Research confirms that extensive reading is one of the most effective ways to build vocabulary and improve fluency. Graded readers match text difficulty to your CEFR level, so every page is challenging enough to learn from but easy enough to enjoy. Each book includes a margin dictionary, chapter exercises, and online vocabulary practice — everything you need in one package.
About the writers and translators
Classic writers from this list come first; Pentecost editors who adapted these readers follow in the next block. Each line is a bold name, then a short bio.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) was a French writer and aviator who drew on his own flying adventures. In 1944 his plane vanished over the Mediterranean during a reconnaissance flight, and the wreckage was only found more than half a century later.
- Arthur Conan Doyle: Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish physician and writer, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. The brilliant detective was modelled on his university teacher, Dr. Joseph Bell, famous for his razor-sharp powers of observation.
- George Orwell: George Orwell (1903–1950) was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, an English writer who fought in the Spanish Civil War. He coined terms such as "Big Brother" and "Newspeak," and his name gave us the adjective "Orwellian."
- Jane Austen: Jane Austen (1775–1817) was an English novelist whose books were published anonymously in her lifetime, signed only "By a Lady." She completed just six novels, and today her portrait appears on the British £10 note.
- Jules Verne: Jules Verne (1828–1905) was a French writer known as the father of science fiction and one of the most translated authors in the world. In his novels he foresaw submarines and space travel long before they existed.
- Lewis Carroll: Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, an Oxford mathematician and logician. He invented the story of Alice during a boat trip, to entertain a real little girl named Alice Liddell.
- Louisa May Alcott: Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was an American writer who grew up among the Transcendentalists — Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were family friends. She served as a nurse during the Civil War and, before her fame, published sensational thrillers under the male pen name A. M. Barnard.
- Lucy Maud Montgomery: Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) was a Canadian writer from Prince Edward Island who set her novels in the landscapes of her childhood. Thanks to Anne of Green Gables, the island became a place of pilgrimage for readers from around the world.
Translators and editors
Our editors adapt vocabulary and notes so the story stays clear at your level. Each line below is a bold name, then a short note.
- Angela Borderkeeper: Angela Borderkeeper adapts German-language stories for English readers who are building vocabulary through extensive reading. She balances literal clarity with readable English, especially where German stacks nouns or uses modal particles that do not map neatly. Her side notes focus on collocations learners will meet again in real newspapers and podcasts.
- Aniela Pogranicznik: Aniela Pogranicznik przygotowuje polskie opracowania tekstów niemieckich w serii dla samouków. Zwraca uwagę na to, by zdania były krótkie tam, gdzie trzeba, ale żeby nie straciły naturalnego szyku — szczególnie w scenach dialogowych. Często wraca do swoich notatek z kursów dla nauczycieli, gdy układa glosariusze i przypisy do trudniejszych zwrotów.
- Anne Frank: Anne Frank edits English support text for Dutch originals in the series. She is careful with false friends between Dutch and English and flags them early in the glossary. When a joke depends on word order, she looks for an English equivalent that keeps the beat of the scene instead of explaining the punchline away.
- Catherine Thief: Catherine Thief edits English support layers for Portuguese originals, comparing European and Brazilian variants when the source mixes them. She prefers one clear editorial choice per title rather than hedging in every footnote. She reads aloud to catch phrasing that still sounds like translationese.
- Christine Guardian: Christine Guardian edits graded-reader adaptations of French fiction for English-speaking adults. She keeps an eye on register—literary French can sound stiff in English if you translate every clause—and prefers footnotes that support the scene rather than pause it. She still reads long-form journalism in French to stay close to how people actually write today.
- Clara Fieldlove: Clara Fieldlove edits English-language scaffolding around Spanish narratives for the extensive-reading list. She steers clear of over-literal cognates that mislead beginners and prefers short glosses tied to the immediate context. She has a soft spot for dialogue-heavy chapters where rhythm matters as much as vocabulary.
- Edwina Finbow: Edwina Finbow edits English-facing material for Icelandic fiction in the graded-reader programme. Icelandic inflection and compound formation get one clear gloss at first occurrence, then lighter reminders. She likes crime and family drama where everyday vocabulary does most of the storytelling work.
