Young Teen Short Stories

You might be the kind of person who stands up to online trolls. Or who marches to protest injustice. Perhaps you are #DisabledAndCute and dancing around your living room, alive and proud. Or perhaps you are the trans mentor that you wish you had when you were younger. Maybe you call out false allies or stand up to loved ones. Maybe you speak your truth and drop the mic, or maybe you take it with you when you leave. This anthology features fictional stories—in poems, prose, and art—that reflect a slice of the varied and limitless ways that listeners like you resist every day.

In this collection of 13 fabulously chilling stories from 13 true masters of suspense, including five New York Times best sellers and a number of Edgar Award nominees, all edited by none other than R. L. Stine, nothing is what it seems. From cannibalistic children, to an unwitting date with a vampire, to a crush on a boy who just might be a werewolf, no scary stone is left unturned. A must-have for all fans of the genre!

Step into a world of visions, philosophy, and passion in which dreamers, seekers, princesses, and wandering poets dwell. The 6 wonderful, romantic tales in this collection are reminiscent of ancient Oriental and German fairy tales. The selections, "The Poet," "The Flute Dream," "The Dwarf," "Faldum," "Ziegler," and "Dream of the Gods" were hand-picked by the narrator, legendary folk and rock musician Donovan.

Fall into a world of wonder as it feels like you are standing right beside the character. From sprinting away from hoards of green-glowing skeletons to a simple kiss that could sweep you off your feet. Feel the goosebumps on your arms as you hear the deafening sound of doom walking towards you. This short story collection offers a variety of unknown worlds to humankind.

A young prince, heir to the Tiego throne is approached by a sorcerer. The odd fellow presents the prince with a solution to his dilemma but for what seems like a measly price. Has anyone ever known life to be so convenient? Is Prince Majes truly willing to relinquish his title for love?

The disparate lives of a preteen boy, a mafia kingpin and a crooked bar owner intersect in this thrilling drama. The story is perceived from the vantage point of an aerial being who simply observes as the lives of mortals unfold. Though rendered homeless, do Marco and his mother find redemption? What tethers the misunderstood Roger to those slums, and will he find what he seeks? “Do humans truly get what love is, amidst the rage, war, and greed...or is life simply chaos?”

In this magic inspired short tale, Anthony struggles with family drama as ancient magical forces and traditions resurface. Before long, the ignorant and overwhelmed lad finds himself at the mercy of a pair of sorcerer bounty-hunters. Will Anthony finally get the acceptance that he desperately seeks from his parents? Or will he chart his own path and see the different personalities in his life for who they are?

In this short story fiction, you’re entreated to the life of a one dollar bill, Todd. Todd falls for a higher denomination, a bill that’s as sassy as him. However, in a world more uncertain than ours, with his movements constrained by his human carrier, will Todd ever escape his form of slavery, let alone sail off with his new love?

Abby never expected life to be easy. The daughter of a father she's never met and a mother who works three jobs just to get by, she walks herself to her middle school in Chicago, fixes her own dinners, and keeps herself company. Despite all the disadvantages stacked against her, however, Abby manages to keep a smile on and even dedicates her time to helping others who have even less than her. But one July day, something happens in the city that causes a mass panic while she's out grocery shopping, and Abby's life is forever changed.

A teenage girl struggles to survive coming of age in an abusive home in the rural American West. Niki is a 14-year-old girl with a horrific secret and a bottomless rage threatening to destroy her.

Looking to get in out of a brutally cold night, Daniel enters the club, Smoke. What he discovers within will force him to make his greatest decision.

Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by 12 best-selling young adult writers and edited by international best-selling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair, and grab your sunglasses. You have 12 reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Rosie wants to impress Mitch, so she agrees to use her mother’s million-dollar teleportation machine to break them into a rare sea creature aquarium at midnight. The plan is to see the world’s only captive sea monster, and then get out of there. That is until Mitch reveals his true agenda, and drags Rosie along for the ride.

Hawthorne approached the Romantic notion of the ability of science to destroy art (or beauty) in the form of fictive "horror stories" of biological research out of control. This story is the best of that group. A devoted scientist marries a beautiful woman with a single physical flaw: a birthmark on her face. Aylmer becomes obsessed with the imperfection and his attempts to remove it via his scientific skills, thus rendering his bride perfect.

Seventeen young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens. From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a 16th-century Spanish convent, or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

A boy discovers the answer to one of the great urban mysteries: Why are pigeons always pooping in parks? A second-grade class learns why they should always be nice to their math teacher. An ancient predator uses the internet to search out its prey. A young girl and her little brother escape a campfire weenie only to encounter something even more terrifying: a troop of Girl Scouts singing campfire songs.

What if you could get high on someone else's emotions? When Alice joins her boyfriend's university experiment in shared consciousness she discovers a world where thoughts are reality and concepts are smells. Her scientific brain, still trying to prove whether or not two people can exist in the same headspace, is soon overwhelmed by the presence of other people, some dreaming, others hunting.

Alex is part of a long bloodline of Africans who hold dear a magical secret. Until he goes back to his humble childhood home for Thanksgiving, Alex is not clued in on his inherent gift for being able to wield his soul as a weapon, and to turn it into a wild beast, which a select group of other sensitive humans are able to see.

A toy giant and a clockwork unicorn star in this retelling of Aesop's fable "The Lion and the Mouse" in a steampunk fantasy setting.

Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.