Edgar Allan Poe
The Gold-Bug
Retold by
Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-81-4
Lexile® Rating: 820L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.2 what is this?
£7.99
‘Dat gold-bug was a vicious bug. Massa caught it first but it bit him. I think da bite has made Massa poorly. It has affected him in da head.’
William Legrand has found a new type of bug, a golden bug, unusually heavy. His servant, Jupiter, is worried. Why is Legrand behaving so oddly? Has the bug’s bite made him mad? When Legrand shows his friend a drawing of the gold-bug, it looks more like a skull. What can this mean?
The arrival of the gold-bug leads the three men on an exciting adventure towards skeletons, a skull, and a hunt for buried treasure.
Should we believe Jupiter’s superstitious fears, or is there a more logical explanation of events? If there is, can you, the reader, discover it?
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The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Retold by
Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-48-7
Lexile® Rating: 890L what is this?
F&P Level: Z what is this?
£7.99
Here is a test, a puzzle for you. It is a faithful account of two most gruesome murders. Can you work out what actually happened in the early hours of one fateful morning in the Rue Morgue?
Before you start, here are a few tips. To be a good detective you need the same skills as a good card-player. You must consider and examine every detail, not just the obvious ones. You have to observe every change in a person’s face, everything they say, everything they do and you must always expect the unexpected. And finally, you must remember it all.
In this most strange tale, you’ll see a friend of mine at work. He has an astonishingly analytical mind. So, pit your own powers of analysis against his – and against mine. Can you solve the mystery of the murders in the Rue Morgue?
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The Pit and the Pendulum
The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. The intense darkness oppressed and stifled me so that I struggled for breath.
Having been condemned to death by the Spanish Inquisition, the narrator descends into a kind of hell. Dizzy with weakness and fainting with fear, he experiences such torments that death itself would be welcome. What troubles him most is the eternal question: how will he die?
Toledo Prison is notorious for the torture of the condemned. What minds have dreamed up the terror of the pit in the centre of the cell? What is the significance of the painted figure of Time with his menacing pendulum? Why do the walls glow with heat?
Experience with the narrator the intensity of his suffering when death seems inevitable but its form uncertain. Can anything, or anybody, help him?
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