Minis
Mini Copy Book

Each post in this section is a short précis (summary) of a passage in The Copy Book. All of them are in modern English. They are intended for students of English as a Foreign Language at Elementary Level.

The Hundred Years’ War

Away to Your Own Country

As the Duke of Bedford and other English captains were besieging Orleans, they received a startling letter from a seventeen-year-old girl.

Length: 114 words

French History

Politics and the Pulpit

Edmund Burke begged the clergy of England to give us all a break from the twenty-four-hour news cycle.

Length: 55 words

Animal Stories

Messing About in Boats

Mole is enjoying the most wonderful Spring morning, skipping his chores and going for a row with Rat.

Length: 115 words

Tudor Era

A Sight of Two Seas

In 1573, Sir Francis Drake had two ambitions: to revenge himself on the Spanish, and to see with his own eyes the Pacific Ocean.

Length: 117 words

Stuart Era

Everyone Has His Part

William Dampier describes the hand-to-mouth existence of the aborigines of northwest Australia, and reveals a people far advanced in charity.

Length: 110 words

Lucy Cazalet

The Great Stand at the River Ugra

Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, finally stood up to the Great Horde and their opportunistic Western allies.

Length: 56 words