Selected by a distinguished independent panel of experts including our editorial expert, Julia Eccleshare, for Diverse Voices - 50 of the best Children's Books celebrating cultural diversity in the UK.
This highly personal story was partly influenced by Bali Rai's own experiences, it looks at the impact cultural traditions can have on young people growing up in modern times and the book will resonate with all who have experienced the pressure of expectation at the hands of their family.
Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.
(Un)arranged Marriage, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.
Manny lives in England with his strict Punjabi parents who are very traditional and want him to have an arranged marriage. There's just one problem: Manny definitely doesn't want an arranged marriage. With the help of his best friend, Ade, Manny makes a plan...
Visit the Penguin Readers website Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.
Bali Rai was born in Leicester where he grew up in a multicultural community dreaming of playing football for Liverpool FC, being Bob Marley or becoming a writer. He writes the books he would have enjoyed as a teenager and Rani and Sukh is a set-text for GCSE English. His novel Killing Honour won the North East Teenage Book Award and was described as “utterly compelling” by The Bookseller; Now or Never was shortlisted for the Little Rebels Prize in 2020.
