Penguin Readers is a graded reading series for English Language Teaching (ELT) markets, designed for teenagers and young adults learning English as a foreign or second language.


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 Scissor Man Caves, 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.

Zara and Joe go with their class to the Gerlock Caves. "There's a story about the Gerlock Caves," Zara tells her teacher. "There's a man. He walks in those caves at night and throws scissors at people."