- Grace Earthland: Grace Earthland prepares English commentary for Norwegian texts in the graded-reader programme. Norwegian’s compact clauses can read abrupt in English; she smooths the seams while keeping the emotional temperature of the scene. She coordinates closely with whoever writes the chapter exercises so examples match the chapter’s new items.
- Greta Thunderhill: Greta Thunderhill adapts Swedish fiction for English-speaking learners using the Pentecost graded format. She keeps an eye on compound words that look long but are common in Swedish, and explains them once where they recur. She likes endings where the payoff is emotional rather than lexical—those need the lightest touch in the notes.
- Inga Clay: Inga Clay prepares English-facing materials for Danish fiction in the graded-reader line. Danish often drops subjects; she makes sure the English scaffolding still feels natural while the original stays visible on the facing page or in the margin notes. She enjoys working on small-town settings where everyday vocabulary carries most of the plot.
- Katarzyna Złodziej: Katarzyna Złodziej przygotowuje polskie teksty towarzyszące portugalskojęzycznej beletrystyce w serii na różne poziomy CEFR. Bacznie rozróżnia wariant europejski i brazylijski, gdy w oryginale ma to znaczenie. W pracy redakcyjnej woli jedną jasną decyzję niż pięć kompromisów, które rozmywają głos narratora.
- Klara Polanowicz: Klara Polanowicz tłumaczy i upraszcza hiszpańskojęzyczne narracje dla polskich czytelników w serii lektur gradowanych. Często pracuje nad rejestrem: hiszpański z Ameryki Łacińskiej i z Półwyspu wymaga innych decyzji po polsku. W przypisach stawia na krótkość i kontekst, żeby słownik nie zasłaniał fabuły.
- Krystyna Strażnik: Krystyna Strażnik od lat zajmuje się przekładem i redakcją tekstów literackich z francuskiego na polski dla dorosłych czytelników. W pracy nad wersjami uproszczonymi pilnuje, by poziom słownictwa zgadzał się z etykietą CEFR, a jednocześnie nie gubił się humor ani rytm dialogów. Prywatnie dużo czyta współczesną prozę francuskojęzyczną i chętnie poleca tytuły, które dobrze brzmią także po polsku.
- Małgorzata Strzecharz: Małgorzata Strzecharz redaguje polskie wersje uproszczonych lektur do nauki angielskiego — od poziomów początkowych po średniozaawansowane. Łączy doświadczenie szkolne z pracą przy materiałach do czytania ekstensywnego: ważne jest dla niej, żeby bohaterowie nie brzmieli jak sztucznie uproszczone manekiny. Po godzinach i tak sięga po anglojęzyczne kryminały, bo lubi sprawdzać, jak brzmi żywy, współczesny idiom.
- Margarete Reetdachdeckerin: Margarete Reetdachdeckerin verantwortet die deutsche Bearbeitung begleitender Texte zu englischsprachigen Lektüren der gestuften Reihe. Sie erklärt Phrasal verbs und idiomatische Kurzformen so, dass sie im Kapitel wiedererkennbar werden, ohne dass jede Seite zur Grammatiktafel wird. Sie liest laut, wenn ein Dialog noch nach Übungsbuch klingt.
- Mary Guide: Mary Guide edits English-facing material for Japanese originals in the series. She explains honorifics and sentence-final particles in plain English without turning every line into a lecture. She still listens to casual Japanese podcasts to keep colloquial markers feeling current in the notes.
- Pauline Bird: Pauline Bird adapts Chinese-language fiction for English readers in the graded-reader line. She helps decide when to gloss a measure word, a place name, or a four-character idiom, and when context can carry the load. She likes contemporary urban settings because they recycle high-frequency vocabulary in natural ways.
- Rita Mounts: Rita Mounts works on English notes and simplified renderings for Italian fiction in the graded series. She watches out for regional markers—north versus south—that English readers might miss without a light gloss. Her goal is that someone on a commute can follow the plot without stopping every line.
- Sophie Stay-Maggot: Sophie Stay-Maggot works on English notes for Russian fiction in the graded series. She balances literary archaism with the labelled CEFR level, sometimes marking a form as “recognition only” so readers are not asked to produce it too early. She pays extra attention to names, patronymics, and diminutives that carry social information.
