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Muhammad: The Life of the Prophet
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Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-62-3
Lexile® Rating: 1050L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 6.7 what is this?
F&P Level: Y what is this?
£7.99
Can people learn the wisdom of thinking about others, and not just about themselves?
Muhammad is an honest trader living in Mecca. He is happily married to a wealthy merchant, and they have lovely children. Life should be wonderful. But for Muhammad it isn’t enough. He begins to spend long periods of time alone, thinking deeply about life and his relationship with God.
One day when he is in the mountains Muhammad receives a message from God. He must share it with all those around him, knowing that it will completely change the way in which people understand their lives. But will anybody believe in his message? What if some people don’t want to listen?
This is the story of the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the man who brought to the world the message of Islam, a religion that today has millions of followers around the globe.
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The Old Curiosity Shop
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Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-63-0
Lexile® Rating: 820L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.2 what is this?
F&P Level: X what is this?
£7.99
‘Why bless you, Little Nell! What if I had lost you?’
Little Nell Trent’s childhood is over. Her grandfather’s mind is failing, his dark secret makes him sad and distracted, and he has nobody to care for him but Nell.
The grotesque Daniel Quilp is out to cause trouble. What plans does he hatch with the dreadful Sampson and Sally Brass? What use can he hope to make of the foolish Dick Swiveller? Is Nell’s one true friend, Kit, a match for Quilp’s villainous mind?
Nell and her grandfather must disappear or be separated forever, and so they begin their lives as beggars. When a mysterious gentleman arrives in London, determined to track them down, it becomes a race against time and against the evil of Quilp.
Can Little Nell keep her grandfather safe? Who will protect Nell? Will the mysterious gentleman find them before it is too late?
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A Tale of Two Cities
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Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-64-7
Lexile® Rating: 800L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.4 what is this?
F&P Level: Y what is this?
£7.99
‘It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done.’
Sydney Carton is a lawyer who has wasted his abilities and his life. Now he has to make a difficult choice about what is really important to him, which could be a matter of life or death.
The French Revolution is running its violent course; lives are ruined as a new France is created. How did the gentle Doctor Manette and his daughter Lucie become caught up in France’s struggles? What is the real identity of the handsome Charles Darnay, who wins Lucie’s hand in marriage? And why does the shadow of La Bastille Prison hang over them all?
The best of times and the worst of times. London and Paris. Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. A story of contrasts and chaos. Can peace ever be restored in France? Can it ever be restored in the hearts of the people involved?
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Little Dorrit
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ISBN: 978-1-906230-65-4
Lexile® Rating: 800L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.1 what is this?
F&P Level: X what is this?
£7.99
‘She? That’s Little Dorrit. She’s nothing. She’s just a whim.’
Poor Little Dorrit. Her future looks as bleak as her past and her present. Born and brought up in a debtors’ prison, she relies on her sewing skills to help support her father. Little does she know that her sewing will soon present an opportunity for change.
When change arrives in the form of Arthur Clennam it is accompanied by secrets and dangers. Who is he? What are his motives for wanting to help Little Dorrit?
Follow Little Dorrit’s tale as it winds its way through London and Italy. Enjoy the rich variety of characters she encounters, and share with her the twists and turns of the road she travels.
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All Quiet on the Western Front
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ISBN: 978-1-906230-66-1
Lexile® Rating: 840L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.3 what is this?
F&P Level: X what is this?
£7.99
‘There is a whistling sound behind us. Shells pass overhead and explode in a sheet of flame a hundred meters away.’
When Paul Bäumer and his classmates join the army, nothing has prepared them for the death and destruction that they witness. Machine guns, huge artillery shells and poison gas create a nightmare world for these young men and their older comrades.
For months and years attack is followed by counter–attack. Will any of Paul’s friends survive long enough to return to their families and loved ones? Will there be a place for them at home, when peace finally comes?
Can any of these soldiers make sense of the massive conflict in which they are involved?
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The Thirty-Nine Steps
‘It wouldn’t be pleasant sharing my flat with a dead body, but there was nothing else I could do.’
Richard Hannay is bored with life in London. Then he discovers a horrible crime, and finds himself in the middle of a clever and frightening plot. Can he find the proof he needs to save his country from disaster?
When Hannay hides out on the wild Scottish moors, will he escape from the dangerous gang who want to silence him forever? Who can he trust on his journey? Time is running out for Hannay and his friends. Will he be able to discover the secret of the thirty-nine steps before it is too late?
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The Riddle of the Sands
‘It seems pretty clear to me that sooner or later we’ll be at war with Germany, whether we like it or not’
Carruthers is looking forward to a relaxing holiday when he sets off for the Baltic Sea. Instead he finds himself at the centre of a complicated and deadly plot.
Will Carruthers and his friend Arthur Davies discover why the sinister and mysterious Herr Dollman is so interested in their little yacht, the Dulcibella? What does Clara Dollman know about her father’s plans?
Some secret scheme has brought Commander von Brüning of the Imperial German Navy to the East Frisian Islands. Can Carruthers and Davies solve the riddle of the sands?
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
A frightful horde of men and women, armed with scythes, pikes, billhooks and rusty swords, advanced towards the massive front doors of Notre Dame Cathedral.
For many years Quasimodo the bellringer has lived peacefully in the Cathedral of Notre Dame with his master, Archdeacon Claude Frollo. But the arrival of Esmeralda, the young and dazzlingly beautiful gypsy dancer, changes everything.
Esmeralda has fallen in love with the brave and handsome Captain Phoebus. Will the Archdeacon be able to control his violent jealousy when Esmeralda rejects him?
Esmeralda’s life is in danger, but Quasimodo will do anything to protect her. When the King's soldiers clash with the thieves and beggars of Paris, can the innocent young dancer survive?
