Short Stories Inspire Chapter Books!
Books of short stories can motivate kids to read! Especially those kids who don't like reading! Short stories help kids feel more successful as they can finish a short story quickly! And they're perfect for reluctant readers!
Just like adults, kids have their own taste and they'll all have different taste in genres. The trick is to get kids hooked on a book or series that they like! Children need to explore different genres to find out which one they like the best. After they love one genre they will usually want to venture out and try other ones, but short stories are a great way to get a child to start reading!
Baseball in April by Gary Soto: The Mexican American author Gary Soto draws on his own experience of growing up in California’s Central Valley in this finely crafted collection of eleven short stories that reveal big themes in the small events of daily life. Crooked teeth, ponytailed girls, embarrassing grandfathers, imposter Barbies, annoying brothers, Little League tryouts, and karate lessons weave the colorful fabric of Soto’s world. The smart, tough, vulnerable kids in these stories are Latino, but their dreams and desires belong to all of us.
Flying Lessons and other stories by Ellen Oh: This is a story collection that is as humorous as it is heartfelt. This impressive group of authors has earned among them every major award in children’s publishing and popularity as New York Times bestsellers. From these distinguished authors come ten distinct and vibrant stories.
Tripping Over the Lunch Lady by Angela Johnson: In this hilarious and diverse collection of short stories, ten well-known writers (including Avi, Angela Johnson, David Lubar, and Susan Shreve) relate their funny and memorable middle school moments.
Five-Minute Mini-Mysteries by Stan Smith: Detective Stanwick is back! And you are about to be challenged by 30 exciting mysteries.Each one takes only about five minutes to read. Every puzzle combines features of the traditional whodunit (physical clues, red herrings, means, motive, opportunity, time sequences) with logic puzzles (true-false statements, matching suspects with occupations, even a little math).
Jimmy the Giraffe by Uncle Amon: is the tallest animal in the jungle. Along with his best friend, Jayne the jaguar; they find lots of fun adventures to go on! This is an excellent read for beginning and early readers. Each story is easy to read and exciting. Cute and bright illustrations for younger readers and a free coloring book.
What Do Fish Have to do with Anything? by Avi: The author, Avi. charts the turning points in the lives of seven characters in their restless middle years. Always with a surprise built in, an angle unseen, these are stories that step just beyond the edge of the everyday.
Short and Shivery by Robert San Souci: A collection of ghost stories, spooky shorts, and frightening folktales from all over the world, perfect for scary sleepovers, staying up all night, or reading alone under the covers—if you dare!
Funny Things I Heard on the Bus Stop by Angela Giroux: The four stories in this volume are tales of a magic teleportravelling bowl, a mysterious teacher that may or may not be a secret agent working for the government, a wonderful tale of an instrument called the Mysterious Window where things come to life in its view and a crazy story about one boy's quest to become tall enough to ride the new roller coaster at the county fair.
Nursery and Fairy Tales Collection by Mary Engelbreit: This book of nursery and fairy tales features twenty time-honored nursery and fairy tales brought together for the first time ever in this collection.
Half-Minute Horrors by Susan Rich: This book has the scariest stories ever created, with more than seventy instant thrills from the likes of Lemony Snicket, James Patterson, Neil Gaiman, R.L. Stine, Holly Black, Brett Helquist, and Margaret Atwood. You’ll never look at your closet door, your cat, your sock drawer, or even yourself in the mirror the same way again!
