Short Stories

Picture Books | Intermediate Fiction | Young Adult Fiction

The books recommended below were published within the last several years. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion.

Picture Books
Suggested grade level listed with each entry

You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together and You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Mother Goose Tales to Read Together written by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Michael Emberley (Tingley/Little)
Rhyming stories designed to be read aloud by two readers offer mild but clever takeoffs on familiar tales. Grade level: K–3. 32 pages each.

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales written by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (Viking)
In this imaginatively designed spoof, the perpetually complaining Little Red Hen ties the individual tales into a zany whole. Grade level: 1–3. 56 pages.

More Mole Stories and Little Gopher, Too written by Lore Segal, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier (Foster/Farrar)
Grandmother Mole takes on some of the more greedy, anarchic moments of preschooler-hood in four perceptive, amusing, and short tales. Grade level: Preschool. 40 pages.

Intermediate Fiction
Suggested grade level for each entry: 4–6

Strange Happenings: Five Tales of Transformation by Avi (Harcourt)
In five dark stories characterized by brief but vivid descriptions and unexpected plot twists, unrepentant characters get well-deserved comeuppances. 137 pages.

Passion and Poison: Tales of Shape-Shifters, Ghosts, and Spirited Women written by Janice M. Del Negro, illustrated by Vince Natale (Cavendish)
Del Negro’s “original tales or retellings based on traditional folkloric motifs” explore supernatural territory with deceptive informality, dramatic timing, and mesmerizing storytelling. 64 pages.

Graven Images written by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick)
In this Newbery Honor Book, three fanciful tales are linked by the central theme of a sculpted figure and by a pervading atmosphere of mystery and suspense. 116 pages.

Hauntings: And Other Tales of Danger, Love, and Sometimes Loss by Betsy Hearne (Greenwillow)
These fifteen stories concerning the otherworldly include folktales and, in a contrast of styles, more contemporary tales. 211 pages.

Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters written by, Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Andre Carrilho (Schwartz & Wade)
These ten original trickster stories, all child-centric and cleverly plotted, are enhanced by grandly melodramatic black-and-white illustrations. 147 pages.

Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope by Beverley Naidoo (HarperCollins)
Each of Naidoo’s stark, precise stories — set in an array of decades ranging from the 1940s to 2000 — illustrates the changing political realities of South Africa. 176 pages.

Familiar and Haunting: Collected Stories by Philippa Pearce (HarperCollins)
In these thirty-seven stories, collected from Pearce’s six decades of published work but remarkably undated, children cobble together their own realities. 392 pages.

Young Adult Fiction
Suggested grade level for each entry: 7 and up

Such a Pretty Face: Short Stories about Beauty edited by Ann Angel (Amulet/Abrams)
Twelve writers, including Norma Fox Mazer, Ron Koertge, and Tim Wynne-Jones, address concepts of beauty and self-discovery in stories that range from the everyday to the surreal. 267 pages.

Rush Hour: Reckless; a Journal of Contemporary Voices (Volume Four) edited by Michael Cart (Delacorte)
The consequences of “reckless choices” are addressed in stories that deal with obsession, pregnancy, suicide, criminal behavior, and self-punishment from authors such as Sharon G. Flake, David Levithan, and Elizabeth E. Wein. 205 pages.

The Canine Connection: Stories about Dogs and People by Betsy Hearne (McElderry)
In Hearne’s imaginative collection of dog stories, the dogs are not so much characters as catalysts whose existence precipitates insights, transforms relationships, and changes the lives of human teenagers. 115 pages.

Twice Told: Original Stories Inspired by Original Art illustrated by Scott Hunt (Dutton)
Short stories from eighteen acclaimed YA authors (including Ron Koertge, M.T. Anderson, and Jan Marino) present dual interpretations of Hunt’s original charcoal drawings. 259 pages.

Black Juice (Eos/HarperCollins); White Time (Eos/HarperCollins); andRed Spikes (Random)
By Margo Lanagan
Complementary collections of ten taut, original short stories delve into otherwordly fantasy, science fiction, and horror settings, respectively.

Figs and Fate: Stories about Growing Up in the Arab World Today by Elsa Marston (Braziller)
The five stories in this collection are each set in a different part of the Middle East (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and a Palestinian refugee camp) and feature contemporary characters dealing with a “complicated, baffling world.” 135 pages.

145th Street: Short Stories by Walter Dean Myers (Delacorte)
Tightly focused and selectively detailed, each of these ten stories set in contemporary Harlem (depicted with great affection) features a small cast grappling with a single situation. 152 pages.

Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Sharyn November (Firebird/Penguin)
In this companion to the earlier Firebirds, November presents short stories by sixteen established writers, including Fracesca Lia Block, Charles de Lint, Diana Wynne Jones, Tanith Lee, Patricia A. McKillip, and Tamora Pierce. 530 pages.

Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick)
This collection, offering a well-balanced mixture of dark humor, eerie mystery, and true terror, includes work by Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Joan Aiken, M.T. Anderson, and Vivian Vande Velde. 241 pages.

The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick)
These spooky, grisly, and occasionally even funny tales are grounded by real human emotion and include plenty of thrills, chills, and twists. 253 pages.

grl2grl by Julie Anne Peters (Tingley/Little)
Ten short stories give voice to expressions of lesbian and transgender teen experience with skillfully varied subject matter and tone. 151 pages.

Thicker than Water: Coming-of-Age Stories by Irish and Irish American Writers edited by Gordon Snell (Delacorte)
A strong sense of place and shared Irish heritage is the common thread of these growing-up stories by a diverse collection of well-known and award-winning writers. 239 pages.

Baseball in April and Other Stories by Gary Soto (Harcourt)
Eleven vignettes featuring Mexican-American families astutely convey the desires, fears, and foibles of children and teenagers going about the business of daily living. 111 pages.

Help Wanted: Stories by Gary Soto (Harcourt)
Soto’s collection, rooted in Latino culture but universally accessible, introduces a cross section of contemporary Mexican-American kids dealing with family, friendship, and first love. 216 pages.

All Hallows’ Eve: 13 Stories by Vivian Vande Velde (Harcourt)
Each story draws readers in with familiar situations (meeting a date’s parents, driving home from a party), then swiftly veers in an unsettling, sometimes terrifying, direction. 225 pages.

X-Indian Chronicles: The Book of Mausape by Thomas M. Yeahpau (Candlewick)
In this hallucinatory collection of short stories, Mausape Onthaw grows to manhood in an alcohol- and drug-scourged wasteland. 234 pages.

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