The Murder of Mary Jones Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Vicary, Tim

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Tim Vicary. At the start of this play, the court room is full for today's trial. Two young men, Simon Clark and Dan Smith, stand up. The clerk asks, 'Are you guilty of the murder of Mary Jones?' 'Not guilty!' they reply. But perhaps they are guilty. The police found the murder weapon in their stolen car, and there was blood on Simon's face. If the court finds them guilty, they will go to prison for a very long time. Can the lawyers find out the truth, by asking the right questions? Everyone in court wants to know who murdered Mary Jones, especially her mother, and her boyfriend, Jim. You can help to find the answer, too!

Little Women Level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library

Alcott, Louisa May

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

The Bridge and Other Love Stories Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Lindop, Christine

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Christine Lindop. Luke is a good-looking young man, but he's not very clever with words. Gemma is clever with words, but what does she want? Lucy and Becky are good friends, but what about Sam? He makes wonderful cakes, but does he make mistakes too? Nina and Dragan are in love, so deeply in love, but they live in the wrong place, at the wrong time . . . All love stories have moments of happiness, pain, misunderstanding, laughter, and sometimes great sadness. But love will nearly always find a way . . .

A Ghost in Love and Other Plays - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Dean, Michael

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 Michael Dean. Do you believe in ghosts? Jerry doesn't. He's a nineteen-year-old American, who just wants a good holiday with his friend, Brad. They are travelling round the north of England by bicycle. But strange things begin to happen in the small hotel where they are staying. First, Brad seems to think that he has been there before. And then a girl called Ellen appears . . . The first of these three original plays is set in the seventeenth century, and the other two take place in modern times. In each play, a ghost comes back from the dead to change the lives of living people.

The Unquiet Grave - Short Stories Level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library

M. R. James

A level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Peter Hawkins. 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.

Three Men in a Boat - With Audio Level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library

Jerome, Jerome K.

A level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Diane Mowat. '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.

Dead Man's Island - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Escott, John

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 John Escott. Mr Ross lives on an island where no visitors come. He stops people from taking photographs of him. He is young and rich, but he looks sad. And there is one room in his house which is always locked. Carol Sanders and her mother come to the island to work for Mr Ross. Carol soon decides that there is something very strange about Mr Ross. Where did he get his money from? How can a young man buy an island? So she watches, and she listens - and one night she learns what is behind the locked door.

One Thousand Dollars and Other Plays - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Henry, O.

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. 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 Woman in White Level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library

Collins, Wilkie

A level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Richard G. Lewis 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.

The Garden Party and Other Stories Level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library

Mansfield, Katherine

A level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Rosalie Kerr 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.

Goodbye Mr Hollywood Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Escott, John

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by John Escott Nick Lortz is sitting outside a caf in Whistler, a village in the Canadian mountains, when a stranger comes and sits next to him. She's young, pretty, and has a beautiful smile. Nick is happy to sit and talk with her. But why does she call Nick 'Mr Hollywood'? Why does she give him a big kiss when she leaves? And who is the man at the next table - the man with short white hair? Nick learns the answers to these questions three long days later - in a police station on Vancouver Island.

The Thirty-Nine Steps Level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library

Buchan, John

A level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Nick Bullard '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 to 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?

The Withered Arm Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Hardy, Thomas

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett A woman and a man . . . words of love whispered on a summer night. Later, there is a child, but no wedding-ring. And then the man leaves the first woman, finds a younger woman, marries her . . . It's an old story. Yes, it's an old, old story. It happens all the time -- today, tomorrow, a hundred years ago. People don't change. But this story, set among the green hills of southern England, has something different about it. Perhaps it is only a dream, or perhaps it is magic - a kind of strange dark magic that begins in the world of dreams and phantoms . . .

Les Miserables - 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. Retold for Learners of English 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 Miserables 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.

