Product Description
It is a very cold winter and there are many more birds around than usual. Nat is afraid, for the birds keep coming in their thousands and they are hungry. They want to kill. "Penguin Readers" is a series of simplified novels, film novelizations and original titles that introduce students at all levels to the pleasures of reading in English. Originally designed for teaching English as a foreign language, the series' combination of high interest level and low reading age makes it suitable for both English-speaking teenagers with limited reading skills and students of English as a second language. Many titles in the series also provide access to the pre-20th century literature strands of the National Curriculum English Orders. "Penguin Readers" are graded at seven levels of difficulty, from "Easystarts" with a 200-word vocabulary, to Level 6 (Advanced) with a 3000-word vocabulary. In addition, titles fall into one of three sub-categories: "Contemporary", "Classics" or "Originals". At the end of each book there is a section of enjoyable exercises focusing on vocabulary building, comprehension, discussion and writing.Some titles in the series are available with an accompanying audio cassette, or in a book and cassette pack. Additionally, selected titles have free accompanying "Penguin Readers Factsheets" which provide stimulating exercise material for students, as well as suggestions for teachers on how to exploit the Readers in class. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

This review is for the audio version.
I absolutely love the story "The Birds" and was so excited when I found there was an audio CD version of it. Little did I know this version wasn't an unabridged reading--not even an abridged reading, it was rubbish that was painful to the ears.

In this audio version there about 4 or 5 people, some male, some female, and after every sentence one of them read, overlapping the other.So it goes something like this:

Guy: [The guy sat there looking at the birds]
Now, as soon as he started saying "birds" a female would kick in with the next sentence.
Female: [the birds were acting strange]
then another guy
then somebody else
THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH!

It was so bad, after listening to less than 2 minutes of it, I packed it up, and sent it back.Something that awful shouldn't be on the market.Especially when it's being done to such a fantastic story.

Timeless
I think the book birds von Daphne du Maurier is a good short novel. It's a little bit short, but that is not really bad. Because of the shortness, the book can't become boring.
I like that the story is mysterious. The attack from the birds is
inexplicable. It's not the usual behaviour of birds. But in spite of them, the story is believable, because the attack is possible. The birds are able to kill a woman or a man. If the animals were worms or something else, then story would be unbelievable and stupid.
Another thing I like is the relation from the birds and the nature. The birds stand in this book for all nature disaster. It's just an other representation. I think it's a ingenious representaion.
The book is timeless. Daphne du Maurier wrote this book brief after the second world war. It also have a relation to the war. And today the book get read again and again. In some years the book will probably be as popular as now.

...about crazy birds
I think the book is well written. There are a lot of tension and the tension is kept throughout the whole book. The situation of Nat and his family is shown well because you just see Nat's point of view and so you know how he sees that crazy situation of having millions of birds attack his family. You can feel the danger of the bird attacks and the fear and the helpness of the whole population.
I think the story isn't very difficult to understand. It's written in an easy English. Alfred Hitchcock took the idea of the birds' attacks from Du Maurier and made a great film out of it. But the story is very different from the book - only the bird's attack ia still the same. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of a series designed to be suitable for students at upper intermediate level, including those preparing for the Cambridge First Certificate examinations. These simplified editions keep within a 2000 word vocabulary, contain exercise material and an introduction to the text. ... Read more

Product Description
A human drama set against the events of the French Revolution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Live Through the Fench Revolution
My first taste of Daphne Du Maurier was Rebecca.I loved it so much that I had to read more of her.I have always been a fan of drama set in real historical times, so I was drawn to this story that spans three generations of a french family living before, during and after the French Revolution.To make it more inviting, it is based on Daphne's own ancestors.

The trade that binds the family is glassblowing - a process that involves heating glass and blowing the melted medium into goblets and bottles and such.But the story is not about the glassblowing.It is about living and working and giving birth and dying during the years before, during and after the French Revolution.

Du Maurier blows so much life and heart and feeling into these characters that by the time the book ends, you feel like you're saying goodbye to a family that you have grown to know and love.One of my favorite books is Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth.I would put this book right up there with it.Not only do you watch the effect a tumultuous time in history has on a middle class family, you watch French society change through economic and political upheaval.And Du Maurier has characters placed in all the right places to watch the drama unfold.

This book comes with my highest recommendation. You had best snatch it up, because it appears to be out of print, and there are just a few copies available on Amazon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

GREAT TUDOR HISTORY
i read this amazing history saga in less than a day. written by one of the greatest story tellers of our time, it was as easy to read as any novel.thoroughly researched, it relates the story of anthony and francis bacon, two brothers close to but never admitted to queen elizabeth 1st's circle.it relates the involvement of the two brothers with secret spys and earl essex, elizabeths last loved favorite who ended up on tower hill ... Read more

Product Description
A dramatic story of romantic suspense from the renowned author of the haunting Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. 2 cassettes. ... Read more