Short For Teens

Sam Vanikey is under tremendous pressure. His new gallery opens in less than a month, and he has yet to produce any art in over a year. His inspiration is gone after leaving Angie, and depression threatens to rob him of the life he loves. Sheila, his supportive sister, sequesters Sam on an exclusive island getaway off the coast of Seattle.

A golden statue comes to life and, with the help of a reluctant swallow, gives away everything he has. A fierce giant forbids children to play in his garden -- then realizes that only through sharing will spring ever come again. In these rich fables by Oscar Wilde, author of The Importance of Being Earnest, characters learn that kindness and giving are the greatest powers of all.

Journey to the Cloud-Lands as a young group of interns takes on Lynn's Dragon Ranch for school credit. All is not as easy as learning how to feed the different dragons and harvest their scales when some of the dragons' health takes a turn for the worst. Can the lively interns help Lynn save the dragons and her ranch? This is Cloud-Lands mini adventure set in the same world as Katie Pottle's debut novel: Warrior Path, set to be released by E2 Books and Co. in the Fall of 2015.

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was one of the major figures of 19th-century supernaturalism. He helped move supernaturalist fiction away from the gothic's emphasis on external sources of terror and toward a focus on the effects of terror, thus helping to create the psychological basis for supernaturalist and horror literature that continues today. "The Familiar" is one of his most terrifying tales.

Guy de Maupassant, French master of the short story, had a simple, efficient style of writing and, like Anton Chekhov, found inspiration for his stories in the daily lives of humans, which often reveal our darker nature. Many of his works also centered on the Franco-Prussian War, in which he served.

What does "being a guy" actually mean? Some of the most talented writers are about to show you. In this diverse and original collection of short stories, ten well-known writers, including Mo Willems, Walter Dean Myers, Ron Koertge, Rene Saldaña, Jr., David Levithan, and David Lubar, share their stories about the trials and tribulations of being a guy. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always honest, each story portrays the reality of being an everyday guy who gets a few life lessons and still manages to come out on top.

"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.

"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.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman is known primarily as a "feminist" and "local color" writer, for such classic tales as "The Revolt of Mother". She wrote very entertaining stories that included clear depictions of the pressures that often silenced or devalued women and their concerns. This famous story gets that message across but not without a bit of humor.

Mr. Cave, a shop owner, finds a strange crystal egg that serves as a window into a Martian landscape. The War of the Worlds was probably H.G. Wells' best-known work, but this brief tale indicates that he had more than a passing interest in Mars.

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

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.

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.

The Dome protects us. It is life for all who live under the ice barrier, but it is on the brink of failure. The Elders saw this coming; they have a plan. There's just one problem: I can't breathe underwater like everyone else. I'm the last air-breathing human in the Dome. As the Aquatics migrate to their new home, I'll need to find a way to survive.

Seventeen-year-old Lydia Knight is about to start her senior year at Transylvanica High, one of several integrated pilot schools across the country where human and vampire students peacefully coexist. She is a bit leery about her cousin, Roland DuPree, 18, coming to live with her and her parents in Harbor Heights, Michigan, with his dark clothing and odd behavior. But since he is family, she has to tolerate him and even accept the fact that her best friend, Mandi, is attracted to her cousin.

Meet Syrenka, a little mermaid who must convince her father the Sea King, not to start a war against the humans. Except she had become the very thing he despised...she is secretly living on land as a human. A fairy tale fantasy adventure prequel! This short story takes place after the events in Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid and before Roy Mauritsen’s epic Shards of the Glass Slipper series.

All good things must come to an end. After spending all of their free time every summer practicing and playing baseball, Malachi, Elizajane, Noah, and Elias must grow up. Playing on the magic diamond against the best players in baseball history would remain one of their greatest experiences, but the field is reserved for the young at heart only, and the big world is good at making people into adults. One Easter, when the four kids are much older and Malachi has kids of his own, they begin talking about the magic diamond they used to play on as kids.

A group of four teenagers get together every week to watch movies. They love nothing more than a good movie or a good adventure. Being able to combine the two, now that's something they get excited about. Listen to how the gang get into scrapes and adventures, turning detective to uncover all manor of mysteries, legends, and myths, not to say mysteries within their own imaginations. This short story takes you into their world as their adventures begin.

Both funny and moving, this story of a most unusual Bar Mitzvah beautifully captures the spirit of one of the most important days in a young man's life. Featuring a special guest appearance by author James Howe himself as the rabbi!