Graded Readers -- Recommended, 1996-7by Ken Schmidt,
Tohoku Gakuin U. |
| College students involved in an extensive reading program rated each book they read as "Good," "Fair," or "Poor." Recommended books shown here were rated "Good" by at least 66% of a minimum of four readers. Titles marked with an "*" were rated "Good" by every reader. Levels follow Bamford (1993). |
| Title | Level | Publ. |
|---|
| Anna and the Fighter* | 1 | HGR |
| Lisa in London | 1 | LSR |
| Money for a Motorbike | 1 | HGR |
| The Garden | 1 | HGR |
| Winning and Losing | 1 | HGR |
| Black Beauty | 2 | LC |
| Double Fear & Other Short Stories | 2 | LSR |
| Foul Play | 2 | LSR |
| Girl Against the Jungle | 2 | LO |
| Grace Darling | 2 | OBW |
| Have You Got Your Ticket? | 2 | LSR |
| Heidi | 2 | LC |
| Introductory Stories for Reproduction 2 | 2 | OSR |
| K's First Case | 2 | LO |
| New Yorkers | 2 | OBW |
| One-way Ticket | 2 | OBW |
| Tales From Hans Christian Anderson* | 2 | LC |
| The Death of Karen Silkwood | 2 | OBW |
| The Earthquake* | 2 | LO |
| The Elephant Man | 2 | OBW |
| The Gold Lasso | 2 | LO |
| The Love of a King | 2 | OBW |
| The Monkey's Paw* | 2 | OBW |
| The Phantom of the Opera | 2 | OBW |
| The Piano | 2 | OBW |
| The Witches of Pendle | 2 | OBW |
| A Christmas Carol* | 3 | HGR |
| A Christmas Carol* | 3 | LC |
| A Tidy Ghost | 3 | OSL |
| American Customs and Traditions | 3 | LABR |
| American Music | 3 | LABR |
| Australia | 3 | LSR |
| Don't Tell Me What to Do* | 3 | HGR |
| Down the River | 3 | LSR |
| Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde | 3 | HGR |
| Elementary Steps to Understanding | 3 | OSU |
| Every Picture Tells a Story* | 3 | OSL |
| Finn's Business | 3 | OSL |
| Frankenstein | 3 | HGR |
| Frankenstein* | 3 | OBW |
| Gandhi | 3 | LSR |
| Go, Lovely Rose | 3 | OBW |
| Great British Ghosts | 3 | LSR |
| Gulliver's Travels | 3 | LC |
| Justice* | 3 | OBW |
| Love by Design | 3 | HGR |
| Love Story | 3 | OBW |
| Martin Luther King* | 3 | LFL |
| Peter Pan | 3 | ODR |
| Photo of the Tall Man | 3 | LSR |
| Round the World in Eighty Days | 3 | LC |
| Save the Goldfish | 3 | OSL |
| Silver Blaze and Other Stories | 3 | HGR |
| Space Affair | 3 | OSL |
| Tales of Horror* | 3 | HGR |
| Tales of Mystery and Imagination | 3 | OBW |
| The Boy Who Was Afraid | 3 | HGR |
| The Canterville Ghost and OtherÉ | 3 | HGR |
|
| Title | Level | Publ. |
|---|
| The Flower Seller* | 3 | HGR |
| The Hound of the Baskervilles | 3 | HGR |
| The Last Sherlock Holmes Story | 3 | OBW |
| The Picture of Dorian Gray | 3 | HGR |
| The Prince & the Pauper | 3 | LC |
| The Promise | 3 | HGR |
| The Runaways | 3 | HGR |
| The Wind in the Willows* | 3 | LC |
| A Scandal in Bohemia | 4 | LSR |
| A WomanÕs Place? | 4 | LSR |
| Daddy-Long-Legs | 4 | ODR |
| Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde | 4 | LC |
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | 4 | OBW |
| Emil & the Detectives* | 4 | LC |
| Footprints in the Jungle and OtherÉ | 4 | HGR |
| Green Issues | 4 | KS |
| Intermed. Stories for Reproduction 1* | 4 | OSR |
| Intermed. Stories for Reproduction 2 | 4 | OSR |
