Travel and Adventure
Some of the world’s greatest classics are stories of courage and resourcefulness in the face of physical hardship. Real Reads launched this exciting new series with two of the key works in the genre: Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, his powerful study of isolation and inventiveness based on a true story, and Herman Melville’s great whaling epic of daring adventure and manic obsession, Moby Dick. We have since added several more titles, including Jules Verne’s madcap ‘Voyages Extraordinaires’ Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, along with Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Walter Scott’s Rob Roy, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Kidnapped.
Gulliver’s Travels
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ISBN: 978-1-906230-85-2
£7.99
An amazing sight met my eyes. All around me were dozens of human creatures a little less than six inches high, chattering together in high-pitched voices in a strange language.
When Lemuel Gulliver is shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean, it’s the start of a series of adventures stranger than he could possibly have imagined. After the tiny inhabitants of Lilliput become suspicious of Gulliver, they plan to kill their huge visitor. What deadly scheme do they come up with?
Gulliver makes a friend in the land of the giants - Glumdalclitch, a nine year old girl. Can she protect him from the frightening creatures in Brobdingnag?
Once he has said goodbye to the peculiar scientists in their flying island, Gulliver discovers the fierce and brutal Yahoos. Will he ever return home safely to his wife and family in England?
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth
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ISBN: 978-1-911091-07-3
£7.99
Just beyond me on the rocky floor of the volcanic crater was the gaping vertical shaft which marked the starting point of our journey. As I gazed into its fearful depths my hair stood on end and my head swirled with dizziness.
Most scientists believed that the fierce heat and tremendous pressure would make a journey to the Earth’s centre impossible. When Professor Lindenbrock decides to prove them wrong it is the beginning of an amazing adventure, full of surprising discoveries and unpredictable threats.
When Axel – the Professor’s nephew – agrees to join his uncle’s expedition, he has no idea of the dangers which lie ahead of him. Can he and his companions survive their encounters with the strange creatures which inhabit the depths of the Earth, and will they ever return safely to their families and friends?
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Kidnapped
A bright flash of lightning lit up the darkness and showed me the horrible truth – the stairs came to a sudden stop, and if I had taken one more step I would have plunged to my death upon the flagstones far below.
When young David Balfour visits his uncle Ebenezer, he hopes for some good news about his inheritance. Instead he is kidnapped. Why do his enemies want to get rid of him?
After David makes friends with a Scottish soldier, Alan Breck Stewart, he discovers that Alan has rebelled against the King of England. David is a loyal subject of King George – so should he help his friend when he discovers that Alan’s life is in deadly danger?
David soon finds that he is a wanted man, hunted by the English redcoats. Can he escape from the wild and hazardous Highlands of Scotland before he is captured?
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Moby Dick
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ISBN: 978-1-906230-72-2
Lexile® Rating: 730L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 4.5 what is this?
F&P Level: Y what is this?
£7.99
‘Breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!’ cried Ahab. ‘Thy hour and thy harpoon are at hand!’
Why does Captain Ahab look like a man who’s being crucified? How did he come by that hideous scar and the false leg made of a whale’s bone? And why is he obsessed by Moby Dick, the great white whale?
Ishmael, the new recruit, has other strange shipmates. There’s Queequeg for instance, covered in weird tattoos and selling shrunken human heads. And what of the shadowy figures creeping on board the whaling ship Pequod?
Ahab leads them all in reckless pursuit of Moby Dick. Will he succeed in killing the whale, or will Moby Dick lure Ahab and his crew to destruction?
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Rob Roy
Frank hates working in his father’s office. He swaps places with his cousin Rashleigh. But what is Rashleigh up to? Who are his mysterious friends?
Frank has to find some missing papers to save his father’s business. The search takes him to Scotland, where he finds that his life is in danger. But who is it that wants to kill him?
Frank meets the outlaw Rob Roy and heads for the Highlands, where he’s seized by soldiers looking for Jacobite rebels.
Whose side is Rob Roy really on? And how can Frank recover the papers which will save his father?
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Robinson Crusoe
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Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-71-5
Lexile® Rating: 780L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.0 what is this?
F&P Level: V what is this?
£7.99
Running away to sea brings adventure and wealth, but then come shipwreck and a desperate struggle for survival.
Defying his parents, Robinson Crusoe goes to sea. He is captured by pirates but escapes to Brazil. He makes a fortune using slave labour to grow tobacco and sugar. He sails to Africa to bring back more slaves but is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island.
Everyone else is drowned. For over twenty years he lives alone. He learns to hunt and fish and make shelter. Then the cannibals arrive. Will this be the end of his adventure - or the chance to escape?
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Treasure Island
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ISBN: 978-1-911091-09-7
Lexile® Rating: 970L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.8 what is this?
£7.99
Dr Livesey opened up the folded paper. As he spread it out on the table in front of him, I gasped. Even a brief glimpse was enough to tell me it was a map of a small island – and a red cross had been drawn upon it, together with the words ‘The treasure lies here’.
After the discovery of the map young Jim Hawkins joins an expedition to the island with Dr Livesey and the squire. But who else knows the secret of the buried treasure?
Soon Jim and his companions find that they are in a desperate fight for survival with Captain Flint’s old shipmates, who are determined to kill everyone who stands between them and the hidden gold. Who is the peculiar man who lives on the island? Whose side is he on?
When Jim is separated from his friends, can he think of a way to outwit the pirates before they capture him?
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Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
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ISBN: 978-1-911091-06-6
£7.99
Clouds of multi–coloured fish rose from our feet like surprised birds from long grass. Every so often I caught a glimpse of the gleaming eyes of enormous crabs, their gigantic claws threatening to bar my path.
When Professor Aronnax and his two companions find themselves aboard the Nautilus they are amazed by the huge and powerful submarine and its mysterious owner, Captain Nemo. The three friends travel vast distances beneath the oceans, exploring an undersea realm full of excitement, discoveries and danger.
Captain Nemo seems to have some secret purpose. Why has he shut himself off from the world, and what are his plans for the Nautilus? The captain has told them that he can never leave his vessel. Will the Professor and his companions find a way to escape from their underwater prison?
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Waverley
Edward Waverley is an English officer in the army of King George, but will his love for Flora, the beautiful Scottish rebel, lead him to betray his King?
Life with his regiment in Scotland is dull until he visits his uncle’s friends in the Highlands, where he meets Fergus McIvor and his sister Flora. Attracted by the wild freedom and romance of the Scottish clans, Edward finds himself in a difficult and dangerous position. His new friends are Jacobites, planning to overthrow King George and restore the Stuart monarchy.
The Jacobites rise in rebellion. When Prince Charles leads an invasion of England, Edward’s loyalties are hopelessly divided. Whose side will he take? And what fate awaits them all?
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