Learn English Through Stories: Volume 3 (Learn English Through Stories: 16 Stories to Improve Your English Grammar and English Vocabulary) Paperback – February 7, 2022

Five Stars Again! I started my reading of this third volume of English Through Stories with some trepidation. After all, Donald Wells had given us 32 stories gathered from Aesop's Fables in his first two volumes. Surely, the source material must be now a little thin on the ground. As it turns out, with this supposition I had done Mr. Wells, and Aesop(!), a disservive. Not only is there more from Aesop than I had ever imagined, but Mr. Wells's ability to craft each story into Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced content remains undiminished.My applause for the stories in this volume in many ways merely repeats what I have written about Volumes One and Two. The Basic versions of each story have a sense of immediacy that grabs the attention of the beginning reader. The Intermediate versions build on that immediacy with a more traditional 'simple past' storytelling form, and the Advanced versions use the thusly given context to introduce a prodigious vocabulary. The storytelling, as expected from what we have seen before, is laudatory, and the pedagogy is sterling.And then there is "The Book and its Cover." Wow! This, the 48th story to flow from Mr. Wells's pen in his rendering of long-established fables and stories, is probably the one that is most his own. Its voice is certainly different from the prior 47. Recognisable, but different. And, with this story, it is like Donald Wells has delved into my mind and found memories of a childhood more than 50 years past. I was an inveterate reader and I, like the young boy in this story, would often absorb myself into the schooldays readers of my parents' and earlier generations. Reading this story brought me back to that almost forgotten time. It was like reading Rudyard Kipling's [Captains Courageous] and once again being the out-of-place boy trying to make my way at sea or in the jungles of a still-dark Africa. Let me say this. I am content with the first 15 stories in this volume, as with indeed I am pleased with the first 47 stories in the series of volumes. The storytelling, as I have said, is superb, and the pedagogy is outstanding. With Story 48, however, "The Book and its Cover," I am beyond content. I am beyond pleased. The pedagogy of this story is unquestionably solid, but it is lost to me. I am no longer reading this story thinking of its use in my classroom. I am reading this story as a reminder of all that the world of fiction can be for us. In that, perhaps, it gives us the greatest pedagogical lesson of all in giving us the love of discovering the glories of literature, in the English language and beyond. This one story, I believe, may help induce the love of reading in many young students, just as its precursors did for me more than a half-century ago.Perhaps my praise of that last story needs to be tempered. After all, it is just one story among 15 others in this volume. But that is how it has moved me. The other stories are all uniformly excellent in what they do. I strongly recommend their use in any English-learning classroom. The last story, however, is one that I would especially suggest for any learners - particularly young learners - wishing to discover the wonders of the universe through English words.

There are important tips in the book for English learners. I liked it a lot.