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Oxford University Press
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A 'Tall Tale' is a story that's hard to believe, and the five tall tales in this book all tell of ghosts. Some have dark secrets buried in the past, others bring messages for the living. Some are laughable, some are sad, and some are just evil. Sometimes there's a logical explanation for the strangest happenings, but often things cannot be explained by logic alone. Either way, you're sure to find some frightening reading between the covers of this book. |
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Thomas Gradgrind believes that facts and money are more important than feelings and imagination. After Cissy Jupe a circus child is left alone in the world, Gradgrind takes her into his house, looking after her and teaching her facts with his own children Tom and Louisa. Some years later the Gradgrind family meets hard times. Louisa becomes a prisoner in a loveless marriage, and Tom has problems at work. In the end, Thomas Gradgrind learns the importance of feelings and imagination. |
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Let's go see the West, said Pa. 'The land is flat and the grass grows thick and high. Animals run freely and there are no settlers. Only Indians live there.' So, more than a hundred years ago, the Ingalls family went by covered wagon into Kansas — Indian Territory. This is the true story of how they lived in those exciting, difficult, and sometimes dangerous, times. |
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'Why shouldn't we offer to take care of her? She could live with us at Mansfield.' In this way Mrs Norris persuades her sister, Lady Bertram, and Lady Bertram's husband, Sir Thomas, to ask their poor niece Fanny Price to live with them at Mansfield Park. At first Fanny is unhappy there. Then, after she makes friends with her young cousins, things improve. But what happens when the cousins are older, and starting to think of love? |
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The Moonstone is a beautiful yellow diamond that was stolen from the statue of a Moon god in India. When Franklin Blake brings it to Rachel Verinders house in Yorkshire for her birthday, it brings bad luck with it. How many people will the Moonstone hurt? How many must die before the diamonds revenge is complete? |
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'All men are created equal...' When Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in June 1776, in the American Declaration of Independence, he started something that was very much bigger than he imagined. This book looks at the history around that Declaration, and at the Revolution that led to the birth of the United States of America. |
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Adolf Verloc is a double agent, working for both the British police and a foreign country. He pretends to live a normal life, with his wife, Winnie, and has a shop in London, which, at night, becomes a meeting place for anarchists. One day Verloc is told to plant a bomb but the plan goes terribly wrong Does Verloc really love Winnie, or is she just part of his cover? Can Winnie ever forgive him? Who is Verloc really working for? |
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'We have some wonderful mosaics in Pompeii, but I've never seen a better one than this!' After the young Roman mosaic designer Felix starts work in Pompeii, his whole life changes. There he falls in love with the beautiful Greek slave Agathe, who can see into the future. When the volcano Vesuvius sends hot ash over the city, Felix — and Agathe's brother Alcander — ride to the port of Misenum for help. But will they reach admiral Gaius Plinius in time, and will they ever see Agathe alive again? |
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Fearful of returning home to a violent father without having sold enough matches for the day, the Little Match Girl remains on the street resigned to warming herself by lighting matches. With each match, she sees a vision — a warm stove, a table laden with hot food, a beautiful Christmas tree decorated with lights leading up to the sky, so high that one becomes a shooting star. According to her grandmother, each shooting star is a person who had recently passed on and is now heading to heaven. Her next strike brings a vision of her grandmother — the only person in the world who ever loved the Little Match Girl — who takes her away in her warm embrace to heaven. The classic ending is intact here and accompanied by gentle, sensitive illustrations — children will return to this stirring tale often to understand its tragedy and the valuable lessons within. |
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Dominoes are full colour readers with extensive Activities and Project pages. Quick Starters are the same level as Starter with shorter, simpler stories. They are suitable for students who need more support in their reading than is provided by traditional readers. The Activities and Projects can be used either in class or as homework. |
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'What's your job?' Yukio asks. I'm a sorcerer, the old man smiles, 'and I need a young apprentice.' One day, Yukio — a young boy from old Japan — leaves his sister in the country and looks for a job in the town. He finds interesting work there, as a sorcerer's apprentice. But why must Yukio wait to learn magic? And what happens after he puts a spell on a broom when the sorcerer is away? |
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'Professor Clark's work usually helps people. But this is something new.' Clark's helper — Tasha Kiara — is telling Chaz — a local TV reporter about the Professor's new serum. Then an earthquake hits Clark's California lab, and his serum brings dead bodies in the cemetery alive. Soon the zombies attack! What happens to Professor Clark? How can Tasha and Chaz stop the zombies? Who lives and who dies? Read this story and see. |
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Today you can go round the world in eighty days, says Phileas Fogg. Do it, and I pay you 20,000 pounds, says his friend Stuart. This is the beginning of one of Jules Verne's most exciting stories. Phileas Fogg must get back to London by December 21st or lose all his money. And with the help of his servant, Passepartout, Fogg travels in many ways — from train to elephant — and has some surprising adventures on the way. |
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