Collins Amazing People Readers are collections of short stories. Each book presents the life story of five or six people whose lives and achievements have made a difference to our world today. The stories are carefully graded to ensure that you, the reader, will both enjoy and benefit from your reading experience.
You can choose to enjoy the book from start to finish or to dip in to your favourite story straight away. Each story is entirely independent.
After every story a short timeline brings together the most important events in each person’s life into one short report. The timeline is a useful tool for revision purposes.
Words which are above the required reading level are underlined the first time they appear in each story. All underlined words are defined in the glossary at the back of the book. Levels 1 and 2 take their definitions from the Collins COBUILD Essential English Dictionary and levels 3 and 4 from the Collins COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary.
To support both teachers and learners, additional materials are available online at www.collinselt.com/readers.
The Amazing People Club®
Collins Amazing People Readers are adaptations of original texts published by The Amazing People Club. The Amazing People Club is an educational publishing house. It was founded in 2006 by educational psychologist and management leader Dr Charles Margerison and publishes books, eBooks, audio books, iBooks and video content which bring readers ‘face to face’ with many of the world’s most inspiring and influential characters from the fields of art, science, music, politics, medicine and business.
The Collins COBUILD Grading Scheme has been created using the most up-to-date language usage information available today. Each level is guided by a brand new comprehensive grammar and vocabulary framework, ensuring that the series will perfectly match readers’ abilities.
| CEF band | Pages | Word count | Headwords | ||
| Level 1 | elementary | A2 | 64 | 5,000–8,000 | approx. 700 |
| Level 2 | pre-intermediate | A2–B1 | 80 | 8,000–11,000 | approx. 900 |
| Level 3 | intermediate | B1 | 96 | 11,000–15,000 | approx. 1,100 |
| Level 4 | upper intermediate | B2 | 112 | 15,000–18,000 | approx. 1,700 |
For more information on the Collins COBUILD Grading Scheme, including a full list of the grammar structures found at each level, go to www.collinselt.com/readers/gradingscheme.
Also available online: Make sure that you are reading at the right level by checking your level on our website (www.collinselt.com/readers/levelcheck).
1740–1810
the man who helped humans to fly
All my life, I was an inventor. I designed the first hot-air balloons. My brother Étienne and I made it possible for humans to fly through the air.
I was born on 26th August 1740, in Annonay, in the Ardèche region of central France. My father, Pierre, owned a company which made paper in the town. My mother, Anne, gave Pierre 16 children, and I was the twelfth of them. When I was young, I was especially close to my brother, Jacques-Étienne. Étienne