Penguin Readers & Pearson English Readers (1200 headwords)

Some people choose adventure. Others suddenly find themselves in danger in their ordinary lives. This book tells the true stories of survivors. In the Antarctica cold or the Sahara Desert heat, in the wide Atlantic Ocean or a small Rwandan bathroom, these people have known terrible suffering but have lived.

American English

While John Wood was working for Microsoft, he went on vacation to Nepal. There, in a small mountain village, he visited a school library which had very few books. The shock of this experience changed his life. Now his charity, Room to Read, has built more than 10,000 libraries and schools to give childrenin poor countries a better future.

American English

Laura and her father live quietly in a castle in the middle of a thick forest, but their lives change when beautiful, strange Carmilla becomes their guest. People start dying, and Laura also becomes ill. Laura's father is worried. Will his daughter die too? Or can the deaths be stopped?

Benjamin Button is a very strange baby. Born with a white beard, he looks like his grandfather. As years pass, he seems to get younger. This brings many problems, for him and the people around him. In these three stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald, people are not always as they seem.

American English

While John Wood was working for Microsoft, he went on vacation to Nepal. There, in a small mountain village, he visited a school library which had very few books. The shock of this experience changed his life. Now his charity, Room to Read, has built more thgan 10,000 libraries and schools to give children in poor countries a better future.

American English

King Lear is old but not wise. He loves the two daughters who secretly hate him. He hates the only daughter who really loves him. In time, he discovers his mistake. Has he learnt his lesson? Or will his proud and angry nature bring him even more sadness and pain? British English

Jane, a 20-year-old writer falls in love with Tom Lefroy who studies law. Jane’s romance inspired her to write Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Read the story of Jane Austen and how she became one of the greatest writers of English literature.

A blind musician plays to the spirits of the dead. A priest is attacked by heads that have left their bodies. An old man meets a woman who has no face. Read these and many more strange, ghostly stories from old Japan – and be afraid! CD-ROM - additional activities and the complete audio recording