Short Stories

When the “grownup virus” hits, kids who live in the same apartment building must cope with strange new rules and extended time at home with parents and siblings.

And they survive brilliantly, each in their own way. Twin boys throw themselves into an independent research assignment on prehistoric people and embrace their own devolution. A budding …

An insightful and funny new collection of short stories from award-winning author Tim Wynne-Jones.

In “War at the Snow White Motel,” Rex and his family are vacationing in Vermont. A thoughtless act launches him into war with an older teenager at their motel, but a much bigger conflict — the Vietnam War — looms large on the horizon.

Ant wants …

Nine poignant and empowering short stories from the author of The Breadwinner.

The seated child. With a single powerful image, Deborah Ellis draws our attention to nine children and the situations they find themselves in, often through no fault of their own. In each story, a child makes a decision and takes action, be that a tiny gesture or a life-a …

Most kids don’t have to stress about things like exotic insects with a taste for human flesh when they go to class. But students at this school have to be ever vigilant. You never know when a supernatural pastry or a clay monster bent on revenge might be lurking just around the corner. Even a simple field trip to a local animal sanctuary can hav …

Meet Oleander, who likes to keep busy, and her pet salamander, Sally Mander, who prefers to take it easy. As they go about their days in these five stories, they're visited by the Sprinkle Fairy (she's the owner of a word factory in Sicily) and her helpers, who've slipped a Big Word into each story. Which means, when Sally Mander is slacking off on …

Imagine walking home from school one day and seeing a brain on the side of the road, a brain that, it turns out, is looking for a new home. Or instead of paying attention to the teacher, you shoot a paper airplane across the room and accidentally rip a hole in the fabric of the universe. And what would you do if you discovered that your class readi …

The second collection in the Big Words Small Stories series follows the adventures of Davey and his dog, Abigail. When Davey tries to sweep an enormous dustball out the front door, the wind lifts the dustball into the air --- and Davey and Abigail with it! Their flying dustball takes them on adventures to places around the world, including Italy, C …