Jennifer Bassett

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. When Lord Asano drew his sword on Lord Kira one spring day in 1701, it began a story that is now a national legend in Japan. Lord Kira lived, but Lord Asano died, and after his death, his samurai became ronin, samurai without a master. And so began their long plan for revenge on Lord Kira. Their loyalty to their dead master made them famous, and people in Japan remember them to this day. The...

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. France, 1815. Jean Valjean leaves prison after nineteen years. These are dangerous and troubled times, and life is hard. Valjean must begin a new life, but how can he escape his past, and his enemy, Inspector Javert? This story for Bookworms is loosely based on the famous novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, one of France's greatest writers. The novel was written in 1862, and the story has...

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. Tom Walsh had a lot to learn about life. He liked travelling, and he was in no hurry. He liked meeting people, anyone and everyone. He liked the two American girls on the train. They were nice and very friendly. They knew a lot of places. Tom thought they were fun. Tom certainly had a lot to learn about life. This is a collection of short stories about adventures on trains. Strange,...

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. Shirley Homes, private investigator. Like Sherlock Holmes a hundred years ago, she lives in London, enjoys working on difficult cases, and has some helpful friends. She understands people, is a good listener, and of course, she is clever with computers. In today's world that is important, because a lot of crime is cyber crime. In this second Shirley Homes detective story, Shirley must catch a...

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. Shirley Homes is a private investigator. She is clever with computers, and knows London like the back of her hand. She laughs when people say, 'Was Sherlock Holmes your grandfather?' Sherlock Holmes, of course, was not a real person, but, like Sherlock, Shirley has good eyes, and good ears. And she knows the right questions to ask. And in the Lithuanian Case, the right questions are...

A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. Love stories with a difference… There's a kiss by a fireside that was a mistake, there's a man-hating aunt by the seaside, and a gunman in Texas wanting a fight. There's a white heron flying over a forest, and a messenger running between two benches in a park. And of course, there's a girl who meets a boy…These love stories are by US writers Kate Chopin, Stephen Crane, Sarah Orne Jewett, O....

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. It is 1880, in the Opera House in Paris. Everybody is talking about the Phantom of the Opera, the ghost that lives somewhere under the Opera House. The Phantom is a man in black clothes. He is a body without a head, he is a head without a body. He has a yellow face, he has no nose, he has black holes for eyes. Everybody is afraid of the Phantom – the singers, the dancers, the directors, the...

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. The President is dead! A man is running in the night. He is afraid and needs to rest. But there are people behind him – people with lights, and dogs, and guns. A man is standing in front of a desk. His boss is very angry, and the man is tired and needs to sleep. But first he must find the other man, and bring him back – dead or alive. Two men: the hunter and the hunted. Which will win...

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. William Shakespeare. Born April 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon. Died April 1616. Married Anne Hathaway: two daughters, one son. Actor, poet, famous playwright. Wrote nearly forty plays. But what was he like as a man? What did he think about when he rode into London for the first time . . . or when he was writing his plays Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet . . . or when his only son died? We know...