A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | REALISTIC FICTION | |||||||||||||||||||
2 | Goal: List your absolute-go-to SHORT texts (not every MS text available, ha). | |||||||||||||||||||
3 | This list is a draft, edited by anyone, and meant as a starting place. It has several tabs (see the bottom of the document) for different genres. **When adding books, please check the title and author are correct. **Suggested grades means grade you think the texts will work the best with, due to subject matter, complexity, or interest. They do not necessarily mean they correlate with reading level. | |||||||||||||||||||
4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Suggested Grade(s) | *SHORT* Title, Author | Type | Synopsis, Recommendation | ||||||||||||||||
6 | 7-8 | What They Found: Love on 145th Street, Myers | Short stories | AWESOME follow-up to 145th Street Stories which blows the first book out of the water. Teens dealing with family, life challenges (caring for drug-recovering mother, struggling with identity, etc) | ||||||||||||||||
7 | 5-6 | Baseball in April, Soto | Short stories | Teen and preteen issues, in short, sweet, sometimes funny, stories. Mostly from boy’s perspective. Broken bike, in love with a girl, looking up to big brother. | ||||||||||||||||
8 | 5-8 | Living Up the Street, Soto | Short Stories | Another Soto anthology: mostly centered around stories of a Mexican-American boy coming of age in the barrio in Fresno, California. Stories of bullying, parochial school, first love. Some repeat stories from other anthologies. | ||||||||||||||||
9 | 5-8 | First French Kiss and Other Traumas, Bagdasarian | Short stories | (Might be out of print, but used copies available) Very funny, biting, stories about Adam’s family growing up. Some stories are stellar to use, others don’t go over as well, so be picky. “My Side of the Story” and “Carrots” particular hits. | ||||||||||||||||
10 | 5-6 | Your Move, Bunting | Pic book | James babysits his younger brother Issac while his mom works nights, this night he goes out to impress a gang. | ||||||||||||||||
11 | 5-7 | Fly Away Home, Bunting | Pic book | Boy and dad live in an airport. Many teachers like the symbolism of the scene with a bird trying to get through the automatic glass doors. | ||||||||||||||||
12 | 6-8 | Every Living Thing, Bunting | Short stories | An animal play a pivital role in each short story. Often stories of personal or family hardships and the animal aides in the transformation. | ||||||||||||||||
13 | 6-8 | Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories edited by Dawn Metcalf, Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones | Short Stories | Well-known authors write letters to bullies from their past. This anthology is also associated with the web site http://dearbully.com/. | ||||||||||||||||
14 | 6-8 | Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys' Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys edited by Jon Scieszka | Short stories | Funny, moving and honest tales about what it means to be guy during the teen years. | ||||||||||||||||
15 | 6-8 | Every Man for Himself: Ten Short stories about being a Guy edited by Nancy Mercado | Short stories | Great YA authors tell their stories about the joys and hardships of being a guy – the good, bad, funny and ugly. Each story holds an often humorous, compelling and honest life lesson. | ||||||||||||||||
16 | 6-8 | First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants edited by Donald R. Gallo | Short stories | Fleeing from political violence in Venezuela, Amina and her family have settled in the United States. Sarah, adopted, is desperate to know her Korean birth parents. Adrian’s friends have some spooky — and hilarious — misconceptions about his Romanian origins. Whether their transition is from Mexico to the United States or from Palestine to New Mexico, the characters in this anthology have all ventured far and have faced countless challenges. –Amazon review | ||||||||||||||||
17 | 5-7 | Home of the Brave, Applegate | Novel in verse | A quicker read bc it's in verse, though still takes some time to get through. Kek is a refugee from Sudan, new to the United States, and trying to find a home and a voice here. Told from his keen, sweet, and reflective point of view. | ||||||||||||||||
18 | 5-7 | Love that Dog | Novel in Verse | Jack doesn't care for poetry, but through the lessons of a strong teacher and some amazing poets he finds out that poetry is for everyone. | ||||||||||||||||
19 | 6-8 | No Easy Answers: Short Stories About Teenagers Making Tough Choices edited by Donald R. Gallo | Short stories | Stories about hard choices and hard life lessons. | ||||||||||||||||
20 | 6-8 | 13: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen | Short stories | The title speaks for itself. | ||||||||||||||||
21 | 6-8 | On the Fringe edited by Donald R. Gallo | Short stories | Kids who are geeks, unathletic, poor, emotionally fragile, loners, or unattractive by current standards form the heart of this collection of exceptional stories by well-known authors.- Amazon Review | ||||||||||||||||
22 | 6-8 | Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid by Ralph Fletcher | short stories | Funny, poignant snapshots from Ralph Fletcher’s childhood. The perfect mentor text for a personal narrative or memoir unit. | ||||||||||||||||
