Short For Teens

"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was the second tale published in The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1903.

This is a selection from Kipling's The Second Jungle Book.

When a young John Lambton skips church to go fishing, he catches something unnatural. Fearful of his father's reaction to both skipping church and bringing such a foul creature to the house - he it throws in the well. Years later, after fighting in the Crusades, John returns home to an unpleasant surprise.

"Local color" author Frances Gilchrist Wood wrote this powerful tale of a young wife who proves better able to succeed on the homestead frontier than does her husband.

Here is another of O. Henry's entertaining "surprise ending" stories. A girl moves to the city looking for a friend she had lost track of and finds him in a very unusual way.

"The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is one of 13 stories in the collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English romantic and gothic novelist who is most famous as the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. She was married to the notable Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. She also wrote a number of shorter "tales of the unnatural", of which "The Mortal Immortal", a story of a man who will not die, is the most famous.

There's nothing unusual about Jeremy waking up late for school, but on this particular morning something feels different. When he goes downstairs to face the music, he finds his grandmother waiting for him but no one else appears to be at home. Jeremy believes he's caught a lucky break and his mother and father won't get to know, but he soon discovers that not everything is as it seems. He finds he'll have to face up to his mistakes, though, and maybe even suffer a little payback himself.

A motley crew, banished from a Western town, find strength, and weakness, in each other.

Mia Tyler had a crush on Jeremy Potter. Problem was Mia was only 15-and-a-half, at an age where she wasn't old enough for some things and too old for others. Would Jeremy ever see her the way she saw him?

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. His narratives are characterized by an economy of style and the efficient way in which the various threads are neatly resolved. In "The False Jewels", a man who dotes on his wife is crushed by her unexpected death and then astounded by a revelation about her costume jewelry.

Here is one of London's famous stories of the Klondike, where men had to battle the elements, and often each other, to survive.

Against the wishes of superstitious townspeople, Jonathan Harker journeys to the castle of Count Dracula on Walpurgisnacht, the dreaded night of the dead. Abandoned by his frightened coachman, Harker finds himself alone in a cemetery, battered by the elements and at the mercy of the strange beasts hunting him.

Wilkie Collins was the author of two of the greatest mysteries ever written, The Moonstone and The Woman in White. However, like Poe before him and Conan Doyle after, he shifted easily from rational domains to the "superrational". Like them, he often preferred to indulge his occult predilection, a lifelong interest. "The Dream Woman" is one his most anthologized stories of the supernatural.

Listen to each 5 Minute Mystery carefully, and select which clues either incriminate or exonerate each suspect. Select the guilty suspect from the list once you've found all of the clues. 5 Minute Mysteries Volume 1 includes the following mysteries: (1) The Crusader’s Robe, (2) A Dream of Old Salem, (3) The Great Musket Mystery, (4) The Liberty Gun, (5) The Hidden Messenger, (6) Death at Andersonville, (7) Mr. Patrick’s History Class, and (8) The Battle of The Bulge.

This is a short story about a ruthless, bloodthirsty, raw-brain-eating pigeon possessed by an evil witch doctor. The beast momentarily tormented the city of Chicago, and this is its tale.

Alice Lethbury, a young wife stuck in a dull, passionless marriage, decides to adopt a baby, Jane, with the consent of her reluctant husband. As Jane grows up, it becomes clear that she has entered the Lethburys' lives for a reason.

A sentry falls asleep at his post, leading to dire consequences. This is a classic tale about the terrible cost of the Civil War, which divided entire families.

Bertie Ross has a few more deliveries to make for Sampson's store before the New Year's holiday. After a delivery at the Forbes' house, Dr. Forbes' daughters invite cold-looking Bertie in to get warm and ask why he isn't wearing mittens. Explaining that he lent them to his sickly brother William John, the sisters hatch a plan to provide a proper New Year's celebration with the Ross brothers and provide them with a little holiday warmth in the meantime.

Ida Mitchell, a third-year student at the Clifton Academy, is spending the holidays at her boarding-house, unable to go home because her siblings have the measles. Another Ida Mitchell, who is a second-year student at Clifton is also spending the holidays away from home. When a fruit cake intended for Ida is accidentally delivered to the other Ida, third-year Ida can't bring herself to break the truth to second-year Ida, for whom the cake has brightened an otherwise difficult time.