nansk Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 (edited) Please suggest good short stories that I can read and discuss with my 11 yo dd. We are at a busy time of life where we only get a short time to read together, and not every day. Chapter books are taking too long to finish. I want that feeling of having finished something together. Edited February 4, 2016 by nansk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 What kinds of stories does she like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I am doing a short story unit with dd10 in a few weeks. Here's what I plan to use: "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov "Zlateh the Goat" by Isaac Bashevis Singer "Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry "Scout's Honor" by Avi "The Grown Up" by Ian McEwan "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calabaras County" by Mark Twain "Miss Awful" by Arthur Cavanaugh "The Third Wish" by Joan Aiken "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury All of these are available for free online. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 My daughter has found a treasure trove in the folk takes and fairy tales section of the library which is actually the non fiction section. They are super interesting and many books have themes from around the world! Very fun. I enjoyed reading some aloud to her when she was sick last week 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 And yes zlateh the goat is so sweet and was found in multiple treasuries 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 You might want to take a look at Charles and Mary Lamb's Shakespeare. It's an excellent introduction, imo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) We have a set of the old My Bookhouse books. When we were in the mood for just a short story, those were our go-to books. Everything from fairy-tales to myths to just really sweet stories to short biographies. We loved them. Sometimes you can find a random set at a second-hand store, or maybe your library would have them? Edited February 5, 2016 by J-rap 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 Thank you for all your replies. I couldn't find this thread and thought the forum had eaten it. In the meantime, I found Farrar's blog post on short stories and read a couple of them with dd. Zlateh the Goat was the second one we read. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairy4tmama Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I am doing a short story unit with dd10 in a few weeks. Here's what I plan to use: "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov "Zlateh the Goat" by Isaac Bashevis Singer "Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry "Scout's Honor" by Avi "The Grown Up" by Ian McEwan "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calabaras County" by Mark Twain "Miss Awful" by Arthur Cavanaugh "The Third Wish" by Joan Aiken "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury All of these are available for free online. THANK YOU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 THANK YOU Sure! IIRC, I got a lot of my ideas from Farrar's blog post as well -- which I forgot until the pp mentioned it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 (edited) What about some Tall Tales? I have the Mary Pope Osborne book sitting on my shelf and hope to get to it soon! The Reluctant Dragon--this is in the public domain and I'd consider it a longer short story. James Herriot's Treasure for Children The Children's Book of Virtues Some longer picture books--I'm thinking books like David Macaulay's Pyramid or Elizabeth Mann's Wonders of the World series or illustrated poems like The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Edited February 29, 2016 by Holly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted March 1, 2016 Author Share Posted March 1, 2016 What about some Tall Tales? I have the Mary Pope Osborne book sitting on my shelf and hope to get to it soon! The Reluctant Dragon--this is in the public domain and I'd consider it a longer short story. James Herriot's Treasure for Children The Children's Book of Virtues Some longer picture books--I'm thinking books like David Macaulay's Pyramid or Elizabeth Mann's Wonders of the World series or illustrated poems like The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Thanks. I will check these out, too. Some of these titles are new to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 ~~The Book of Dragons is like a chapter book, but each chapter is a story of its own. So it is like a collection of dragon stories. ~~Any of the Lang Fairy Books are chapter books but each chapter is a different fairy tale. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Take a look at the syllabus for the Socratic Discussion course with WTM Academy. Looks like she is using a lot of short stories in that class. We haven't taken it yet, but are registered for fall 2016. Here's a link to the course page: http://www.wtmacademy.com/courses/electives/introduction-to-socratic-discussion/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) Peachy Doodle has a great list. And good ideas from other previous posters, as well. :) Here are a few more to add to that list: - The Lady or the Tiger (Stockton) -- the famous first "you decide" story ending - The Open Window (Saki) -- irony; twist ending; very short; humor- A Story Without An End (Twain) -- how hard it is to write the ending of a creatively set-up story; humorous- Rikki Tikki Tavi -- plot line; an epic in miniature- The Monkey's Paw (Jacobs) -- horror, suspense, and a "leave you hanging" ending- The Remarkable Rocket (Wilde) -- irony- Fritt-Fracc (Verne) -- very like a Poe tale, but not quite so ghastly as Poe can be - Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl) -- "black humor" - The Red-Headed League or A Scandal in Bohemia (Doyle)-- a Sherlock Holmes mystery - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) -- humor - Rip Van Winkle (Irving) -- this character and situation are SO frequently alluded to, it's a good one to know - A Sound of Thunder (Bradbury)-- the original "butterfly effect" time-travel story - The Fun They Had (Asimov) - The Most Dangerous Game (Connell) - The Happy Prince (Wilde) -- pathos While the stories are "classics", my 7th-12th grade Lit. class last year found it quite helpful to discuss point of view after reading The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (by Vivian Velde) -- it is 6 short stories, all very different versions of the classic fairy tale -- a number of them are humorous, which is also a plus. ;) And, some past threads with even more great ideas -- the last one links the Mosdos guided Literature program that uses short stories, so that might be a very helpful starting program, depending on what you want to accomplish as you cover short stories as Literature: "Short stories every middle school student should read" "Best short stories for middle grades" "Favorite Short Storis for 6th-8th" "Suggestions for Short Stories for Literary Analysis -- 7th/8th grade level?" "Middle School Literature Using Short Stories?" We have a set of the old My Bookhouse books. When we were in the mood for just a short story, those were our go-to books. Everything from fairy-tales to myths to just really sweet stories to short biographies. We loved them. Sometimes you can find a random set at a second-hand store, or maybe your library would have them? Love this idea from J-rap, and just adding on, in case you can't find My Bookhouse anthologies, you might be able to find either The Children's Hour, or Collier's Junior Classics: Young Folks Shelf of Books, both of which have just as wonderful a selection and variety for a middle schooler. JMO: shoot for editions that were published in the late 1950s/early 1960s, as you will get a few more "modern" selections in the titles included. For casual reading, I think The Children's Hour gives you the most variety -- it is 16 volumes, with a volume focused on mysteries, and another on science fiction -- topics not included in My Bookhouse or the Collier's. ;) For more info on all of these, check out this past thread: "Anthologies: The Children's Hour vs Young Folks' Library vs ?" Edited March 3, 2016 by Lori D. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 My Book House Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages King Arthur and a World of Other Stories (folktales from around the world) Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales almost any book on mythology - most myths are presented as short, stand-alone stories 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 Thank you! These are all great ideas and I have a big list now to read and discuss with her. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen. Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Any updates.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Any updates.... We're reading through the list of stories in Farrar's post that I linked above. I'm not getting as much discussion for each story as I'd like, though. Dd said she did not a couple of the stories (Zlateh, and The Lady or The Tiger!) She used to enjoy discussing when I read longer books with her in the past (Harry Potter, Charlotte's Web, Narnia, Calpurnia Tate) and I am puzzled why she isn't enjoying the short stories as much. At this point, her studies take up so much time, we just don't have the time to start a longer chapter book. So I will keep trying - read a few more stories and hope she will warm up to them. I've downloaded older editions of the Junior Collier series and of the Journeys Through Bookland series. I will update if I have better luck with these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.