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Some of the best short stories for children (W5.5)

Margaret Mallett

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Margaret Mallett is author of Choosing and Using Fiction and Non-Fiction 3–11: A Comprehensive Guide for Teachers and Student Teachers (Routledge, 2010). This is an excellent resource for all primary teachers.

In this extract from a longer article1 she recommends selections of short stories new and old:

The short story offers a distinctive kind of reading or listening experience for children. Its economical form means that plot, characters and themes are established swiftly. This helps children to secure a grip on ‘story structure’ and narrative. It can also help build the stamina of newly independent readers. For older children, aged 9–11, some short stories provide sophisticated reading material – material which can interest, challenge, intrigue and sometimes unsettle. And such stories can help children come to new understandings about the options open to them as writers.

Some of the stories I mention come from collections by one or more authors – and thus cover a range of themes and styles. Midnight Feast (Cabot 2011), for example, has stories by such favourite authors as Eoin Colfer, Jonathan Stroud, Margaret Mahy and Helen Dunmore; The Oxford Book of Children’s Stories, selected by Jan Mark (2001), includes stories by Anne Fine, Christina Rossetti and Rosa Guy and is of huge interest to students of children’s literature as it has stories from over 250 years ago right up to the 1990s and shows the development of the form. Other collections draw on stories by one author; these are self-contained but feature the same characters and are set in the same locations. I have stuck to print medium narratives rather than forms of story with their roots in the oral tradition. In any case, traditional tales deserve an article to themselves. While making my selection I bore in mind the views of some eight years olds who, when asked about the kind of short stories they liked, said: ‘Stories that are funny and stories that are scary’.

Family, friends and relationships

Many short stories, particularly those for children under about eight years, are about family, friends and pets. Russell Hoban’s are about a young badger called Frances and tap into a young child’s feelings and anxieties as she learns about the world. In A Baby Sister for Frances (Hogan & Hogan 2009),the big sister sulks because she has to learn to share her parents’ affection with the new baby. She declares she is leaving home, packs her treasures in her knapsack and hides under the dining room table until she hears her parents saying how much they miss her. Talking about the stories allows young children to explore their concerns at a distance from direct experience. The Julian Stories (Cameron 2013), reissued by Tamarind in 2013, depict a warm, lively African American family and there is convincing, often amusing, dialogue. In The Pudding Like a Night on the Sea, Julian and Huey’s father waxes rather lyrical when he describes the pudding he is making for the boys’ mother. ‘It will taste like a whole raft of lemons’. Of course it is not such fun for young Huey when the lemon juice squirts into his eyes! With just a few lines – a raised eyebrow or a twist of a mouth – Jamie Smith’s illustrations show the changing moods and feelings of the characters.2

Stories for older children are often to do with rites of passages and unsettling dilemmas. What the Neighbours Did, in What the Neighbours Did and Other Stories by Philippa Pearce (1975), is set around the middle of the last century. But the same themes that interest each generation thread through – the eternal tension between the perspectives of parents and those of their children on all manner of issues. The children in this story want to give a home to an old stray dog, but their father refuses because there is not enough room in their house and they already have a pet. As we would expect from this author, this is only one theme in a riveting and often amusing story, taking in a boy coming to terms with the revelation that adults can be dishonest and even cruel.

The short stories in David Almond’s collections include many which capture a sense of place as well as homing in on family relationships. The Middle Earth in Counting Stars (2007), full of subtle and telling dialogue, taps into the experiences and feelings of children living out their lives in the north east. But of course a writer of this calibre tells us something universal about childhood. Almond’s stories are deep and challenging and likely to appeal to able readers in the later primary years and beyond. The same age recommendation applies to Janni Howker’s collection of five fine stories Badger on the Barge and Other Stories (2007).The title story, Badger on the Barge, describes the relationship between a school girl and an old woman she is asked by her school to visit. The first surprise is that the woman’s home is a barge. Then the strong odours and the bowl with live worms and raw liver show the girl early on that this encounter is not going to be like those she has had with friendly, grateful old folk. The sensitivity this author shows in charting the developing friendship is moving. 

Adventure stories

Ursula Moray Williams’ lively telling of an adventure of ‘six lucky boys who are invited to an island in the middle of a lake’ – A Picnic with the Aunts in The Puffin Book of Stories for Eight Year Olds (Cooling 1996) gives details children like: the food the aunts bring for the picnic sounds delicious – there are strawberry tarts, cheese savouries in a tea cosy to keep them warm and Aunt Adelaide’s stack of sandwiches which is so enormous that it has to be carried in a suitcase. But the expedition does not go to plan...

