Review ~ Penguin Graded Readers

The Big Bag Mistake

Each of the books in this collection has a very bright and colourful cover illustration or photo, including the classics, which was a welcome change to the old style classics sadly accumulating dust in my school. The photo of David Beckham on one of the books was particularly popular with some of my female students!

Some of my students were kind enough to read a few of the books and their comments have been included in my review. I also asked them to make an additional comment about the activities included.

The Big Bag Mistake by John Escott
Two young students Ricardo and Gisela are travelling from London to their homes in Rio de Janeiro and they meet on the plane. They have very different personalities and Ricardo´s attempts to chat to Gisela en route are not successful. When a thief steals Gisela´s bag, Ricardo and Gisela cross paths again.

Between Two Worlds by Stephen Rabley
Joanna is an Australian nurse living in Woomara. A very ill baby has to be taken to Sydney for treatment, but the mother is unable to leave behind her other children so Joanna offers to accompany the baby. After some time in the big city Joanna has to make an important decision.

Student comment: This is a nice story, a bit sad sometimes, and I read it very quickly because it is a small book. I think I would like the CD´s to listen to the story too. I couldn´t do all the activities because I need a partner to do them, but I translated the word list into Spanish.

David Beckham by Bernard Smith
This is a brief biography about the football legend, mainly his football career, but also touching on his personal life. Some photos are included.

Student comment: It was very easy for me to read and I learned some new football vocabulary. I liked the part about Posh and Becks and the photos, but I didn´t do all the activities at the end of the book.

The Gift of the Magi and other stories by O. Henry, retold by Nancy Taylor
Four short stories with illustrations, The Gift of the Magi, The Art Game, The Troubadour, and Money Talks.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, retold by Michael Dean
The story of Scrooge, one of the best loved classics, rarely fails to entertain, and this adaptation is no exception.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, retold by John Davage
This is one of my old favourites. The suffering and happiness Black Beauty experiences during his life are retold in this short adaptation.

Student comment: I´ve seen a film about Black Beauty in Spanish, but I liked this book more. It was a bit difficult for me because I didn´t know all the vocabulary, but the wordlist was very good. My sister read it too and we did some of the activities together at home.

Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith, retold by John Potter
This story is set in Botswana. The main character Precious Ramotswe is a female detective with a difficult case to solve, whilst trying to balance her strong, old style traditional values with the modern day Botswana.

King Solomon´s Mines by Sir H. Rider Haggard, retold by David Maule
This is an excellent adaptation of the classic story of Quatermain, Curtis, and Good, and their travels to Africa during the late 1800´s.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, retold by Alan Ronaldson
Sherlock Holmes tries to solve the mystery behind the Baskerville family deaths before the new master of Baskerville Hall meets the same fate.

Student comment: I have read a few Sherlock Holmes stories but not this one. It was not disappointing, and the story was well written, but I didn´t think this was Upper Intermediate level. I didn´t need the word list provided, though there were one or two other words I had to look up. In addition, the activities were easier than I expected.

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This is a good selection of readers and I was pleased to see a few of the old classics adapted to suit the various levels.

Each book has a comprehensive wordlist and a variety of activities for readers to do before and after reading, although some require a partner as some of my students who read the books noted. These extra activities are excellent for assessing reading comprehension and vocabulary growth, though. There are also writing exercises which are very useful for teachers to set as homework if the books are being either read or discussed in class.

The classics have been simplified extremely well and remain close enough to the original stories, but as is my usual observation with graded readers, the higher levels are not challenging enough. However, graded readers, either in class or as independent reading, and if appropriately selected, are an invaluable asset in the language learning process particularly for lower level students. They also provide a “lead in” to more complex authentic reading.

In conclusion, I have noticed an increasing number of students wanting to borrow graded readers, particularly the more contemporary books which include recordings such as those in this Penguin collection. Graded readers have certainly come a long way and are becoming more popular with students, in my experience. Teachers of English who see graded readers as a major teaching resource and actively encourage their students to read extensively for pleasure are in no small way responsible for this growing popularity.