| Meet Me in Istanbul | 4 | HGR |
| My Cousin Rachel | 4 | HGR |
| Oliver Twist | 4 | HGR |
| Pride and Prejudice | 4 | HGR |
| Ring of Thieves | 4 | HGR |
| Shane | 4 | HGR |
| Silas Marner | 4 | HGR |
| The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | 4 | LC |
| The Big Sleep | 4 | OBW |
| The Case of the Lonely Lady | 4 | HGR |
| The Diamond Hunters | 4 | HGR |
| The Franchise Affair | 4 | HGR |
| The Good Earth | 4 | HGR |
| The Green World | 4 | MD |
| The Hong Kong Connection | 4 | LO |
| The Hound of the Baskervilles | 4 | OBW |
| The Moonspinners | 4 | OBW |
| The Queen of Death | 4 | HGR |
| The Return of Sherlock Holmes | 4 | LC |
| The Sign of Four | 4 | HGR |
| The Snow Goose & Other Stories* | 4 | LC |
| The Speckled Band and Other Stories | 4 | HGR |
| The Swiss Family Robinson | 4 | LC |
| The Woman Who Disappeared | 4 | HGR |
| Three Men in a Boat | 4 | OBW |
| World Scope - People and Issues | 4 | KS |
| Charlie Chaplin | 5 | KS |
| Great People of Our Time* | 5 | MR |
| Jane Eyre* | 5 | LC |
| Karen* | 5 | KS |
| Little Women* | 5 | LC |
| Of Mice and Men* | 5 | HGR |
| Pride & Prejudice | 5 | LC |
| Rebecca | 5 | HGR |
| The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* | 5 | LSR |
| The U.S.A. | 5 | MD |
| Three Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | 5 | LC |
| Visiting the USA | 5 | MR |
| Wuthering Heights | 5 | LC |
| Polite Fictions | 6 | Kinseido |
|
| |
Graded Readers -- Not Recommended |
| These books were rated "Good" by fewer than 40% of a minimum of four readers. Only five books (marked with an "*") received no "Good" votes. |
| Title | Level | Publ. |
|---|
| Death of a Soldier* | 1 | HGR |
| Newspaper Boy | 1 | HGR |
| Rich Man, Poor Man* | 1 | HGR |
| The Truth Machine | 1 | HGR |
| Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor | 2 | LC |
| Shakespeare Detective | 2 | LSR |
| Elem. Anecdotes in American English | 3 | OAAE |
| Elem. Stories for Reproduction | 3 | OSR |
| Rip Van Winkle & Other Stories | 3 | LC |
| The Bršnte Story | 3 | OBW |
| Z for Zachariah | 3 | HGR |
| Bristol Murder | 4 | HGR |
|
| Title | Level | Publ. |
|---|
| Dracula | 4 | LC |
| Love Stories (by O Henry) | 4 | ODR |
| Mr. Midshipman Hornblower | 4 | OBW |
| No Longer at Ease | 4 | HGR |
| The Beautiful and Damned* | 4 | HGR |
| The Enchanted April | 4 | HGR |
| The Hairless Mexican and the Traitor | 4 | HGR |
| The Smuggler | 4 | HGR |
| The Space Invaders* | 4 | HGR |
| Adv. Anecdotes in American English* | 5 | OAAE |
| Advanced Steps to Understanding | 5 | OSU |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | 5 | LC |
|
| |
Key to Publishers/Series |
| HGR = Heinemann Graded Readers | LABR = Longman American Background Readers |
| K = Kinseido | MR = Macmillan Rangers (Prentice Hall Regents) |
| KS = Kirihara Shoten | OSL = Oxford Storylines |
| LSR = Longman Structural Readers | ODR = Oxford Delta Readers |
| LC = Longman Classics | OSR = Oxford Stories for Reproduction |
| LFL = Longman Famous Lives | OBW = Oxford Bookworms |
| LO = Longman Originals | OSU = Oxford Steps to Understanding |