Short Story Anthologies for Kids

These are the kind of stories we all remember reading on gray afternoons, wearing sweatpants and sprawled on the floor, after having complained to Mom several bajillion times that we were bored. To which she invariably replied, "Go read a book. I'm busy." Why we always went to the old anthologies, typically from the 1950s and with covers as cracked and gray as the weather outside, was a mystery, because they never seemed appealing.

Until we started reading the stories inside. It was better than TV—tales of reckless Greek heroes, real-life Arctic explorers, animals who could talk and wear clothes (this never bothered us until we got older), foreign lands, horse races, etc., etc., etc. Okay, so maybe the pictures were a little hokey, and maybe all the facts weren't perfectly accurate, but these were good stories.

Keeping such vessels of imagination from our own children is little short of criminal. They need a place to forage their young minds, to stoke the fires of make-believe and ambition, and what better place than the pages of a short story anthology? Surely Sesame Street or Dora the Explorer won't have the same effect; no, lead kids to the source as a place of delight and awe, and they'll eat the fruit and drink the water because they want to.

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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125 Items found Print
Active Filters: 2nd grade (Ages 7-8)
"Why" Stories
by Edward W. Dolch, Marguerite P. Dolch
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Aesop and Company
by Aesop, prepared by Barbara Bader and illustrated by Arthur Geisert
from Sandpiper Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Aesop, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fables for 2nd-6th grade
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, edited by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-2nd grade
$2.50 (3 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Avenel Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, retold & illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
1st Ed. from Chronicle Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Heidi Holder
1st edition from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Charles Santore
1988 ed from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
Aesop's Fables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Aesop, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-6th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Aesop's Fables
Puffin Classics
by Aesop
Reprint from Puffin Books
Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$7.99
Aesop's Fables
Children's Classics
by Aesop, illustrated by Nora Fry
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 2nd-6th grade
Aesop's Fables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Aesop, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-6th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, Illustrated by Walt Sturrock
from Unicorn Publishing House
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Charles Santore
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Macmillan
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.99
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Charles Santore
Kohl's Cares Edition from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, retold by Anne Terry White, illustrated by Helen Siegl
from California State Department of Education
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Charles Santore
from Random House
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Charles Santore
from Derrydale Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by W. Kirtman Plummer
1970 printing from Grosset & Dunlap
for 1st-3rd grade
in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables for Children
by Aesop, illustrated by Milo Winter
Pap/Com from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$14.99
Anansi the Spider Man
by Philip M. Sherlock, illustrated by Marcia Brown
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Atlantic Treasury of Childhood Stories
by Mary D. Huchinson Hodgkins (selector and editor), illustrated by Beatrice Stevens
from Atlantic Monthly Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Bears, Pirates and Silver Lace
by Anne B. Fisher; illustrated by Phil Nesbitt
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Big Book for Peace
by Lloyd Alexander, et. al
1st edition from Dutton Children's Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$10.99
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$18.99
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Child's Book of Country Stories
by Ada M. Skinner and Eleanor L. Skinner, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 1st-4th grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Child's Book of Grace
from Parragon Publishing
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Hour - 16 Volume Set
by Marjorie Barrows, ed.
from Spencer Press
for 1st-6th grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Don Daily
from Running Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$11.99
Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children
by William Russell
from Three Rivers Press
for Kindergarten-8th grade
in Reading Aloud & Story-telling (Location: LIR-RAST)
Collier's Junior Classics - 10 Volume Set
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$50.00 (1 in stock)
Collier's Junior Classics - 10 Volume Set
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor
1956 printing from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 1: A, B, C: Go!
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor, Rosemary E. Livsey Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 10: Gifts From the Past
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Elenora Alexander, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 2: Once Upon a Time
by Margaret E. Martignoni Series Editor, Elizabeth H. Gross Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 3: Magic In the Air
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Mary V. Gaver, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 4: Just Around the Corner
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Alice Brooks McGuire, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 5: In Your own Backyard
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Marian C. Young, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 6: Harvest of Holidays
