Five Short Plays


Martyn Ford - 2007
    Use these fully illustrated classic and contemporary plays for reading practice or performance.Each script offers performance notes, character lists, exercises, and glossaries.

Dead Man's Island


John Escott - 1992
    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.

White Death


Tim Vicary - 1992
    At the airport, they find heroin in her bag. So, now she is waiting to go to court. If the court decides that it was her heroin, then she must die. She says she did not do it. But if she did not, who did? Only two people can help Sarah: her mother, and an old boyfriend who does not love her now. Can they work together? Can they find the real criminal before it is too late?

Far from the Madding Crowd


Clare West - 2008
    The tale of a passionate, independent woman and her three suitors, it explores Hardy's trademark themes: thwarted love, the inevitability of fate, and the encroachment of industrial society on rural life.

Cries from the Heart: Stories from Around the World (Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 2)


Jennifer Bassett - 2007
    Fear and pain, happiness and sadness belong to us all. These eight stories were winning entries in the 2004 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. The writers are Sefi Atta, Adrienne M. Frater, Lauri Kubuitsile, Erica N. Robinson, Jackee Budesta Batanda, Janet Tay Hui Ching, Anuradha Muralidharan, and Tod Collins.

The Lottery Winner


Rosemary Border - 1997
    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 Witches of Pendle


Rowena Akinyemi - 1995
    They can kill you with a look, or a word. They can send their friend the Devil after you in the shape of a dog or a cat. They can make a clay picture of you, then break it . . . and a few weeks later you are dead. Today, of course, most people don't believe in witches. But in 1612 everybody was afraid of them. Young Jennet Device in Lancashire knew a lot about them because she lived with the Witches of Pendle. They were her family . . .

Voodoo Island


Michael Duckworth - 2000
    Accessible language and carefully controlled vocabulary build students' reading confidence. Introductions at the beginning of each story, illustrations throughout, and glossaries help build comprehension. Before, during, and after reading activities included in the back of each book strengthen student comprehension. Audio versions of selected titles provide great models of intonation and pronunciation of difficult words.

Frankenstein (Oxford Bookworms Stage 3)


Patrick Nobes - 1989
    He takes parts from dead people and builds a new 'man'. But this monster is so big and frightening that everyone runs away from him - even Frankenstein himself!The monster is like an enormous baby who needs love. But nobody gives him love, and soon he learns to hate. And, because he is so strong, the next thing he learns is how to kill...----Oxford Bookworms take students through six stages toward real reading in English. Each one has been chosen for its enjoyment vale and its quality of writing.

A Ghost in Love and Other Plays


Michael Dean - 2000
    They are travelling round the north of England by bicycle. But stranger thingsbegin to happen in the small hotel where they are staying.First, Brad seems to think that he has been there before. and then a girlcalled Ellen appears . . .The first of these three original plays is set in the seventeenth century, and the other two take place inmodern times. In each play, a ghost comes back fromthe dead to change the lives of living people.

Emperor’s Bane


S.J.A. Turney - 2016
    Tenzhin is only a boy when his tribe strikes deep into the Jin Empire and faces the might of the Jade Emperor. After his father is killed before his eyes, he is plunged into a new world: ancient, courtly – and brutal.Adopted by the Emperor, the boy must forget his old life and learn to survive the challenges of life as a prince. Tenzhin must perfect his mind, his soul and finally his body, in order to prepare for what lies ahead. Allies are few and far between, and eventually he must face the biggest trial of them all… Emperor’s Bane is a novella set in the Tales of the Empire universe. A gritty tale based on the Mongolian invasions of imperial China, it will engross readers of Guy Gavriel Kay and Conn Iggulden. The Tales of the Empire series Interregnum Ironroot Dark Empress Insurgency

In the Shadow of the Mountain


Helen Naylor - 1999
    Clare's grandfather has been found frozen in a glacier, 74 years after a climbing accident. Clare knows this could make an interesting story for her newspaper, but as she investigates her grandfather's last climb, she learns that the accident wasn't as simple as she had first thought.Cambridge English Readers: Level 5

The House by the Sea


Patricia Aspinall - 1999
    When he asks local people whether they have seen her, they appear helpful, but he soon begins to wonder whether they are hiding information from him about his missing wife.

The Mystery of Allegra


Peter Foreman - 1997
    The books are graded at six vocabulary levels, ranging from 400 words (Beginning) to 2,500 words (Advanced.)

Spring Music


Elvi Rhodes - 1999
    She had to leave the comfortable home she had shared with Edward and their three children, now all grown-up, and move into a small flat in the middle of Bath. The dramatic change in her lifestyle threatened to overwhelm her. But gradually Naomi began to appreciate the changes, and even to enjoy them. For the first time in her life she could do what she liked, and make her own friends. If these included men friends - well, why not? Unfortunately her children could think of many reasons why not, and Naomi began a battle to establish her own independence, and to persuade her family that she had moved into the springtime of a whole new life. In this warm and inspiring new novel, Elvi Rhodes's wonderful storytelling skills are used to explore a dilemma faced by many women today.