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Around the World in Eighty Days
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ISBN: 978-1-906230-70-8
Lexile® Rating: 1030L what is this?
F&P Level: T what is this?
£7.99
‘Today is Wednesday 2nd October. If I am back in this very room in the Reform Club on Saturday 21st December by eight forty-five in the evening, I win.’
Phileas Fogg bets £20,000 that he can go round the world in eighty days – a huge sum of money in 1872, worth more than a million pounds today.
When he sets off on his amazing journey with his clever servant, Passepartout, they cannot afford the slightest delay. Will the two travellers have time to help Princess Aouda, when the brave and beautiful young woman is threatened with a cruel fate?
Detective Fix believes that Mr Fogg is a bank robber, and plans to arrest him. Will that be the end of Phileas Fogg’s chance to save his fortune?
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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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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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Reawakening Literature: Working with Classic Literature Retellings
ISBN: 978-1-906230-73-9
£7.99
A Guide for Educators
The guide is divided into five sections
- plot and structure
- character
- themes
- language
- context
Activities are designed to encourage engagement, strengthen comprehension, and to support the development of more complex skills such as inferential reading. For each activity there is an explanation of the activity with a worked example using one of the Real Reads texts, together with suggestions about how the activity can be extended for the more able.
Jane Campion has ten years’ experience of teaching English Language and English Literature, and has been a lead teacher for English. She is a member of the English Association Secondary Education Committee, and is currently the editor of the association’s journal for secondary teachers, The Use of English.
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The Great Gatsby
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Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-74-6
Lexile® Rating: 900L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 5.7 what is this?
F&P Level: Z what is this?
£7.99
Nick Carraway’s mysterious neighbour Gatsby gazes across the dark bay at a distant green light.
As the summer unfolds, Nick is drawn into Gatsby’s world of luxury cars, speedboats and extravagant parties. But the more he hears about Gatsby – even from what Gatsby himself tells him – the less he is sure of the truth. Did Gatsby really go to Oxford University? Was he a hero in the war? Did he once kill a man?
Nick recalls how he came to know Gatsby. He recounts how he enters the world of his cousin Daisy and her wealthy husband Tom. But does their money make them any happier? How do everybody’s stories connect?
Will you come to know the real Gatsby after reading Nick’s account of that fateful summer?
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The Red Badge of Courage
Henry Fleming leaves his widowed mother behind and marches off to join a war that is tearing his country apart.
His regiment has yet to be tested in the fire of battle. Together the soldiers wait while distant guns rumble and the lights of enemy campfires flicker on the hills beyond a darkened river.
The young man recalls his childhood dreams of valiant combat. Will he pass the test and return home to tell others of his triumphs on the battlefield? Or will he flee at the first sign of real danger?
And what of his fellow soldiers, whose lives are caught up with his once the fighting begins? Will they examine the young man for any sign of real courage – or will he slink away in shame?
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The Scarlet Letter
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Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-76-0
ATOS®/AR Level: 6.1 what is this?
F&P Level: Z what is this?
£7.99
Hester Prynne stands defiantly on a scaffold before hostile Puritans in seventeenth-century Boston, Massachusetts.
The baby in her arms and the bright scarlet letter ‘A’ on her gown are evidence and punishment for the shame she has brought on her religious neighbours.
Will Hester continue to conceal the name of the husband who sent her away from Europe years before as well as that of the father of her baby? Will the husband get his revenge on the man who has shamed him? Will that man admit his past, and join Hester and her daughter Pearl?
Or is the matter out of their hands, waiting to be decided between the forces of the Lord and of Satan?
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The Call of the Wild
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ISBN: 978-1-906230-77-7
ATOS®/AR Level: 6.1 what is this?
F&P Level: X what is this?
£7.99
Buck recognised the wild brother. He was whining softly, and they touched noses. A second wolf, old and battle-scarred, came forward and sniffed noses with him; he sat down, pointed his nose at the moon, and broke out in a long wolf howl. Buck, too, sat down and howled.
Buck, a big, powerful dog, is kidnapped from his California home and sold as a sled dog in the Arctic. In his new environment he must learn quickly how to deal with man’s club and dog’s fang, or he will not be able to survive.
He is transformed by two opposing forces – his love for John Thornton who saved his life, and the memories that awaken within him of the ways of his ancestors, both dogs and wolves. How will Buck survive, and not just survive, but become a leader of dogs and eventually a leader of wolves?
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The Awakening
What price will Edna Pontellier pay to be free?
She seems to have everything she needs – her loving husband Léonce, two beautiful children, and a wonderful home in turn-of-the-century New Orleans. But deep inside her burns a creative fire that longs to be unleashed.
One summer changes everything. When Edna meets Robert, she starts to question all that she was taught to believe. Is her comfortable marriage nothing more than a cage? Will she ever be able to explore her creativity and passion to the full? Is it possible for a woman to be responsible for the needs of others and still to live her own life to the full?
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Les Misérables
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Illustrated by
ISBN: 978-1-906230-79-1
Lexile® Rating: 990L what is this?
ATOS®/AR Level: 6.0 what is this?
F&P Level: Y what is this?
£7.99
‘Send the brat home? Oh no we won’t! Her mother must have met some rich man – we can make a load of money out of this.’
It seems that poor Cosette will never escape from the wicked Monsieur and Madame Thénardier. She is only eight years old, but they force her to work hard every day.
Jean Valjean has promised her mother that he will rescue the little girl – but Inspector Javert is on his trail. Will the fierce Inspector arrest Jean Valjean? If he does, will Cosette ever be set free?
Cosette is not the only person who desperately needs help. When Marius is badly wounded, will even Jean Valjean’s courage and determination be enough to save the brave young student?
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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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The Gold-Bug
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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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