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Short Stories

Contemporary writers seem to take pride in their ability to author voluminous novels. Even when they write short stories, they're often too long, and they're seldom as interesting as they ought to be. The New Yorker may be a good measure for what's hip and likely to make a lot of money, but if they're willing to publish a short work it's also likely that the story is pretentious and probably in poor taste.

Some of the best short stories are detective fictions. Genre-specific works don't usually qualify as high art, but the ability of men like G.K. Chesterton, Edgar Allan Poe, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to distill a comprehensive plot with fully-realized characters into a few pages borders on genius. That Chesterton and Doyle could do it dozens of times with the same characters and keep readers interested is testament to their powerful imaginations and consummate creativity.

There are plenty of fine literary short stories, of course, though most were written between 1860 and 1960. It took awhile for the short story to grow up as a form, and it's zenith was relatively short-lived. Mark Twain is arguably the best American short story writer, capable of evoking extreme pathos and wild humor simultaneously. His best stories are basically literate presentations of oral-tradition Americana, crafted with extreme care but seemingly careless in their dialect-ridden roughness.

Many writers' excellent short stories are often overshadowed by a single brilliant longer work. J.D. Salinger, for example, wrote some of the best short stories of the 20th century (especially among those written to anartistically-inclined upper-middle class), yet no one remembers Seymour: An Introduction or To Esme, With Love and Squalor because the only Salinger work they've ever read or heard of is Catcher in the Rye.

In some ways, short stories are a better gauge of an author's ability than his novels. Short stories require a precision of style, a tightness of plot, and a coherence of vision that novelists can get away with applying more loosely. It's important, therefore, to keep them short; otherwise, you're kind of missing the point.

Novellas are the murky territory between short stories and novels. They aren't short stories, however, just novels that are easier to read or fit in your back pocket. We've limited our selection in this category to actual short stories. If you're a writer (or want to be), short stories are some of the best material you can read to improve your own craft. If you're simply an avid reader, they make some of the most enjoyable fiction available.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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49 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 6th grade (Ages 11-12)
After Many Days
by L. M. Montgomery
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Bold Dragoon
by Washington Irving, illustrated by James Daugherty
1960 printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bones and Berserkers
Nathan Hale #13
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$13.59
Buddy's Crazy True-Life Adventures
Buddy Davis Amazing Adventures
by Buddy Davis
from Answers in Genesis
for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Chapter of Adventures
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Chapter of Adventures
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Chronicles of Avonlea
by L. M. Montgomery
from Bantam Books
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.09
Eric Carle's Treasury of Classic Stories for Children
by Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, retold & illustrated by Eric Carle
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
Faerie Gold
Classics for Young Readers
by Kathryn Lindskoog & Ranelda Mack Hunsicker
from P&R Publishing
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Morality Tales (Location: FIC-WH05)
$15.29
Five Great Short Stories
Dover Thrift Editions
by Jack London
from Dover Publications
for 6th-9th Grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00
Further Chronicles of Avonlea
by L. M. Montgomery
from Bantam Books
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Gift of the Magi
Dover Thrift Editions
by O. Henry
from Dover Publications
for 4th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 $2.00 (4 in stock)
Gift of the Magi
by O. Henry, illustrated by Kevin King
from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Gift of the Magi and Other Stories
Books of Wonder
by O. Henry (illustrated by Michael Dooling)
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Gift of the Magi and Other Stories
Books of Wonder
by O. Henry, illustrated by Gordon Grant
from Reader's Digest
for 4th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Gift of the Magi and Other Stories
by O. Henry, illustrated by P. J. Lynch
from Candlewick Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
$15.29
Gifts of the Child Christ - 2 Volume Set
by George MacDonald
from Eerdmans
for 5th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Glimpses of Louisa
by Louisa May Alcott, selected with an introduction and editor's notes by Cornelia Meigs
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Good Night - Audiobook
by Jim Weiss
from Greathall Productions
for 3rd-8th grade
in Greathall Storyteller CDs (Location: CD-WEISS)
Graven Images
by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Andrew Glass
1st edition from Harper & Row
for 4th-8th grade
1983 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Happy Pairr and Other Love Stories
by Miriam Chaikin, illustrated by Gustave Nebel
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Heather, Oak, and Olive
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Victor Ambrus
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Hill and Holler Stories
by Douglas Mahnkey
1978 Reprint from School of the Ozarks Press
Tales of the Ozarks for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
John Hawke's Fortune
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
John Hawke's Fortune
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$19.51
Jungle Book
Whole Story Series
by Rudyard Kipling
from Viking Press
Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Gregory Alexander
from Pavilion Books
Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Eric Kincaid
from Brimax Books
Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Jungle Books
Signet Classics
by Rudyard Kipling
from Signet Classics
Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
King of the Hummingbirds
by John Gardner, illustrated by Michael Sporn
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
More Two-Minute Mysteries
by Donald J. Sobol
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Osceola's Head and Other American Ghost Stories
by Walter Harter, illustrated by Neil Waldman
from Prentice Hall
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Past Perfect, Present Tense
by Richard Peck
from Puffin Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH)
$5.94
Plague Ship
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Plague Ship
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$19.51
Red-Headed League and The Adventure of the Speckled Band
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Paul Spina
from Franklin Watts
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sailing on the Ice: And Other Stories from the Old Squire's Farm
by C. A. Stephens
from Rutledge Hill Press
for 4th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.13
Secret Lives of Walter Mitty and of James Thurber
by James Thurber, illustrated by Marc Simont
1st edition from Collins Design
for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Short Stories of G. A. Henty Volume One
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Soldier's Daughter & Other Stories
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Soldier's Daughter & Other Stories
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Sphinx at Dawn
by Madeleine L'Engle
1st edition from Seabury Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages
by Harold Bloom
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 3rd-8th grade
in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
Surfman's Daughter
by Rebecca Locklear
for 6th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.76
This Year's Book for Boys
by Harold Avery et al.
from Hodder & Stoughton
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Timely Arrival of Barnabas Bead
Tales of an Unremembered Country
by A.S. Peterson, illustrated by Joe Sutphin
from Rabbit Room Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.61
Two-Minute Mysteries
by Donald J. Sobol
Reprint from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$5.94
When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other Stories
by Isaac Bashevis Singer, illustrated by Margot Zemach
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-6th grade
1969 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wood by Moonlight
by Geoffrey Trease
from Chatto and Windus
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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