Free Reading and Downloading Graded and Unabridged Books

Here, in Spain, we are beginning our fifth week of quarantine. A few days before lockdown,  I asked my students to go to the school library and borrow a book to read. Some of them could not attend that day for various reasons – I never ask, they are adults- and therefore could not borrow the book. Their  problem now  is that confined at home, some of them are finding it difficult to get their hands on a graded book in English. No worries! I’ve got you covered!

But before sharing with you this site, let me tell you the story of a time in my life when I almost hated reading.

Why  I don't select  reading books  for my students

I never tell my students which book to read. I have always enjoyed reading, not the point of being called a bookworm, but pretty close. However, when I was at university I was asked to read tons of books, compulsory books someone had decided for me. Every literature teacher had a long reading list of books we had to read if we wanted to pass his or her subject. No point in cheating. Some teachers in exams ,  to make sure we had read them, simply wrote a paragraph from a chapter in the book  and we were asked to write what went before and after the paragraph. They thought they were being smart! I thought they were nuts!

These teachers almost made me hate reading. Almost. So I promised myself that if I ever got the chance to decide on this matter, I would never pick a compulsory book for my students. I would just take them to the library and let them choose something that would engage them. This is what I have been doing for a very long time and have never regretted my decision. I find that students read more and learn more if they are allowed to select their own books.

But, enough of my ramblings and let’s get back to the part where my students are at home, confined, but still in need to find a nice graded book to read. And this is where I need to thank María Argente del Castillo for bringing English e-Reader to my attention.

What is English E-Reader and why do I like it?

English e-Reader offers one of the biggest online libraries of graded e-books. Here, you can find plenty of ebooks in different digital formats: epub, fb2, mobi, rtf, txt, as well as audiobooks in mp3 format. You can download the ebook of your choice and if you sign up, you can read it online for free.

Most books in this website are graded (also called adapted)  by levels: from Starter (A1) to Advanced C1, but you can also find unabridged books suitable for level C2.
Now, choose your book and let’s enjoy reading! 

 

14 thoughts on “Free Reading and Downloading Graded and Unabridged Books

  1. Thanks Cristina. I have peeped it but I think E-Reader much better. I’ll wait for it to be back in function.

  2. Hi Chris!

    I tried to access the page but it isn’t possible. Do you know if the access has been shut down?

    Thank you

  3. Hi

    Thanks very much for your blog and all the work and fun you put into it.

    Just in case you don’t know it, ESL-BITS is a wonderful page. It has a listen and read-along option, there aren’t just novels, you can listen and read articles, short stories, classics, songs, and even dramas! And it is free, no signing up needed, there’s no adverstising and it’s non-profit…

    Once again it’s amazing how many generous and talented people there are out there :))

    Thank you!

  4. I would like to introduce graded readers as a routine for my students , most of whom are on elementary level. Hope it works. Thanks.

  5. As I said before, you have no proof of this and despite having publicly asked those who have a lot to lose, namely editorials, to label it as a pirated site they have not done so. Food for thought, too.

  6. Thank you very much for allowing me to post my assertion that “English e-reader” is a site of pirated ELT readers.

  7. Hi Chris
    Thank you very much for your comment. You have already left this comment twice on my Twitter and tagged there all publishers you claim the books have been copied from. I think if my memory does not fail me, only one of them replied to your comment but just to direct my readers to their site.
    To be honest, I have tried to contact them but so far, they haven’t”t replied!

  8. I have always been very suspicious of English e-reader on the principle that if something seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

    Some years ago I started examining the books on their site and have found numerous examples of books identical to books by well-known ELT publishers with different cover photos, but word for word the same. I am in the process of making a more exhaustive survey of examples of this piracy on their website. So far I have found the source of 75% of “their” books.

    It would be wonderful to find a legitimate site offering such a wide range of free reading material. The closest to this is Oxford Learner’s Bookshelf, which initially until the end of June, is offering 148 of its readers from A1 to B2 , for adults, teenagers and younger learners FREE OF CHARGE. They can do this legally because they are the copyright holders.

    I suggest you try to contact the secretive owners of the English e-reader site to ask them about the copyright agreements they would need to have with major ELT publishers to be able to offer so many of their books and recordings legally.

  9. Greetings from Poland 🙂
    Clicked on the link in Genially ( The weather and..) and found your blog 🙂
    Happy to read about the English e-reader. I will give it a try.
    Please check
    https://www.oxfordlearnersbookshelf.com/
    They announced support for teachers, parents, and learners during Coronavirus (COVID-19) You can sign in or register for FREE access to 148 Graded Readers until 30 Jun 2020.
    Maria

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