It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide

Penguin Readers

160 books in this series
Penguin Readers Level 6: Darkest Hour (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 6: Darkest Hour (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

Darkest Hour, a Level 6 Reader, is B1+ in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future continuous, reported questions, third conditional, was going to and ellipsis. A small number of illustrations support the text.

It is May 1940. Western countries are falling into Nazi hands. Britain must prepare to be invaded any day. The future of the world lies on the shoulders of one man. This is the story of how British Prime Minister Winston Churchill changed history over twenty-five difficult days during World War II.
Penguin Readers Level 6: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 6: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, a Level 6 Reader, is B1+ in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future continuous, reported questions, third conditional, was going to and ellipsis. A small number of illustrations support the text.

Alec Leamas, a British spy, is worn out and ready to stop working. But his boss wants him to do one final job: to spread false information about an important man in East Germany. Can Alec end his career and finally come in from the cold?
Penguin Readers Level 7: Originals (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 7: Originals (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

Originals, a Level 7 Reader, is B2 in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future perfect simple, mixed conditionals, past perfect continuous, mixed conditionals, more complex passive forms and modals for deduction in the past.

Being an original thinker can change the world. Learn how to recognize a great idea, to speak up for yourself, to choose the right time to act, and to manage fear and doubt by standing out from the crowd.
Penguin Readers Starter Level: The Hound of the Baskervilles (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Starter Level: The Hound of the Baskervilles (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, a Starter level Reader, is A1 in the CEFR framework. Starter level is ideal for readers who are learning English for the first time. Short sentences contain a maximum of two clauses, using the present simple and continuous tenses, possessives, regular and irregular verbs, and simple adjectives. Illustrations support the text throughout, and many titles at this level are graphic novels.

Sir Charles Baskerville is dead. Did the hound of the Baskervilles kill him? Can Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson stop the hound from killing again?
Penguin Readers Level 2: The Wizard of Oz (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 2: The Wizard of Oz (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

The Wizard of Oz, a Level 2 Reader, is A1+ in the CEFR framework. Sentences contain a maximum of two clauses, introducing the future tenses will and going to, present continuous for future meaning, and comparatives and superlatives. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages.

Dorothy and her little dog, Toto, are carried by a tornado to the land of Oz. There, they meet the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Tin Man. Dorothy loves her new friends but how will she and Tonto get home? They must find the Wizard of Oz, of course!
Penguin Readers Level 3: Tales of Ancient Egypt (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 3: Tales of Ancient Egypt (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

Tales of Ancient Egypt, a Level 3 Reader, is A2 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing first conditional, past continuous and present perfect simple for general experience. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages.

The time of Ancient Egypt began about 5000 years ago. The Egyptians worshipped many gods and goddesses, and they told stories about them to help them understand the world. These wonderful stories will help you understand more about the lives and ideas of the Ancient Egyptians.
Penguin Readers Level 4: Clouds Over California (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 4: Clouds Over California (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

Clouds Over California, a Level 4 Reader, is A2+ in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing more complex uses of present perfect simple, passives, phrasal verbs and simple relative clauses. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

Clouds over California is a story about an eleven-year-old girl called Stevie, and the changes that happen in her life when her older cousin comes to stay. It is also about life in the 1970s and important events that changed things in the United States of America for women and Black people.
Penguin Readers Level 4: I Capture the Castle (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 4: I Capture the Castle (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

I Capture the Castle, a Level 4 Reader, is A2+ in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing more complex uses of present perfect simple, passives, phrasal verbs and simple relative clauses. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

The poor Mortmain family move to an old castle. Mr Mortmain’s daughter Rose wants a rich husband. Her sister, Cassandra, wants to be a writer like her father. But when the Mortmains meet their two rich neighbours, Simon and Neil Cotton, both Rose and Cassandra have their lives changed forever.
Penguin Readers Level 4: It's Not Summer Without You (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 4: It's Not Summer Without You (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

It's Not Summer Without You, a Level 4 Reader, is A2+ in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing more complex uses of present perfect simple, passives, phrasal verbs and simple relative clauses. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

It’s Not Summer Without You is the second of three famous books about Belly and her feelings for Conrad and his brother, Jeremiah. Conrad is now at college, and he and Belly are dating. But, Susannah is very ill and Conrad loves his mother very much. Is this the right time for him and Belly?

Penguin Readers Level 4: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 4: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a Level 4 Reader, is A2+ in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing more complex uses of present perfect simple, passives, phrasal verbs and simple relative clauses. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

Sherlock Holmes is an intelligent detective who works with his friend Dr Watson. In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Watson and Holmes find the answer to four different and exciting mysteries.

Penguin Readers Level 5: After You (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 5: After You (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

After You, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

Lou is now living in London and trying to be happy, but it’s difficult when she misses Will so much. One night, a young girl appears at her door. “My name’s Lily Houghton-Miller,” she says. “I need to talk to you about my father – Will Traynor.”
Penguin Readers Level 5: Ashes in the Snow (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 5: Ashes in the Snow (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

Ashes in the Snow, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

Ashes in the Snow follows fifteen-year-old Lina Vilkas as she’s taken from her home in Lithuania with her mother and younger brother. Lina uses her love of art to try and find her father and keep herself and her family alive.
Penguin Readers Level 5: This Summer's Secrets (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 5: This Summer's Secrets (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

This Summer's Secrets, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

It’s a hot summer in Cornwall. When 16-year-old Senara Jenkins and her friends lose their drone in the garden of Cliff House, they discover that it is full of secrets. As Senara meets a world of beautiful rich people, her life changes. But should some secrets stay secret?
Penguin Readers Level 5: We'll Always Have Summer (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 5: We'll Always Have Summer (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

We'll Always Have Summer, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

We’ll Always Have Summer is the last of three famous books about Belly and her feelings for Conrad and his brother, Jeremiah. Belly is now dating Jeremiah and their relationship is serious. Belly has known Jeremiah since she was a child. But she has known Conrad, too. Which of the brothers does she really love?
Penguin Readers Level 6: The Thursday Murder Club (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 6: The Thursday Murder Club (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

The Thursday Murder Club, a Level 6 Reader, is B1+ in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future continuous, reported questions, third conditional, was going to and ellipsis. A small number of illustrations support the text.

Meet Richard Osman’s famous group of pensioner-detectives: Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Joyce and Ron. In The Thursday Murder Club, the group must try to connect the murders of two men they know and an extra body discovered in an old grave!
Penguin Readers Level 7: Surrounded by Idiots (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 7: Surrounded by Idiots (ELT Graded Reader)
With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

Surrounded by Idiots, a Level 7 Reader, is B2 in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future perfect simple, past perfect continuous, mixed conditionals, more complex passive forms and modals for deduction in the past.

Do you ever think you're the only one making any sense? Or have you tried to persuade someone of something, with no success? Surrounded by Idiots offers a simple, yet creative way for assessing and dealing with the personalities of people we communicate with—both in and out of the office.

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more