Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reading series, designed for teenagers and young adults learning English as a foreign 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 Railway Children, a Level 1 Reader, is A1 in the CEFR framework. Short sentences contain a maximum of two clauses, introducing the past simple tense and some simple modals, adverbs and gerunds. Illustrations support the text throughout, and many titles at this level are graphic novels.

Bobbie, Peter, Phyllis and their mother have to leave London and live in the countryside. Their new house is next to the railway, and the children visit it every day. Slowly, the children begin to love their new life.