Short Story Collections for Teens

Sometimes you just want a short story to read rather than a longer novel.  So this week I'm sharing collections of short stories for teens.  Here are a few of our favorites . . . .

Unexpected Magic: Collected Stories by Diana Wynne Jones

Contains fifteen short stories and one novella by fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones.

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

A collection of five spine-tingling short stories.

Out of Our League: 16 Stories of Girls in Sports edited by Dahlia Adler

An anthology about the trials and triumphs of girls in sports.

Tasting Light: Ten Science Fiction Stories to Rewire Your Perceptions edited by A.R. Capetta

This electrifying collection imagines what the world could be through the lens of technologies emerging today, posing a challenge to connect with open minds, hearts and senses in a fast-changing world.

More Short Story Collections for Teens --

The Collectors edited by A.S. King

Color Outside the Lines: Stories About Love edited by Sangu Mandanna

Faeries Never Lie: Tales to Revel In edited by Zoraida Cordova

Fools in Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales edited by Ashley Herring Blake

Games Untold by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

His Hideous Heart: 13 of Edgar Allan Poe's Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined edited by Dahlia Adler

Love on the Other Side by Nagabe

Moira's Pen by Megan Whalen Turner

Shards & Ashes edited by Melissa Marr

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings: 15 Retellings of Asian Myths and Legends edited by Ellen Oh

Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise edited by Laura Silverman

Short Stories for Winter Nights

 The Winter Solstice is fast approaching on December 21st.  As it is the shortest day of the year, it's a great time to read a short story.  Try one of these . . . .

Dragons at Crumbling Castle and other Tales by Terry Pratchett

An illustrated collection of fourteen short stories featuring "dragons and wizards, councilors and mayors, an adventurous tortoise and a monster in a lake, along with plenty of pointy hats and a few magic spells" written when the author was a teenaged newspaper reporter.

You Are Here: Connecting Flights by Ellen Oh

Twelve young Asians Americans cross paths, meeting challenges and victories, in a busy airport.

Super Puzzletastic Mysteries by Chris Grabenstein and the Mystery Writers of America

Author Chris Grabenstein and his all-star cast of contributing authors team up for Super Puzzletastic Mysteries, a group of interactive short stories that invite the reader to solve the mystery themselves.

More Short Story Collections --

1-2-3 Scream! by R.U. Ginns

The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities by Rick Riordan

The Foundling and Other Stories of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

Graven Images by Paul Fleischman

Guys Read: The Sports Pages by Jon Scieszka

Guys Read: Terrifying Tales by Jon Scieszka

The Hero Next Door by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Really Stupid Stories for Really Smart Kids by Alan Katz

The Spook's Story and Other Horrors by Joseph Delaney

Sword of the Samurai: Adventure Stories from Japan by Eric A. Kimmel

That's Ghosts for You: 13 Scary Stories by Mariane Carus

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More by Roald Dahl

 

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More by Roald Dahl 

This book contains seven stories by children's author Roald Dahl.  Six of the stories are fiction while the other two are rare nonfiction pieces by the author.  There are a variety of stories including fantasy (The Boy Who Talked to Animals), war fiction (Piece of Cake), magic realism (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar), and a true story of treasure (The Mildenhall Treasure).  

I listened to this on audio and highly recommend that format.  The narrator does a great job of reading the stories.  While I didn't care for all the stories and one of them I found very disturbing (The Swan), I would still recommend this to fans of Roald Dahl.

Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Kelly Link and Robin Wasserman

The Shadow Market is a place for Downworlders to meet, socialize, and purchase magical items.  Shadowhunters are not usually welcome there.  However, Brother Zachariah is on a mission to search for a missing Shadowhunter and haunts the Shadow Market for information family.

This is a collection of short stories set in the world of Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters series.  The tying theme between the stories is Brother Zachariah and the Shadow Market.  This is a definite must-read for those who enjoyed the Shadowhunters series as it fills in the back story and history of several characters and events.

Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins

This short story anthology of romance stories for teens is the sequel to My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories, also edited by Stephanie Perkins.  The twelve short romance stories are written by some of the top authors in teen literature right now.  Here are a few of my favorite stories in the book . . . .

Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail by Leigh Bardugo
Gracie and Eli spend several summers searching for the answers about the sea monster she once saw in Little Spindle Lake.

The End of Love by Nina LaCour
Flora spends the summer auditing a high school geometry class and reconnecting with some old friends.

A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong by Jennifer E. Smith
Annie and Griffin attempt a first date while she learns how to work with an autistic child in her summer camp group.

In Ninety Minutes, Turn North by Stephanie Perkins
In this sequel to a short story in My True Love Gave to Me, Marigold attempts to get North to consider moving to Atlanta with her for college.

Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar

When Wayside School was built something went wrong.  Instead of one floor with 30 classrooms, it was built 30 floors high with one classroom on each floor.  Mrs. Jewls' teaches the classroom on the 30th floor.  These are the stories about herself, her class, and her students.

Wayside School is a hilarious collection of short stories about the students the school.  Each story focuses on one of the students.  Each student it just a little different from the students you would normally see in a school.  This is a great book for kids look for a little humor with their reading.


Also, check out the other books in the series --
Wayside School Is Falling Down
Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger
Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School
More Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School

Demigods and Magicians by Rick Riordan

Percy and Annabeth Meet the Kanes

Carter Kane is tracking a monster through the park when he is accidentally attacked by a kid in an orange camp shirt -- Percy Jackson.  He's tracking the same monster.  Only by working together will they be able to defeat it.

Later Annabeth is on her way to meet up with Percy when she sees a girl in linen pajamas chasing after a monster in the subway.  They have to work together to kill the creature.


This book contains three short stories of when Percy Jackson and Annabeth meet up with Carter and Sadie Kane to try to stop an Egyptian magician determined to become a god.  A must read for all fans of either the Percy Jackson books or The Kane Chronicles series.

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson

Magnus Bane was one of the most fascinating characters in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series and The Infernal Devices series.  A warlock who has lived for centuries, Magnus' life intertwines with the Downworlders -- vampires, werewolves, fairies, and warlocks -- and the Shadowhunters who hunt them.  His life has been full of adventure and romance.  Here are the stories that reveal yet more about him and his life.

The audio version of these short stories is wonderful.  Each story is narrated by a different British actor.  Anyone who has read either of Cassandra Clare's series should definitely check out this book.

Dragons at Crumbling Castle and Other Tales by Terry Pratchett

This wonderful collection of short stories includes several stories written by Terry Pratchett when he was a teenager working for a local newspaper in England.  Only a few changes were made to the story to update them a little.  Some of the stories included are . . .

"Dragons of Crumbling Castle"
Ralph is sent by King Arthur to deal with the problem of dragons at Crumbling Castle.

"Hercules the Tortoise"
Hercules decides to become an explorer and leaves the garden for the unknown.

"Dok the Caveman"
Dok comes up with several wonderful inventions including the wheel and fire.

"Father Christmas Goes to Work"
Father Christmas is encouraged by his wife to find a job to give him something to do during the rest of the year.

These and the ten other stories in the collection will be a wonderful read for anybody -- whether they are familiar with Terry Pratchett's books or not.  Also, try listening to the book on audio.

Dare to Be Scared! (Part 1)

In celebration of Halloween coming, I thought I would focus on horror books this month for teens.  This week, I'll be sharing collections of horror short stories . . .

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave by Candace Fleming
In a lonely Illinois cemetery one cold October night, teen ghosts recount the stories of their deaths in different time periods, from 1870 to the present, to sixteen-year-old Mike, who unknowingly picked up a phantom hitchhiker.

Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror edited by R.L. Stine
A collection of original horror stories from authors including R.L. Stine, Meg Cabot, and Jennifer Allison.

Pretty Monsters: Stories by Kelly Link
A collection of short stories includes "The Wrong Grave," in which a boy digs up his girlfriend's corpse in order to retrieve the poems that he buried with her, and "Monster," in which a monster uses a cell phone to lure its prey.

Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories edited by Michael Sims
A treasury of Victorian-era vampire stories includes Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait" and Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla," in an anthology complemented by Transylvanian superstitions.

Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales edited by Deborah Noyes
Drawing on dark fantasy and the fairy tale as well as horror and wild humor, ten acclaimed authors pay homage to the gothic tale in wide-ranging stories of the supernatural and surreal.

Dolores: Seven Stories About Her

Dolores is different.
She heard the song come on the radio and asked her brother to turn it up again and again until it was blasting.  She sang along at the top of her voice - every word.  He bet no other seven year old could do that.

Dolores is poised.
She asked her mother which spoon to use for the soup.  There are four spoons.  She doesn't want to use the wrong one.

Dolores is spunky.
She wants to be a cheerleader - not because she loves sports, but because she wants to make people scream.

Dolores is tough.
She was terrified.  She was furious.  She let her anger burn through her fear and punched him in the nose as hard as she could.

Dolores: Seven Stories About Her by Bruce Brooks contains seven short stories from Dolores' life.  We start at age seven with a near kidnapping, goes through her parents divorce, her desire to be a cheerleader, her first kiss, and an attempted attack at age sixteen.  Dolores is definitely worth getting to know.  She will intrigue you so that you wish you were her friend.