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Hello internet, how are you? Welcome to my channel.
Today I'm here to show you some easy books to read in English.
As last week I made a video giving tips for you who want to start reading in another language,
this week I kind of decided to go with the theme and show some easy books to you that is beginning.
And this is also why today's video is in Portuguese,
I think this subject is much more useful for those who speak Portuguese, than for those who already speak English, right.
Also, there are many, many videos here on YouTube about this, so I've decided to do a little different
and I chose five genera and I'll show you books easy to read within each genera
and they are: dystopia, children, teen, young adult/contemporary and classic.
So let's go.
And within dystopias I indicate to you The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth.
I personally don't like these books very much, but they're very easy to read in English.
I'll put it down here because they're very heavy.
I'll stay only the first book, because it was too heavy.
The story is a dystopia, as I said, and it'll pass in a society divided into factions.
There are five factions and each one has a feature that they presam much, that they follow.
Each character is born in a faction, the faction of their parents, but when they turn 16,
they have to choose whether to continue in the faction that they already belong, or go to a new, if they'll change faction.
And then there is a test that will help them try to choose the faction they will get in.
This test will show the faction the character more fits.
And here we will follow the story of Tris, she and her brother are completing 16 years,
and then she'll take the test to see if it gives her a light, but actually ends up leaving her even more confused.
She has three factions as result, so she'd fit in three factions,
that is, she's a divergent and this is something super secret, super dangerous,
she can't talk to anyone, there are some divergent fading around, appearing dead,
so it's a super dangerous and secret thing, and that's the story.
As I said, I'm not a big fan of this series. The first two books were
nice to me, but the last one... I didn't like,
but they are easy to read, don't be scared by the size, they're quite large,
but you can read super fast, it's super simple to read and because the book has a lot of fight scenes,
it uses a lot of vocabulary related to parts of the body, so if you're reading, it's nice if you know a little bit about it.
But then you tell me: Carol, I've read the whole trilogy in Portuguese, I don't want to read in English
or you are afraid of the size, I understand you, they're pretty large,
but I have a light for you. Read Four. This book here is an extra of The Divergent series,
it's a book... it's like a compilation of tales counted from the point of view of Four,
he is a Divergent's character
and so, again, I particularly don't think this book add much to the story,
but it's small, it has a little bit over 200 pages, and it's super easy to read,
the stories, they're all very short, so it's a good way for you to practice your English
if you don't want to read the original trilogy in English.
My indicate of children's book is Dear Dumb Diary by Jim Benton,
and this book is really in form of a diary, it'll tell... this little girl here, I don't remember her name,
she's very young and she's writing her diary, she goes to school, she has her enemy at school,
she has a crush, she'll also talk a little bit about her dog, cousin, family...
a very light book, very simple.
Guys, it's tiny! It has less than 100 pages and has several illustrations,
so on every page has an illustration, so the text is very small, the letters are giants,
give you that little help, so you have no excuse.
It's indicated for children of 9 years old, it was the second little book I read in English,
so it's super, super simple, simple vocabulary, simple grammar.
Maybe some words you won't understand, but don't translate, please, try to understand for the context.
People, super... This here is the volume 1, I forgot to say, it's the Let's Pretend this Never Happened,
(Portuguese title).
But then you say: Carol, I don't want to read a book with a "little girl" theme, I'm a boy, I don't want to read...
Those genre things that happen, unfortunately, it has a equivalent version more focused on boys,
which is The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I've never read, I don't have it here, but I believe that is also super simple
like this one, after all it's kind of an equivalent version, the boys' version,
so if you don't want to read Dear Dumb Diary, you have the Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Of teen's books I indicate Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
This book will tell the story of August, he has a facial disability,
it isn't specified in the book what he has, but he has a disability on his face and because of that he was educated at home,
I think he's 12 and he'll go to a school for the first time as a "normal" kid,
like most children go and it'll tell this story.
Well guys, good part of the book is told from the point of view of August and other parts are by
his school little colleagues, his sister, the sister's boyfriend, so the vocabulary is very simple,
is very childish, I'd say.
And so guys, it was one of my favourite books of last year, it tells an important story
and very strong story, you know, but in a very simple way and teaches you a lesson in life, you know.
I enjoyed the book, I think everyone should read and its English is easy.
Young adult/contemporary I've two books to show you and the first is
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.
I'm sure everyone at least have heard of this book, two or three years it was a phenomenon,
everybody in the world was reading, even those who weren't a reader, who didn't read, were reading, so you know, I'm not going to talk about what it is,
but it's a super beautiful history, the English is super easy...
