Penguin Readers & Pearson English Readers (1700 headwords)

Sir Henry Curtis, Captain John Good and Allan Quatermain are travelling to the mysterious, unmapped heart of Africa. Sir Henry wants to find his missing brother. Quatermain wants to find King Solomon’s secret treasure. Is Sir Henry’s brother still alive? Will they find King Solomon’s treasure? Does the treasure even exist...?

Guy Haines is travelling through Texas on a train when a stranger invites him to share a meal. But the stranger has a terrible plan. ‘You murder my father, and I’ll murder your wife,’ he suggests. So begins Guy’s journey into a world of madness, lies and death.

Nuclear war has destroyed all life in thenorthern countries of the world. Now the deadly radiation is travelling south. In Australia, where people are still alive, Peter and Mary Holmes are trying to live their lives as normally as possible as the radiation comes closer and closer. What can they do? Is this the end of life on earth?

Alexander the Great has fascinated people since his death more than 2300 years ago. By the age of thirty he ruled the biggest Empire the world had ever known. This remarkable leader brought civilization to millions and shaped our world.

Inventors are special people. They see everyday objects and imagine something better. They solve old problems with new ideas. Their inventions can help people or destroy them, but only the greatest ideas will change the world. This book will tell you about many of the most interesting and important inventions, from 2,500 years ago to the present day.

Shakespeare’s plays are famous all over the world – in the theatre, in film and in the classroom. What do we know about the man? What kind of life did he have? Who were his friends? Why can we still laugh and suffer with his characters 400 years after his death?

Jim Braddock is a successful boxer in New York. But in October 1929 the American economy fails, and at the same time Jim starts to lose in the boxing ring. Does the true story of Jim Braddock — the Cinderella Man — have a happy ending?

In London, Christmas is coming and the people in this story have love on their minds. Some have found love; some have lost it. Some accept their loneliness; others live in hope. Even the new British prime minister’s thoughts are not always on his job – because love, actually, is all around us.

A tree full of enormous spiders, a living thing with no face, a picture that comes alive, and a boy with no heart. These are some of the frightening things in these stories by M. R. James, one of the greatest horror writers of all time.

Katherine Mansfield is one of the most famous short story writers in the English language. These four stories take place about a hundred years ago in England and New Zealand. They are sometimes funny, sometimes sad and often cruel.

Emma Woodhouse is beautiful, clever and rich. She likes to arrange marriages between her friends and neighbours in the village of Highbury. But Emma makes a lot of mistakes and causes more problems than happy marriages. Then she almost loses her own chance of love.

The American South has lost the Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara works very hard to get her old life back for herself and her family but she has no money. Rhett Butler is rich but is soon to be hanged for murder. And what about Ashley Wilkes? He is married but Scarlett is still in love with him. Who will win Scarlett in the end? One of the greatest romantic sagas ever written, Gone with the Wind is also a well-loved classic film starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.