Five Minute Thrillers

LDA Hi-Lo are high interest, low reading age books for pupils with special needs - 'books that all your pupils will want to read and all your pupils can read'. LDA's first eight Five Minute Thriller books were so popular that eight more titles have been added, along with all 16 on eight cassettes - one five-minute story read by anonymous professional actors on each side.

All the thrillers manage to combine arresting, suspense-filled mini plots with convincing characterisation, as well as an interest level of 9-16 with a reading level of 7-8. Pupils can read along with the cassettes, feeling the satisfaction of having read 'a whole book', whilst the endings encourage lively discussion. The stories feature an outwitted arsonist, a mysterious woman hitch-hiker, a terrorist with a human face, a child's pet that seems to eat humans, eyes with special powers, a boy who is a rock-star lookalike ... all familiar scenarios made strange and eerie. They're attractive and undaunting, and are certain to interest their intended readership and audience. Cassettes and books together would be a great asset to any Special Learning Department.

(LDA Ho-Lo, Abbeygate House, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1DB tel: 0223 357744)