Short Takes, by Lisa Von Drasek

Here's a sampling of short stories and short-story collections – classics and new favorites alike

One the most frequent requests I get from classroom teachers and reading specialists is, "Do you have a collection of short stories you can recommend?" The stories and authors that readily come to my mind are ones originally written for adults. In examining the genre of the short story, we'd be remiss to not read Guy de Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. And is our literature education complete without O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief?"

Back to the future
For a modern master, I look to Ray Bradbury. My seventh grade English teacher, Mrs. Oberfield, assigned "A Sound of Thunder" and sparked a lifelong love of science fiction and fantasy. This is an outstanding story of time travel. Time Safari, Inc. takes people back in time for an adventure vacation. It is very important to remain on a walkway, because any small disturbance to the past will have unknown effects to the future. A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories (Harper Perennial, 2005, ISBN: 0-060-78569-1) is a collection of 32 of the most famous short stories by Ray Bradbury.

A new favorite
One of our favorite titles with which to introduce the genre of short story to third and fourth grade students is Birthday Surprises: Ten Great Stories to Unwrap edited by Johanna Hurwitz (Harper Trophy, 1997, ISBN: 0-688-15295-3). Ten renowned children's authors have written pieces based on a single premise: A young person finds a beautifully wrapped empty box among his or her birthday gifts. Ellen Conford, Richard Peck, Jane Yolen, David A. Adler and James Howe provide interesting variations on this theme. Teachers may want to use the premise as a writing prompt for creative writing.

Spine-chilling shorts
Middle school teachers looking for stories for the Halloween season will be pleased to share Scary Stories, compiled and illustrated by Barry Moser (SeaStar, 2006, ISBN: 0-811-85414-0). Students will enjoy classics like "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Authors that may surprise are Margaret Mahy, Joyce Carol Oates and Roald Dahl. Not surprising is the inclusion of the horror expert Stephen King, with "Here There Be Tigers" or the godfather of horror, H.P. Lovecraft, with "The Terrible Old Man." Barry Moser's illustrations provide additional chill.

Collections worth collecting
For fourth and fifth graders, Newbery award-winner Avi presents Strange Happenings: Five Tales of Transformation (Harcourt, 2006, ISBN: 0-152-05790-0). Often, short-story collections can be uneven, but each story in this one is a gem. The book begins with a piece told in the sly, detached tone of a boy who's bored with his life and wishes he could be his pet cat.

Another new collection from this author that I'm truly savoring is Best Shorts: Favorite Short Stories for Sharing selected by Avi with Carolyn Shute (Houghton Mifflin, 2006, ISBN: 0-618-47603-2). This is a collection of old and new stories by authors students may be familiar with, like Washington Irving and Natalie Babbitt, and others that don't immediately come to mind as short-story writers, like Patricia McKissack. The much-collected (but always welcome) classic tale with a groundbreaking ending, "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton, makes an appearance here. This treasury is illustrated by Caldecott award-winner Chris Raschka.

In her afterward, Katherine Paterson writes, "Do read these stories with your family, your friends or your classmates. Try reading one aloud, your ears catching details that your eyes skipped over." I heartily agree.

Special Section – Audiobooks
Once upon a time there was a producer who created wonderful audiotapes of traditional stories. The stories were told by famous, award-winning actors and professional musicians created original music for the recordings. The production company was Rabbit Ears, founded in 1985 by Mark Sottnick, who said, "Rabbit Ears' mission is to bring storytelling to life and to restore this lost art to children and their parents. I believe that imagination's greatest champion is the spoken word."

I'm pleased to announce that Random House's Listening Library is reissuing these marvelous recordings. The stories are presented thematically in four volumes. Each collection is on two CDs is about two hours in length.

1. Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales (ISBN: 0-739-33648-7)
   "Thumbelina" read by Kelly McGillis, music by Mark Isham
   "The Fisherman and His Wife" read by Jodie Foster, music by Van Dyke Parks
   "The Talking Eggs" read by Sissy Spacek, music by BeauSoleil
   "The Emperor and the Nightingale" read by Glenn Close, music by Mark Isham

2. Rabbit Ears Treasury of American Tall Tales (ISBN: 0-739-33650-9)
   "Davy Crockett" read by Nicolas Cage, music by David Bromberg
   "Rip Van Winkle" read by Anjelica Huston, music by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
   "Johnny Appleseed" read by Garrison Keillor, music by Marc O'Connor
   "Paul Bunyan" read by Jonathan Winters, music by Leo Kottke with Duck Baker

3. Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fables (ISBN: 0-739-33652-5)
   "The Tiger and the Brahmin" read by Ben Kingsley, music by Ravi Shankar
   "The Three Little Pigs" and "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" read by Holly Hunter, music by Art Lande
   "The Ugly Duckling" read by Cher, music by Patrick Ball
   "Rumpelstiltskin" read by Kathleen Turner, music by Tangerine Dream

4. Rabbit Ears Treasury of World Tales (ISBN: 0-739-33654-1)
   "Anansi" read by Denzel Washington, music by UB40
   "East of Sun, West of Moon" read by Max von Sydow, music by Lyle Mays
   "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" read by John Hurt, music by Mickey Hart
   "The Five Chinese Brothers" read by John Lone, music by Bill Douglass and David Austin

Lisa Von Drasek is Children's Librarian at the Bank Street College of Education in New York, NY.