I'm sorry if you can hear this noise, my neighbor, there's not a day that doens't have a drill
noise here, so I'm sorry.
But as I was saying, the English is super easy, I'd read in Portuguese before,
so I think it gave me a little help, but it's still a super simple English,
this was the first big book I read in English, although it's not very large,
it must have around 350 pages, it shouldn't reach 400 and is super easy to read.
it has some medical terms, but such words, they are very similar to the terms in Portuguese,
so it's easy for you to understand. The writing of John Green is good, and engaging
and is a very interesting book, worth the reading.
The other young adult/contemporary book I have to show you is Paper Towns,
also by John Green and it'll tell the story of Q and Margo.
They're neighbors since they were children, but as they were growing up
Margo became the popular girl in school and she completely stopped to look on Q's face,
but he continued with that strong crush, that crush on her, until one day she shows up at his house and says
let's do some crazy stuff out there, it's not what you're thinking, but theydo a few things
in the city, they do some revenge... and the next day you know, he thinks everything has changed,
they'll be friends again, but then the she disappears.
And he begins to find some clues here and there, and he goes search for her, he'll try to find her.
I don't like Margo, I find her unbearable, but the book, it has a very simple language,
it's simple to read and when Margo isn't around, it's an interesting book
and also isn't large, it has 305 pages, isn't big and as I've said
the writing of John Green is quite engaging, although I don't like the story very much
and the films was released recently, so if you liked the film, read the book.
And the last book I have to show you is a classic and it's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol
and in this book we'll follow the adventures of Alice, you know, she falls into a hole
and find Wonderland right, this completely different world from ours,
full of... weird stuff, the animals talk, the plants, they have feelings,
she finds some people, I don't know if they can be considered human,
a little eccentric, let's say.
And like any curious child, Alice will look around and will get into some big confusions.
It's a classic right guys, of course it'll have vocabulary that you won't be able to understand.
The book uses a formal language of the time, a vocabulary of the time, something that we aren't currently used to.
Classics..., sometimes is difficult for you to read them in your own language right, imagine in a British English of the twentieth century!
I managed to read the part of the story tranquilly, only the poems.
I'll be completely honest with you here, I don't understand poems in Portuguese,
all these metaphors, isn't for me, imagine in British English of the nineteenth century, of course I wouldn't understand.
I read the poems, I understand what I understand, I didn't understand... I continued reading
and the poems didn't lack in the history for me, I could understand perfectly well,
but you may feel a little more difficult if you are starting to read in English
and if you don't understand a word, some vocabulary, don't translate, please
try to understand by the context, try to understand the whole sentence.
If you can't, if it's a keyword, if it's a verb that you need it to understand,
don't run to the English-Portuguese dictionary, try to look in a dictionary that gives the meaning of the word in English.
I'll let link down here, I'll try to put on the card in here somewhere
the link to the Oxford Dictionary, it's online, it's free,
you go there and type the word and it'll give its meaning in English, is very good,
you can also listen to the pronunciation in both American English and the British, so it's a very good site
and I'll also put down bellow, I'll try to put on the card somewhere
the link to the Urban Dictionary. There you'll be able to find expressions,
slang, things you won't find in a conventional dictionary and there too the people themselves,
they give the meaning in English and then others can vote on what they think is the best.
So expressions you can find there, I'll leave all the links bellow, they help a lot,
but don't translate, please.
And it's a children's classic, so i's not very large, has around 300 pages
and I think all editions come with illustrations, this mine is full of illustrations
which already helps a little. Where is it? Look how cute.
I confess that at the time I was very proud to have read a classic in English
and Alice is a very interesting story, it worth reading.
And that's it for today's guys, I hope I've succeeded to give hand to you
and only one tip for you to see if you'll be able to read the book in English,
search the synopsis of it in English on the internet, if you can read, go straight with it.
At the beginning, if you are starting to read in English, at the beginning you will be very worried
to understand the full meaning, I don't know what,
when I read The Fault in Our Stars in English I didn't even cry, and look I'm a crybaby.
I was there so focused on understanding what was being talked about, you know, I wasn't even thrilled,
I was with a hairy heart reading that book, but as you'll reading more,
you'll feel comfortable, you'll practice and an hour you will be on autopilot,
you'll not even notice that you are reading a book in a foreign language, there will be all on autopilot, all beautiful.
So that's it for today, I hope you've enjoyed, that this video has been helpful to you.
Don't forget to subscribe, even though I make videos in English, they all have subtitles,
so that's not an excuse, and you already practice a little bit in your English,
is already a way to you learn too and don't forget to give a like if you enjoyed the video,
and I'll see you next week.
Bye Bye.