The Extensive Reading Foundation

Review: One Day. By Helen Naylor
Cambridge English Readers - Stated level: A2
ISBN: 9780521714228

Reviewed by Chris Lima

This title was one of the finalists in the Adolescent and Adult: Elementary category in 2009. It is an original story and, in my opinion, they are always welcome. At first sight constructing a plot around everyday lives of ordinary people may sound a bit dull for this age group, but on the other hand, it opens a lot of space for identification.

The inclusion of four short episodes that are not apparently interconnected, apart from happening in the same neighbourhood, was a risk plot construction but cohesion was skilfully built up along the plot and everything falls into the correct place at the end.
The stories are intriguing and keep the reader hooked because the outcomes are quite unpredictable. This sort of construction is not frequent in learner’s literature because it requires good control from the writers’ part and a certain level of literacy from the readers’, but it certainly opens up space for richer character construction and for different interpretations and points of view.

No exercises intrude on the reading experience since they are online and, therefore, the reading flows. A glossary would be helpful though, and the illustrations could be more attractive and give more support to the text, but on the whole, it is a good story and this is the most important after all. I genuinely enjoyed reading it.

Recommended.