23 | 5-7 | Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros | Short stories | "Eleven" is one of the shorts - about a young girl dealing with her birthday - in this book. Topics and themes range across the book. | ||||||||||||||||
24 | 6-8 | House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros | Novel in verse (Vignettes) | Coming of age story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago | ||||||||||||||||
25 | 5-6 | Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka | Short Stories | Silly short snippets from Jon Scieszka's life. Great for personal narrative. | ||||||||||||||||
26 | 5-8 | Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl | Autobiography/Memoir | True stories from Roald Dahl's life. Try using chapter title "The Great Mouse Plot" | ||||||||||||||||
27 | 4-6 | One Green Apple by Eve Bunting | picture book | short picture book with excellent reference to teach symbolism, author's craft and inference. Great story about acceptance | ||||||||||||||||
28 | 6-8 | Best Shorts edited by Avi | short stories | All of these are short, great read alouds. I especially love "The Special Powers of Blossom Culp". Kids LOVE them. | ||||||||||||||||
29 | 8 | This I Believe ed. by Jay Allison | Nonfiction | |||||||||||||||||
30 | 5-8 | The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales by Chris Van Allsburg et.al | Short Stories | "This inspired collection of short stories features many remarkable, best-selling authors in the worlds of both adult and children's literature: Sherman Alexie, M.T. Anderson, Kate DiCamillo, Cory Doctorow, Jules Feiffer, Stephen King, Tabitha King, Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Sue Park, Louis Sachar, Jon Scieszka, Lemony Snicket, and Chris Van Allsburg himself." - Amazon.com page Kids are LOVING these as both a reading and a writing tool. The art of the short story is not lost here. | ||||||||||||||||
31 | 6-8 | Crow Call, Lowry | Pic book | Lois Lowry, author of The Giver | ||||||||||||||||
32 | 6-8 | Beauty Lessons, by Judith Ortiz | Short Story | Complex tale of a girl discovering the images and ideas of beauty around her through | ||||||||||||||||
33 | 6-8 | Seedfolks by Paul Fleishman | Novel | A short novel that tells the story of a community of people coming together to start a community garden. Each chapter is told from a character's perspective. | ||||||||||||||||
34 | 6-8 | Charles, by Shirley Jackson | Short Story | A classic short story that has a twist when it comes to one of the character's reliability. Great for prediction and revising theories abt a character. Central character is a boy getting in a lot of trouble at school. | ||||||||||||||||
35 | 4-8 | Tripping Over the Lunch Lady: And Other School Stories, edited by Nancy Mercado | Short Stories | There are some real gems here by fave authors: Avi, Terry Trueman, Rachel Vail, and David Lubar to name a few. "The Crush" is very sweet, and "Tied to Zelda" allows for some great inference work around perspective. | ||||||||||||||||
36 | 6-8 | Shelf Life: Stories by the Book, edited by Gary Paulsen | Short Stories | Gary Paulsen asked authors to contribute stories that somehow incorporate a book, or reading. Margaret Peterson Haddix, M.T. Anderson and Gregory Maguire selections, among others. | ||||||||||||||||
37 | 7-8 | Who am I Without Him, by Sharon Flake | Short Stories | Amazing, but intense short stories about girls and their relationships with the men in their lives... Great for NYC schools, not so great for suburbs. | ||||||||||||||||
38 | 5-8 | http://storylineonline.net/ | various | Screen Actors Guild members reading children's books online. Yes. It is that cool. (an @Cathy_Blackler find) | ||||||||||||||||
39 | 5-8 | Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris | Short Stories | Big Boy Chapter only a page-and-a-half! One of the funniest stories that makes you laugh out loud. Great for writing humor. It's a brilliant piece! | ||||||||||||||||
40 | 5-8 | How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulson | Short Stories | Paulson is a guy's guy writer. The story of Angel Peterson, which is the first chapter, is hilarious! The other chapters are all separate stories and all funny! Enjoy! | ||||||||||||||||
41 | 5-8 | Priscilla and the Wimps | Short Story | Robert Peck, from an anthology...Past, Present and Tense, great for theme, symbolism, close reading. | ||||||||||||||||
42 | 5-8 | Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen | Novel | While this is a short novel, each chapter reads as its own short story. So funny, kids LOVE this book. I use it for visualization and foreshadowing lessons, just to name a few | ||||||||||||||||
43 | ||||||||||||||||||||
44 | ||||||||||||||||||||
45 | ||||||||||||||||||||
46 | ||||||||||||||||||||
47 | ||||||||||||||||||||
48 | ||||||||||||||||||||
49 | ||||||||||||||||||||
50 | ||||||||||||||||||||
51 | ||||||||||||||||||||
52 | ||||||||||||||||||||
53 | ||||||||||||||||||||
54 | ||||||||||||||||||||
55 | ||||||||||||||||||||
56 | ||||||||||||||||||||
57 | ||||||||||||||||||||
58 | ||||||||||||||||||||
59 | ||||||||||||||||||||
60 | ||||||||||||||||||||
61 | ||||||||||||||||||||
62 |