Pick Your Reading Level
Select a level that allows you to enjoy the story comfortably. You should be able to follow the action without struggling through every single sentence. Remember, you can change your level whenever you want.
Simply click one of the bars below to choose your starting point.
Not Sure Which Level to Choose?
Read the short samples below to find the level that suits you best. We took one story excerpt and rewrote it for our three CEFR bands. If you can read a sample comfortably without constantly stopping to look up words, that is the right level for you.
Don't worry, these samples are only for comparing levels. The stories in our library are different at every level.
A1-A2 Sample: Beginner
Brandon held his wife Rebecca’s hand in the warm hospital room. She was very tired, but she smiled because their baby girl was finally coming.
Soon, the doctor held up the tiny baby. Brandon looked at her face, and his heart stopped. The baby's eyes were completely black. There was no white, no color, and no pupil. It was like looking into two dark holes.
Brandon gasped, but then the baby blinked. Suddenly, her eyes became a gorgeous green. The doctor and nurses smiled and said she was beautiful. Nobody else saw the black eyes. Brandon looked at his daughter, feeling cold and terrified.
B1-B2 Sample: Intermediate
The atmosphere in the delivery room was tense as Brandon held Rebecca's hand during the final moments of her labor. When their baby girl finally emerged, Brandon stared at her, expecting a wave of pure joy. Instead, he froze in total shock.
The infant’s eyes were entirely black, showing a solid and unnatural darkness with no visible whites, pupils, or irises. It felt as though an empty, terrifying void was staring straight back at him. Before he could cry out, the child blinked.
Instantly, the blackness melted away, replaced by a pair of vibrant green eyes. The doctor smoothly passed the crying baby to Rebecca, who smiled through her tears. The remaining medical team continued their routine completely unfazed, leaving Brandon alone, wondering if he was losing his mind.
C1-C2 Sample: Advanced
The sterile glare of the delivery room seemed almost theatrical as Rebecca’s labor reached its agonizing conclusion. Brandon clutched her hand, his exhaustion momentarily eclipsed by the anticipation of finally seeing their daughter.
When the doctor lifted the newborn into view, that anticipation curdled into dread.
The infant’s eyes were entirely black: no iris, no pupil, not even the faintest trace of a white sclera. They resembled two polished fragments of obsidian, disturbingly featureless and yet somehow alert. Brandon found himself transfixed by the child’s gaze, seized by the irrational conviction that she was not merely looking at him but scrutinizing him.
Then she blinked.
The darkness receded as abruptly as it had appeared, revealing striking green eyes. The transformation was so instantaneous that Brandon briefly questioned whether fatigue had distorted his perception.
The doctor, apparently oblivious, placed the crying infant in Rebecca’s arms. Around them, the nurses continued their routine with maddening composure, exchanging quiet remarks and adjusting equipment as though nothing remotely extraordinary had occurred.
Rebecca gazed at their daughter, overwhelmed with relief.
Brandon remained silent.
Perhaps exhaustion had conjured the entire episode. Perhaps his mind, strained beyond reason, had manufactured something monstrous from an ordinary moment.
But another possibility refused to leave him.
Perhaps he had seen exactly what was there.