The Snow Goose and Other Stories (Active Reading-Level 3)
The Snow Goose’ is the most famous of these three stories by Paul Gallico. It is the story of Philip, a lonely painter who lives in an old lighthouse, and Fritha, a young girl who brings him a large white bird – the snow goose. It becomes a special bird in Philip’s life – and later the girl becomes special too.
First published in 1992 it’s one of the earlier Rebus books. The first story in this book is called “Playback”. Rebus is impressed by being able to phone your home phone “from the car-phone” to get “the answering machine to play back any messages.” You can tell from this that it’s rather different from current crime detection fiction. As the title indicates, solving the crime in this story hinges on phone messages. The police receive a phone call from the murderer confessing his crime. He panics and tries to flee, only to be caught as the police arrive on the scene of the crime. He then insists on his innocence.
“Find the stones! You will find the way to help all in Avondel!” Finn doesn’t understand the note that his great aunt gives him, but he hasn’t time to think about it. Finn has to escape and go on a dangerous journey. He soon learns that only he can defeat the evil warlord Gondar and bring happiness back to his land. But he’ll need the help of the singing stones.
In Edinburgh a detective listens to a confession; in Orkney an old man lives with the ghosts of his past. In the Outer Hebrides some travellers learn a lesson; in Glasgow a young woman steals a meeting with a famous actor; and in a small town somewhere a pigeon dies. These stories are as richly varied as the land of Scotland itself.
The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare Product Description English Graded Reader (Easy Reader): The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare, Adapted by Richard Elliott
English Graded Reader (Easy Reader), 112 page fully-illustrated book+ audio CD. Level B1(Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)
