Books by level / English books
A Municipal Report: reading level, length and free edition
A Municipal Report by O. Henry is a short story adapted for learners in English. Our team rates it A2. It runs to 1,438 words with 478 different word forms, about 7–14 min of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from VOA Learning English.
- Author
- O. Henry
- Language
- English
- Level
- A2
- Form
- short story, adapted
- Words
- 1,438
- Different word forms
- 478
- Forms for 95% / 98%
- 407 / 450
- Reading time
- 7–14 min
- Free edition
- VOA Learning English
Is A Municipal Report right for your level?
To recognise 95% of the running words in A Municipal Report, you need its 407 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 450. The median English A2 book in our table needs 415 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is typical for its level: number 27 of 60, easiest first.
A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.
Which words should you know before you start?
These are the words that A Municipal Report uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 309 English books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.
- dollar 5
- magazine 4
- dollars 4
- southern 3
- agreement 3
- missing 3
- store 3
How does it begin?
A big, heavy man was walking up and down in the hotel lobby. Something about the way he moved made me think of a hungry dog looking for a bone. He had a big, fat, red face and a sleepy expression in his eyes.
From the VOA Learning English edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.
How long does it take to read?
| Words | 100 wpm | 150 wpm | 200 wpm | 250 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,438 | under 1 h | under 1 h | under 1 h | under 1 h |
Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?
Where can you read it for free?
This is not the original text but an adaptation for learners of English by VOA Learning English (Voice of America), from its American Stories series: shorter sentences, a limited vocabulary and an audio recording read at a slower speed. Text and audio are free on the VOA site. Material produced by the Voice of America, a U.S. government broadcaster, is in the public domain.
To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.
What to read next at A2
English books at the same level that ask for a similar amount of vocabulary:
- The Ambitious Guest, Nathaniel Hawthorne: 1,326 words, 405 forms for 95%
- Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, O. Henry: 1,669 words, 405 forms for 95%
- The Californian’s Tale, Mark Twain: 1,448 words, 409 forms for 95%
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving: 1,417 words, 404 forms for 95%
- A White Heron, Sarah Orne Jewett: 1,436 words, 410 forms for 95%
- The Lady in Black, Eleanor H. Porter: 1,543 words, 403 forms for 95%
See also all English books by level and books at A2 in all five languages.