Hoepli Reading

Determined to meet William Shakespeare and ask him the true meaning of his world-famous line “To be, or not to be - that is the question”, Todd Hunter, a high school student, embarks on a journey through time and space which takes him to the Globe in 1604. However, events take a very unexpected turn, and Todd is caught up in a series of hilarious adventures.

Eventually, life will teach him a lesson he will never forget on the importance of literature.

The volume includes two dossiers on Herbert George Wells and William Shakespeare, a wide range of four-skills activities and several KET-style tests.

Online resources include full recordings of every chapter in Mp3 format.

Alice is sixteen years old and about to live the most exciting experience of her life: a year abroad. When she walks out of the JFK airport in New York and meets her American family, she steps into a new life of discoveries and adventures.

She attends high school, makes new friends, improves her English and studies subjects she had never thought about before. She travels to new places, discovering a country she never imagined.

The year spent in the USA will teach Alice to look inside herself and face life with a more reflective mindset. The inevitable comparison between the USA and her homeland will also allow Alice to better understand and appreciate her own country.

The text includes a wide range of four-skills activities and 3 dossiers useful for learning English, Social Studies and Literature.

The volume gives access to the full recording of the story in Mp3 format.

Myriam has just arrived in a new city with her family and she has a secret: she is a dragon breeder.

Her new classmates know nothing about her, except that she is an excellent drawer. During a school trip to the Vajes Lake, a legendary place inhabited by mysterious dwarves who live hidden under the mountains surrounding the lake, Myriam will disclose her secret to the only classmate she regards as a real friend, Mirko. They will meet the dwarves because Myriam has an important mission to accomplish and she needs their help.

The text includes a wide range of four-skills activities and a dossier about dragons in fantasy stories and legendary lakes.

The volume gives access to the full recording of the story in Mp3 format.

A Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy that follows Prince Hamlet as he seeks revenge for his father’s murder. With twists, turns, and ghostly encounters, Hamlet navigates a world of lies, love, and madness.

Join him in unravelling the mysteries of power and morality in this thrilling tale of tragedy and revenge.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and extra reading, to explore and expand cultural and historical aspects associated with the story from the perspective of a group of teenagers, acting in the play.

Step into Regency-era England with Jane Austen’s Emma, a literary gem that unveils the intricacies of love and society. Meet Emma Woodhouse, beautiful, clever and rich whose favourite hobby is matchmaking.

As she busily organises the romantic affairs of her friends, she doesn’t realise she is developing feelings for a man she thinks is just a friend.

Will she succumb to love despite her resolution to never marry?

Austen’s smart observations on love, social class and self-discovery are brought to life through sparkling dialogue and vivid characters.

Emma is a delightful journey through the ups and downs of the heart, where societal norms are challenged and love triumphs in the end.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and dossiers to discover more about cultural and historical aspects and Mp3 files.

A middle-aged woman running away from her dull reality by pretending to be someone else, a man whose married life has taken a path that he can no longer ignore, and two little girls pushed in a corner by a self-righteous neighbourhood; with these stories Mrs Mansfield unfolds the human mind and gives us an understanding of the twisted ways it reaches out for meaning and fulfillment; she does so through a peculiar style of writing which by skillfully interweaving narrator’s understatements and character’s epiphanies deeply involves the reader and calls on them to reflect on the questions at stake.

The universality of the topics and issues tackled here enables Mrs Manfield’s work to talk to the generations of today, thus enhancing its purpose and value.

A gripping story that plunges its roots into our most feared nightmare. Through the eyes of Offred we are suddenly thrown into a surreal world which takes us back to the patriarchal world based on the Old Testament. Here women have been delegated to the role of homemakers and breeders.

The novel is set in an undetermined period in the future.in the territory that had originally been Massachusetts, USA. In the aftermath of terrible environmental disasters which resulted from chemical accidents birth-rates have dramatically fallen with a huge increase in sterility and stillbirths. Offred who has been kidnapped has been forced to become a handmaid in the new Republic of Gilead which is governed by a theocratic regime. Handmaids are young, fertile women who have been enslaved and destined to give birth to the future generations who will be brought up by the commanders and their wives.

Atwood paints a ruthless picture of American society using fiction to highlight the hypocritical side of a country that still harbours a puritanical legacy in the folds of its culture. We will witness the desperate struggle to survive and to regain human dignity that women have been deprived of.

On a spring day in April Chaucer’s 29 pilgrims from many different walks of life set out on a traditional pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, each one telling a story to liven up the journey.

The five tales in this reader reflect the views of the various social classes in the new Medieval England, as well as revealing complex and comic aspects of human nature. The characters come to life as Chaucer describes their strengths and weaknesses, often with humour and irony and always with minute attention to detail, showing his deep understanding of men and women and their position in the social hierarchy.

This fascinating collection of individuals described in The General Prologue includes the noble Knight, the unforgettable Wife of Bath with her advice on matters of love, the avaricious Pardoner, the studious clerk and the Nun’s Priest whose tale proves that dreams are a serious subject.

This is a contemporary and true story. Vladislav is a young refugee from Ukraine. He has to leave his country, after the Russian invasion, in 2022. Luckily, he joins a welcoming group of High School students, Daisy’s class, and makes new friends. Jennie, Daisy’s aunt, tells her daughter and her nieces the story of Zhenya. He is young man from Belarus and when he was a boy, he was hosted by Jennie, after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Now, Jennie and her family are going to volunteer once again, aided by a very supportive community. The text includes a variety of activities for the 4 skills and 4 dossiers to learn English and Civics together (Religions and Cultures, COVID-19 and health care, Ukraine’s past and present, Consequences of Climate Change).

The volume gives access to the full recording of all the stories and many of the activities online.

The Iron Heel will engage the reader in a political fiction story that is considered one of the most powerful inspirations to the genre of dystopian novels.

The events narrated by London chronicle the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. Avis and Ernest Everhard, the protagonists of the book try to overturn the unfair economic system based on injustices and social inequities through a class struggle, but things are far from being easy when the Iron Heel of the Capitalist class is determined to keep the power in its hands.

In the book, London’s socialist views are openly displayed as is his visionary prediction of a future in which a newly established order will eventually triumph. The novel poses the question about the existence of an Iron Heel in our society and its modern meaning.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and dossiers to discover more about cultural and historical aspects and Mp3 files.