Richmal Crompton’s William stories, enjoyed by successive generations, recount the hilarious adventures of the outlaws. Have the stories dated? Modern children of the digital age still seem to find the stories highly amusing. There are a large number of William anthologies; in the sixteenth, Still William (2006) we find a story called The Sweet Little Girl in White. It is in this story that William and the outlaws meet Violet Elizabeth and her parents, the terrifying Botts, for the first time. These days there is often an audio CD of short story collections and Martin Jarvis does a good job of reading the stories from Just William (2006). Small groups of children might enjoy listening to this recording (Crompton & Jarvis 2001).

Well worth a mention is one of the most influential collections of short stories of all time for children of about age 10 to 14 – Bill Naughton’s The Goalkeeper’s Revenge and Other Stories (1973).The title story tells how a disadvantaged boy gains status and focus by becoming a skilled goalkeeper. Today’s young readers will need some help to imagine a childhood back in the 1960s in an impoverished northern mining community before IPads and mobile phones were thought of. But the stories have a vigour and life about them and, although they are often recommended for boys, I think girls too would find a story like Spit Nolan, who dies in a road accident, very moving.

Fantasy, suspense and magic

Kevin Crossley Holland’s Short!: A Book of Very Short Stories and Short Too! (1998) and A Second Book of Very Short Stories (2011), intended for children from about nine years and over, have stories from different genres but the tales in both collections are mainly of the ‘scary’ kind. 

The rope in Philippa Pearce’s story The Rope (2000) is tied to a tall tree and swings from one side of the river to the other. Two children, staying at their grandmother’s house, meet up with new friends. Suspense builds as there is peer group rivalry and someone says the rope was once a hangman’s rope... Convincing dialogue builds suspense as the story proceeds and many young readers will find this story riveting.

Children’s choices need to be respected. I have found that children of about 8 years often like hearing Roald Dahl’s short story The Magic Finger (2013) read aloud. John Rowe Townsend believed that much of Dahl’s work appeals ‘to the cruder end of childhood taste’ (Rowe Townsend 1995: 249). However, I think the appeal of this short story, and much of Dahl’s other work, is that children are shown to have power in situations where they would not in real life. The girl in the short story activates her flashing finger to punish people who annoy her, the animal hunting Greggs grows wings and the teacher testing the spelling of ‘cat’ grows whiskers. Dahl’s often rather brutal humour is in full swing here! Courageous teachers might risk asking children to say or write what they would do given a magic finger!

Few can rival Joan Aiken as a storyteller. A Necklace of Raindrops (Cooling 1996) tells of the consequences of a little girl’s strange gift from the north wind. It brings the battle of good against evil to a specific event in a way younger children can understand. There is much to offer older children in Oscar Wilde’s fine fairy tales too. I listened to Stephen Fry reading Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince (2009) on YouTube and it struck me that although the language Wilde uses is rich and poetic, he speaks directly to his readers in a true storytelling manner (www.youtube.com).There are clear moral and social messages threading through the stories Wilde wrote for children: the world is full of poor people and the rich and privileged can and should rise above their own self-interest and help them in their distress. There is much food for discussion here – how does this writer create twists and surprises and use symbolism to such powerful effect?

Bambert’s Book of Missing Stories (Jung, 2010)tells how a clever old man sends his stories out into the world on a windy night to find settings. This is a hugely exciting idea giving older primary children insight about the rich possibilities of the narrative form. Many of the stories are subtle and moving but some have frightening elements and there is a sad twist at the end of the book when Bambert falls while reaching for the eleventh story which is stuck on the roof.

The Chronicles of Harry Burdick (Van Allsburg 2013), consisting of 14 stories by different authors, came about in an interesting way: the stories were inspired by some intriguing paintings created by Chris Van Allsburg in 1984. Stephen King’s story, The House at Maple Street, takes its starting point from a monochrome picture of a mysterious house with one lighted window at the very top. This picture and the others in the book are intriguing and sometimes unsettling and promise to be a good starting point for children’s own creative ideas; older primary children would be able to weave their own stories round the illustrations just as the authors have done.

The stories gathered together in Midnight Feast, edited by Meg Cabot and Anthony Horowitz (2011), are of different genres – Jamie Oliver’s is built round a recipe for pizza – but many combine humour and magic. The humour has a tinge of sadness in The Unexpected Godmother by Margaret Mahy: Peter’s strange godmother who used to travel by pumpkin but has to get used to travelling by train. Then, alas, the station master announces that the last wizards’ train ‘running into past time’ has left the station. There is plenty to feed discussion here - older primary children will understand that the story is about coping with change that is not always welcome.

