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 story of the forty-seven ronin has been told and retold for 300 years – in plays, novels, and films. A major Hollywood film was made about the forty-seven ronin in 2013.

Do you believe in ghosts? Jerry doesn't. He's a nineteen-year-old American, who just wants a good holiday with his friend, Brad. They are travelling round the north of England by bicycle. But strange things begin to happen in the small hotel where they are staying. First, Brad seems to think that he has been there before. And then a girl called Ellen appears . . . The first of these three original plays is set in the seventeenth century, and the other two take place in modern times. In each play, a ghost comes back from the dead to change the lives of living people.

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett.

Sara Crewe is a very rich little girl. She first comes to English when she is seven, and her father takes her to Miss Minchin's school in London. Then he goes back to his work in India. Sara is very sad at first, but she soon makes friends at school.

But on her eleventh birthday, something terrible happens, and now Sara has no family, no home, and not a penny in the world…

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Judith Dean.

In a city in Arabia there lives a boy called Aladdin. He is poor and often hungry, but one day he finds an old lamp. When he rubs the lamp, smoke comes out of it, and then out of the smoke comes a magical jinnee.

With the jinnee's help, Aladdin is soon rich, with gold and jewels and many fine things. But can he win the love of the Sultan's daughter, the beautiful Princess Badr-al-Budur?

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by Joyce Hannam.

In a house in Oxford three people are having breakfast – Carol, her husband Jan, and his father Josef. They are talking about Prague, because Carol wants them all to go there for Christmas.

Josef was born in Prague, but he left his home city when he was a young man. He is an old man now, and he would like to see Prague again before he dies. But he is afraid. He still remembers another Christmas in Prague, many long years ago – a Christmas that changed his life for ever…

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by John Escott.

Nick Lortz is sitting outside a café in Whistler, a village in the Canadian mountains, when a stranger comes and sits next to him. She’s young, pretty, and has a beautiful smile. Nick is happy to sit and talk with her.

But why does she call Nick ‘Mr Hollywood’? Why does she give him a big kiss when she leaves? And who is the man at the next table – the man with short white hair?

Nick learns the answers to these questions three long days later – in a police station on Vancouver Island.

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Janet Hardy-Gould.

Hollywood – nine big white letters against the Hollywood Hills. Every year millions of people come from all over the world and look up at this famous sign. Why do they come? They come to see the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and to see the hand and foot prints outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre. They come to visit Universal Studios, and perhaps to see a movie star or two. Most of all, they come to be in the most famous place in movie history – exciting, wonderful Hollywood!

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Rachel Bladon.

What is Japan? It is everything new and modern: the Tokyo Sky Tree, 634 metres high; amazing cameras and phones; karaoke and manga; trains going past at 300 kilometres an hour. And it is everything ancient too: beautiful palaces; high mountains and hot springs; cherry blossom in the spring; quiet gardens with water and trees. Here the past meets the future all the time. From sumo wrestlers to robots, Japan has something amazing for everybody.

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 been retold many times – in a musical, in plays for radio and theatre, and in more than fifty films for television and cinema.

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett.

Cedric Errol is seven years old. He lives with his mother in a little house in New York. They don't have much money, but mother and son are good friends. Cedric is a kind, friendly little boy, and everybody likes him. His father was English, but he is now dead, and Cedric and his mother are alone in the world. But one day a lawyer arrives from England with some very surprising news about Cedric's grandfather…

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by Rosemary Border.

Everybody wants to win the lottery. A million pounds, perhaps five million, even ten million. How wonderful! Emma Carter buys a ticket for the lottery every week, and puts the ticket carefully in her bag. She is seventy-three years old and does not have much money. She would like to visit her son in Australia, but aeroplane tickets are very expensive.

Jason Williams buys lottery tickets every week too. But he is not a very nice young man. He steals things. He hits old ladies in the street, snatches their bags and runs away…

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by Rowena Akinyemi.

It is Molly Clarkson’s fiftieth birthday. She is having a party. She is rich, but she is having a small party – only four people. Four people, however, who all need the same thing: they need her money. She will not give them the money, so they are waiting for her to die. And there are other people who are also waiting for her to die.

But one person can’t wait. And so, on her fiftieth birthday, Molly Clarkson is going to die.

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Written for Learners of English by Tim Vicary.

England and Scotland in the 1500s. Two famous queens – Mary, the Catholic Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, the Protestant Queen of England. It was an exciting and a dangerous time to be alive, and to be a queen.

Mary was Queen of Scotland when she was one week old. At sixteen, she was also Queen of France. She was tall and beautiful, with red-gold hair. Many men loved her and died for her.

But she also had many enemies – men who said: ‘The death of Mary is the life of Elizabeth.’