My friend Rachel Foakes, who has died unexpectedly aged 53, was a writer of education books, a committed activist and a Labour town councillor.
Over the course of her 30-year career, Rachel wrote more than 80 books, reaching tens of thousands of students of English worldwide. Her graded readers ranged across all age groups and covered non-fiction as well as retellings of modern and classic works, and included White Fang (2008), Mulan (2017) and The Life and Diaries of Anne Frank (2018), all winners of the ERF (Extensive Reading Foundation) Language Learner Literature award.