Notes

1. This is an abridged version of an article ‘Short stories – some of the best’ from English 4–11, Summer 2015, pp.8–12
2. See Website resource W5.5 for an example of a guided reading sequence based on this story.

Children's Books

• Almond, D. (2007) The Middle Earth, in Counting Stars. Hodder Children’s Books. ISBN 978 03409455001.
• Cabot, M. & Horowitz, A. (2011) Midnight Feast. Harper Collins. ISBN 978000722984.
• Cameron, A., illustrated Jamie Smith (2013) The Julian Stories. Tamarind. ISBN 978848530843.
• Cooling, W. (1996) The Puffin Book of Stories for Eight Year Olds. Puffin. ISBN 9780140380521.
• Crompton, R. (2006) Just William. Macmillan Children’s Books. ISBN 9781405054577.
• Crompton, R. (2006) The Sweet Little Girl in White, in Still William. Macmillan Children’s Books. ISBN 9780330450721. Part of a box set.
• Crompton, R. & Jarvis, M. (reader) (2001) Just William. ISBN 9780563478218. Audio CD. BBC Audiobooks.
• Crossley-Holland, K. (1998) Short! A Book of Very Short Stories. OUP. ISBN 9780192781482.
• Crossley-Holland, K. (2011) Short too! A Second Book of Short Stories. OUP. ISBN 9780192780133.
• Dahl, R., illustrated Quentin Blake (2013) The Magic Finger. Puffin. ISBN 9780141346519. 
• Edwards, D., illustrated Shirley Hughes (2011) My naughty little sister and bad Harry, in More Naughty Little Sister Stories. Egmont. ISBN 9781405253383.
• Hogan, R. and Hogan, L. (2002) A Baby Sister for Frances. Red Fox. ISBN 9780099432432. (Also available in an audio CD read by Glynis Johns. Harper Collins.)
• Howker, J. (2007) Badger on the barge, in Howker, J. Badger on the Barge and Other Stories. Walker Books. ISBN 9780744590302.
• Jung, R., illustrated Emma Chichester-Clark (2010) Bambert’s Book of Missing Stories. Egmont. ISBN 9781405254359.
• Mark, J. (2001) The Oxford Book of Children’s Stories. OUP. ISBN 9780192801890.
• Naughton, B., illustrated Dick De Wilde. (1973) The Goalkeeper’s Revenge and Other Stories. Puffin.ISBN 9780140303483. .
• Pearce, P., illustrated Faith Jacques. (1975) What the Neighbours Did and Other Stories. Puffin Books. ISBN 9780140307108.
• Pearce, P. (2000) The Rope and other Stories. Puffin. ISBN 9780141309149. (Also in audio cassette format read by Jenny Agutter. Chivers Children’s audiobooks.)
• Van Allsburg, C. (2013) The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. Andersen Press. ISBN 9781849394589.
• Wilde, O. (2009) The Happy Prince and Other Stories. Puffin Classics. ISBN 9780141327792.
• Wilde, O. The Happy Prince, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t33NWgOzjK8 (accessed 30 April, 2017)

References

Mills, C. & Webb, J. (2004) Selecting books for younger readers, in Hunt, P. (ed.) International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. London:Routledge.

Townsend, J. R. (1995) Written for Children. London: The Bodley Head.

x Case study: middle primary

Case study: Guided reading (W5.6)

As part of guided reading with a group of five 7 and 8 year olds, Shani used the short story ‘A Pudding Like a Night on the Sea’ from The Julian Stories by Ann Cameron. She chose it because she wanted to link the sessions with the current class theme of looking at characters and their relationships, particularly in the family setting. This example covers the work of one group, over four 20-minute sessions. Shani’s focus was on:

• reading with expression
• prediction
• inference (How do you know that?)
• response and interpretation (Do you think that…?)

She wanted to make sure that the children’s comments were based on reference to the text. The children in the group were: Tony, Rani, Sameera, Lloyd and Jodie.
Throughout the sessions, Shani used the three types of questions outlined in Chapter 8, section 8.5:

• Looking questions to develop literal comprehension.
• Clue questions to encourage young readers to think and search; these questions encourage young readers to make connections and find evidence in the text to support their ideas.
• Thinking questions to draw on children’s background knowledge (of the world, of specialist interests and of other texts) to give their opinions of the text.

