Level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library

Sewell, Anna

A level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by John Escott 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.

The Monkey's Paw Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

W. W. Jacobs

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Diane Mowat. Outside, the night is cold and wet. Inside, the White family sits and waits. Where is their visitor? There is a knock at the door. A man is standing outside in the dark. Their visitor has arrived. The visitor waits. He has been in India for many years. What has he got? He has brought the hand of a small, dead animal - a monkey's paw. Outside, in the dark, the visitor smiles and waits for the door to open.

The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo - With Audio Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library

Vicary, Tim

A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Tim Vicary. Charles Bravo died from the poison antimony. He took three days to die, and the doctors could do nothing to help him. There were three people who had reasons for wanting Charles Bravo dead - Florence Bravo herself, Charles Bravo's new young wife; Dr James Gully, Florence's former lover; and Mrs Jane Cox, Florence's friend and companion. But the enquiry into the death in 1876 could not decide who the murderer was, and for more than 130 years people have wondered who did kill Charles Bravo . . .

The Love of a King - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Dainty, Peter

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Peter Dainty. All he wanted to do was to marry the woman he loved. But his country said 'No!' He was Edward VIII, King of Great Britain, King of India, King of Australia, and King of thirty-nine other countries. And he loved the wrong woman. She was beautiful and she loved him - but she was already married to another man. It was a love story that shook the world. The King had to choose: to be King, or to have love . . . and leave his country, never to return.