Short Story Anthologies for Kids

Store Location

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.

Did you find this review helpful?

Parent Categories

Fiction & Literature

Fiction by Genre

Short Story Anthologies for Kids

Subcategories by Grade

Preschool (Ages 4-5)

Kindergarten (Ages 5-6)

1st grade (Ages 6-7)

2nd grade (Ages 7-8)

3rd grade (Ages 8-9)

4th grade (Ages 9-10)

5th grade (Ages 10-11)

6th grade (Ages 11-12)

Subcategories

Aesop's Fables

Best In Children's Books

My Book House

38 Items found Print

Active Filters:

Trade Paperback

	Aesop and Company With Scenes from His Legendary Life 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 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 for Children by Aesop, illustrated by Milo Winter Pap/Com from Dover Publications for 2nd-5th grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $14.99
	After Many Days by L. M. Montgomery for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenberg from Puffin Books for 3rd-6th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $6.99
	Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock by Eric A. Kimmel Reprint from Holiday House for Preschool-1st grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Anansi the Spider Man by Philip M. Sherlock, illustrated by Marcia Brown for 1st-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Anpao An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater from HarperCollins for 5th-9th grade 1978 Newbery Honor Book in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $8.99
	Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum by Ashley Bryan from Aladdin Paperbacks Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 3rd-7th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $9.99 $5.50 (5 in stock)
	Biggest Frog in Australia by Susan L. Roth from Aladdin Paperbacks for Preschool-1st grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $10.99
	Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess from Dover Publications for 2nd-6th grade in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS) $10.99
	Classic Myths to Read Aloud The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology, Specially Arranged for Children Five and Up by an Educational Expert by William F. Russell from Three Rivers Press in Reading Aloud & Story-telling (Location: LIR-RAST) $16.00 $9.50 (1 in stock)
	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)
	Cow-Tail Switch And Other West African Stories by Harold Courlander, George Herzog Reissue from Square Fish Publishing for 5th-7th grade 1948 Newbery Honor Book in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Brian Pinkney from Yearling for 4th-7th grade 1993 Newbery Honor Book in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $7.99
	Fables of Aesop Dover Evergreen Classics by Joseph Jacobs from Dover Publications for 2nd-4th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $5.99
	Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs from Dover Publications for 3rd-4th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Favorite Folktales from Around the World by Jane Yolen from Pantheon Books for 4th-Adult in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH) $9.00 (1 in stock)
	Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters Heroines in Folktales from Around the World by Kathleen Ragan, Foreword by Jane Yolen from W. W. Norton and Co. for 5th-Adult in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH) $16.95
	Gift of the Sun A Tale from South Africa by Dianne Stewart for 1st-3rd 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)
	Kingfisher Treasury of Stories from Around the World by Linda Jennings from Kingfisher for 3rd-5th grade in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH) $3.50 (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)
	New World Echoes A Cycle 3 reader 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
	Oscar Wilde Stories for Children by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by PJ Lynch from Hodder Children's for 4th-8th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Paul Buyan Twenty-One Tales of the Legendary Logger by Esther Shephard Reissue from Odyssey Press for 3rd-7th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo & Robert Florczak Reprint from HarperCollins for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.99
	Seven Chinese Sisters by Kathy Tucker Reprint from Albert Whitman & Company for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Seven Spools of Thread A Kwanzaa Story (Albert Whitman Prairie Paperback) by Angela Shelf Medearis Reprint from Albert Whitman & Company for 3rd-5th grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Sweet and Sour Tales from China from HMH Books for Young Readers in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH) $8.95
	Tale of the Cid: and Other Stories of Knights and Chivalry by Andrew Lang from Dover Publications for 6th-Adult in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $9.95
	Tales from Japan by Helen & William McAlpine from Oxford University for 4th-6th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger from Dover Publications for 4th-8th grade 1925 Newbery Medal winner in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $12.99
	Two Ways to Count to Ten A Liberian Folktale by Ruby Dee Reprint from Square Fish Publishing for Preschool-1st grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky by Elphinstone Dayrell Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers for 1st-3rd grade 1969 Caldecott Honor Book in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Wise Words by Peter Leithart from GCB Publishing Group for 3rd-8th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer from HarperCollins for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Connect