Session one

Before reading the book, Shani asked the children to think of what they could do or make that would be special, for someone they loved. They talked about how the recipient would feel, and how that would make them feel. Rani suggested making a cake for her mum, the group talked about the fact that you might need someone to help you, as happens in the story. In readiness for the next session, the group looked at the title and discussed what ‘A pudding like a night on the sea’ might be like. What did it make them think of? Shani asked them to look at the small illustration that decorates the first page, and one boy noticed the lemons. Jodie suggested: ‘It would be in a blue bowl and have fish sprinkles’.

The group read independently to the end of the second page. As part of the focus on character, Shani asked: ‘What kind of man is the boys’ father?’ suggesting to the children that they could use both the text and the illustration to answer. They picked up that he had changing moods and were able to refer to the text to back up their answers.

Session two

After a brief recap, before the group read two more pages independently, Shani asked: ‘What do you notice about the way their father is speaking to the boys?’ The children noticed that he ‘gave them orders’, that he mostly spoke in short sentences, and that there were exclamation marks. The group read some of the father’s dialogue with appropriate expression and Shani asked:

But Sameera reasoned: But he is helping them to cook, so he must be quite nice.

Focusing on getting the events of the story right, Shani asked the children to jot down three things that had happened in the story so far. Then the group read to where the pudding is finished and the father goes for a sleep. Shani asked the children what they thought might happen next and they were all confident in their prediction that the boys were going to eat the pudding, showing their knowledge of what usually happens in stories.

Session three

Recapping on their predictions in the previous discussion, the children read on to see if they had been correct. They read on to just before Julian and Huey’s father found out what they had done, when Shani asked what they thought would happen next. They all predicted that the boys’ father would get angry when he saw that they had eaten the pudding, and, thinking back to how they had described his character earlier, they offered in role the kinds of things he might say:

They linked this with why the boys were hiding under the bed: Lloyd said: ‘They’re scared of what might happen when their dad finds they’ve eaten the pudding’.

Shani asked what words might describe what the boys had done, or how they had behaved and the children replied:

She then asked:

The ensuing discussion led to the children realising that everyone in the family would be affected in some way and they were able to give well-thought out reasons why.
After reading the page where the father calls the boys to account, Shani asked ‘What tells you about how the boys’ father was speaking?’and the group correctly identified the use of block capitals as well as picking up the sentence ‘His voice went through every crack and corner of the house’ and the word ‘booming’. They also noticed the use of exclamation marks and were able to read “‘Huey!” he called. “Julian!”’ in an appropriate way.

Session four

After a quick recap of the story so far, Shani focused on where the boys lie about what happened to the pudding, so, looking for evidence of the children’s personal responses to the story, she asked: ‘What do you think about the answer they gave?’

Some of the children’s replies showed that they could give reasons for their ideas:

All the children were sure their father knew what had really happened, as Tony pointed out: ‘because grown-ups always know that stuff!’

As they read to the end of the story, the children were not fooled when the boys’ father says, ‘There is going to be some beating here now! There is going to be some whipping!’ They knew this referred to making a replacement pudding and not that the boys were going to be beaten or whipped. Sameera remembered the words being used to describe how the first pudding was made. The group did realise though, that the boys thought they were going to be beaten, and were able to read on and find the moment when Huey and Julian realised that their dad was tricking them, whilst at the same time letting them know that he was angry with them.

Shani asked:

And the children felt:

At the end of the story, Shani asked:

The children’s unanimous reply was that it was because they had already eaten a whole pudding so might make themselves sick if they ate any more.

Finally, the group were able to identify that this story explores the relationship between the father and the boys. The children concluded that he could be strict but he was a good father because he was cooking with them (Sameera)and it was good to do things together (Lloyd). They thought the boys were sometimes a bit scared of their father but they loved him really. Shani asked what the boys’ mum might think about it all. They found this a bit harder. Rani suggested: She would be sad. It may be that because the mother is a very minor character in the story, mostly being in the background, they did not feel they had enough to go on.

Follow-up

For the next session, the children were asked to read Michael Rosen’s poem ‘Chocolate Cake’ available here (Accessed 30 April 2017) and compare it with the story, as it is also about giving into temptation in a similar way.

Teacher’s evaluation

Shani commented:

Children’s book

• Ann Cameron (2013) The Julian Stories. Tamarind. ISBN 9781848530843.
  Ann Cameron shares ideas for teaching using her books on her website: Visit (Accessed 30 April 2017).