Huckleberry Finn Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Twain, Mark

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Diane Mowat Who wants to live in a house, wear clean clothes, be good, and go to school every day? Not young Huckleberry Finn, that's for sure. So Huck runs away, and is soon floating down the great Mississippi River on a raft. With him is Jim, a black slave who is also running away. But life is not always easy for the two friends. And there's 300 dollars waiting for anyone who catches poor Jim . . .

Love among the Haystacks - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library

Lawrence, D. H.

A level 2 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. It is hay-making time on the Wookey farm. Two brothers are building the haystack, but thinking about other things - about young women, and love. There are angry words, and then a fight between the brothers. But the work goes on, visitors come and go, and the long hot summer day slowly turns to evening. Then the sun goes down, covering the world with a carpet of darkness. From the hedges around the hayfield comes the rich, sweet smell of wild flowers, and the hay will make a fine, soft bed . . .

Sherlock Holmes: Two Plays - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by John Escott. Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective the world has ever seen, and he knows it. As the famous bank-robber, John Clay, says to him, 'You think of everything, Mr Holmes. You're very clever.' People come to him with problems that no one, not even the police, can solve. Holmes sits, and thinks, and smokes his pipe, and in the end he finds the answer. In these plays, based on two of his stories, Holmes, helped by his old friend, Dr Watson, uses his great intelligence to solve two unusual and interesting cases.

Last Chance Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library

Burrows Phillip, Foster Mark

A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Phillip Burrows and Mark Foster. 'How can Mr Frank be angry now?' thinks Mike happily. His film is good and he is the only cameraman on the volcano. Now he can go home. But then he finds Jenny and she is dying. Rocks start to move and Mike is afraid. Can they get off the volcano alive? And what happens to Mike's camera and film?  

Far from the Madding Crowd - With Audio Level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library

Hardy, Thomas

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. 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 . . .

The Human Body - With Audio Level 3 Factfiles Oxford Bookworms Library

Raynham, Alex

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 Alex Raynham. You're fast asleep, and nothing is happening. Or is it? In fact, your body is hard at work. Your lungs are taking oxygen from the air, and your heart is pumping blood round your body. Millions of pieces of information are travelling backwards and forwards to your brain all the time. Muscles are repairing themselves, and in your lymph nodes special cells are cleaning germs and waste from the body. You may think that nothing is happening, but in the extraordinary machine that is the human body, it is very busy indeed . . .

A Ghost in Love and Other Plays Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Dean, Michael

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Michael Dean. Do you believe in ghosts? Jerry doesn't. He's a nineteen-year-old American, who just wants a good holiday with his friend, Brad. They are travelling round the north of England by bicycle. But strange things begin to happen in the small hotel where they are staying. First, Brad seems to think that he has been there before. And then a girl called Ellen appears . . . The first of these three original plays is set in the seventeenth century, and the other two take place in modern times. In each play, a ghost comes back from the dead to change the lives of living people.

Wuthering Heights - With Audio Level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library

Bront, Emily

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. 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.

Mary Queen of Scots - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Vicary, Tim

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 Tim Vicary. England and Scotland in the 1500s. Two famous queens - Mary, the Catholic Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, the Protestant Queen of England. It was an exciting and a dangerous time to be alive, and to be a queen. Mary was Queen of Scotland when she was one week old. At sixteen, she was also Queen of France. She was tall and beautiful, with red-gold hair. Many men loved her and died for her. But she also had many enemies - men who said: 'The death of Mary is the life of Elizabeth.'

Ethan Frome - With Audio Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library

Wharton, Edith

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 Susan Kingsley. Life is always hard for the poor, in any place and at any time. Ethan Frome is a farmer in Massachusetts. He works long hours every day, but his farm makes very little money. His wife, Zeena, is a thin, grey woman, always complaining, and only interested in her own ill health. Then Mattie Silver, a young cousin, comes to live with the Fromes, to help Zeena and do the housework. Her bright smile and laughing voice bring light and hope into the Fromes' house - and into Ethan's lonely life. But poverty is a prison from which few people escape . . .