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Ruth Weeden Stewart, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 7: Legends of Long Ago
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Jane Darrah, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 8: Roads to Greatness
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Louise Galloway, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Collier's Junior Classics Volume 9: Call of Adventure
by Margaret E. Martignoni, Series Editor and Charlemae Rollins, Volume Editor
from Crowell-Collier
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Contest
by Nonny Hogrogian
from Greenwillow Books
Armenian Folktale for 1st-3rd grade
1977 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Fables of Aesop
Dover Evergreen Classics
by Joseph Jacobs
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
$5.99
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, illustrated by Edward J. Detmold
from Gramercy Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, selected & illustrated by David Levine, translated by Patrick & Justina Gregory
from Gambit
for 2nd-4th grade
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, illustrated by Stephen Gooden and translated by Roger L’Estrange
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
Favorite Stories and Songs
by Arranged by David C. Beasley
from Barnes & Noble
for 2nd-8th grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Fifty Famous People
by James Baldwin
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-4th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$11.95
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
by James Baldwin
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-4th grade
$11.95
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
by James Baldwin
from Living Book Press
for 1st-4th grade
$8.99
Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales
by Jacqueline Onassis, illustrated by Boris Zvorykin
from Viking Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Gift of the Sun
by Dianne Stewart
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Grasshopper and the Ants
by Jerry Pinkney
from Little, Brown & Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Hidden Tales from Eastern Europe
by Antonia Barber
from Frances Lincoln
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (3 in stock)
How and Why: Heroes
by George W. Diemer (editor), contributing editor Claude Merton Wise
from The L.J. Bullard Co.
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Treasury of Humor for Children
by Judith Hendra, editor; introduction by William Cole
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Kaleidoscope of Fairies & Fables
by Hans Andersen, Aesop, Kipling & the Brothers Grimm, retold by Robert Mathias
from Hamlyn
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book
from Lion Hudson
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Literature Pockets: Aesop's Fables Grades 2-3
from Evan-Moor Educational Publishers
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Evan-Moor Literature & Poetry (Location: ZCLE-EM)
Little Child's Book of Stories
by Ada M. Skinner & Eleanor L. Skinner, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
My Book House #01: In the Nursery
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #01: In the Nursery
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #02: Story Time
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #02: Story Time
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #03: Up One Pair of Stairs
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #03: Up One Pair of Stairs
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #04: Through the Gate
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #04: Through the Gate
by Olive Beaupre Miller
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #05: Over the Hills
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #05: Over the Hills
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #06: Through Fairy Halls
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #06: Through Fairy Halls
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #07: Magic Garden
by Olive Beaupre Miller, ed.
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #07: The Magic Garden
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #08: Flying Sails
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #08: Flying Sails
by Olive Beaupre Miller, ed.
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #09: The Treasure Chest
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #09: The Treasure Chest
by Olive Beaupre Miller, ed.
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #10: From the Tower Window
My Book House
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #10: From the Tower Window
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #11: In Shining Armor
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #12: Halls of Fame
by Olive Beaupre Miller
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
My Book House #12: Halls of Fame
from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
My Book House - 12-Volume Set
by Olive Beaupre Miller, editor
from Book House for Children
for Preschool-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$75.00 (1 in stock)
My Book House: In Your Hands (A Parent's Guide Book)
Revised from Book House for Children
for 2nd-6th grade
in My Book House (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
New World Echoes
Copper Lodge Library
by Compiled and Edited by Jennifer Courtney
from Classical Conversations
for 1st-6th grade
in Classical Conversations (Location: CUR-CC)
$14.95
Nursery Friends from France
from Book House for Children
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
Ol' Paul the Mighty Logger
by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Open the Doors
by Margery Fisher (collected and arranged by)
First American Edition from World Publishing Company
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Persian Cinderella
by Shirley Climo & Robert Florczak
Reprint from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Platt & Munk Treasury of Stories for Children
by Nancy Christensen Hall, editor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Book Treasuries (Location: PIC-TRE)
Read-To-Me Storybook
by Lois Lenski, Illustrator
from HarperCollins
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Reading-Literature First Reader
by Harriette Taylor Treadwell, Margaret Free
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
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