The steam train is pulling out of the station, it heads to the hills, into a rainstorm, through a tunnel and out the other side into the sunshine and to the seaside. Follow the rhythm and the rhyme of this simple poem and travel with the train on its wonderful adventure, beautifully illustrated by Rosalind Hudson.

Rudyard Kipling's much-loved classic story for children, retold here by Narinder Dhami. Follow Mowgli's adventures with Bagheera, Baloo, and the wolf packs which he calls family, as he tries to escape the claws of vicious tiger Shere Khan. Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically.

Three folk tales from around the world retold by the wonderful storyteller Gervase Phinn. In the first, a golden turtle offers a kindly fisherman riches beyond his wildest dreams. In the secod, Amparo's daughter looks sweet, but when she's determined to do something nothing gets in her way. In the third, a naughty leprechaun gets a big shock! - Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically. - A 'wanted' poster on pages 54 and 55 for the leprechaun in the last story helps children to recap all the naughty things he did. - Text type: Three stories from other cultures. - This book is paired with The Ultimate World Quiz, a non-fiction information book full of facts about our planet. - Curriculum links: Geography: Passport to the world; Citizenship: Choices, Living in a diverse world. - This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader

Get acquainted with Shakespeare’s classic tale of greed and revenge, in this light-hearted and amusing retelling. Bassanio is overjoyed when he finally gets to marry Portia. But, his happiness is short-lived when he is forced to defend his dear friend Antonio, who’s in trouble with an old merchant – intent on getting his pound of flesh.

Antislavery campaigner, author, diplomat and political statesmen, Frederick Douglass was one of the greatest men of his age. A former slave himself, Frederick fought publicly against slavery and was an inspiration in the fight for social and political change. Written by Amanda Mitchison, find out about this life-long battle to fight for equality. * Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically. * Text type: A biography * Curriculum links: History, Citizenship

When Rosalind is banished to the forest by her uncle it goes without saying that her cousin Celia will go with her. But their new life gets slightly complicated, when, disguised as boys, they meet real boys, who they'd quite like to live happily ever after with! How to reveal who they really are, without losing the people they love? Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically. Text type: Fiction from our literary heritage Curriculum links: English: fiction from the English literary heritage

Agatha Christie’s beloved detective Hercule Poirot solves the murder of an American heiress by restaging her final journey by night train—with all of the suspects aboard. When the fabled Blue Train, the luxury overnight passenger express to the Riviera, arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to awaken Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But the wealthy American socialite will never wake again, for a brutal blow has killed her, disfiguring her almost beyond recognition. What is more, her famously valuable rubies are missing. The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced, and so he stages an eerie reenactment of the journey—with all of the suspected murderers aboard. A VINTAGE CLASSIC MYSTERY