Young Teen Short Stories

Lucy has always known that she was different from the other kids in her home. Of course, it doesn't help that she suffers from a recurring nightmare that wakes her up with a scream on her lips and sweat pouring down her back. The nightmare is driving her crazy. She's too scared to sleep, she's too tired to live and she feels as though it's never going to get better...until Daniel shows up, that is.

Wil Telling, a teenager, is raising his sisters and brother on his own after their parents die in an accident. But Maresa, the planet they live on, is not an easy place for orphans to live. Until Wil meets Tal, an offworlder with a job offer.

In this gem of a story, The Candy Country, little Lily discovers that arriving in a magical country where everything is made of sweets is not the wonderland she had first thought. The story is a poignant example of the strong educational and moral influence that Louisa May Alcott's father had on her life and her writing.

This is a selection from The Jungle Book, in which a mongoose saves the day.

Sherlock Holmes takes an interest in the case of a British Foreign Office employee who has had an important naval treaty stolen from his office. "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It is one of the longest stories in the Sherlock Holmes collections.

This hilarious classic by America's favorite author, Mark Twain tells the wry tale of a big frog jumping contest and the controversial outcome that results.

Abdullah Syed Hari is fourteen years old. He loves his family and his friends. And he is a Somali pirate. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

His friends warned him not to try the fried pudding at the carnival, but Dan didn't listen. A short story in comics from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

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.

When it comes to short stories, Edgar Allan Poe is considered by many to be the master of terror and the macabre. This is one of his most famous stories. A man is tormented by a cat and decides to take a terrible vengeance, but things do not go as planned.

In "The Invisible Man", a murderer manages to get in and out of a house, even though it is under constant observation. In some ways, the story parallels Poe's "The Purloined Letter" but adds its own unique touches, particularly in the character and methods of priest-sleuth Father Brown.

"The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was originally published as part of The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1903.

In this short story, which takes place directly before The Change: Life, you will meet Jacob and Mia and get a tiny glimpse into how their very lives are tied in to the fate of the world - to the Changed themselves - and to the enigmatic creature that appears out of nowhere to destroy all that it sees, both humans and Changed alike.

This is the first story of The Jungle Book, in which the reader is introduced to Mowgli, the jungle boy, and his animal friends.

When Jen spotted a poster for the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance, she figures it's the perfect chance to ask out David, the boy she's been drooling over since school started. Unfortunately, Selena, the head cheerleader at their school has her eye on him as well. As her friends grab up their dream dates Jen stays dateless, She didn't think things could get worse until a teacher pulls Jen to the side and makes a request that threatens to push her into complete misery.

A truly creepy band of ghosts has been conjured up in this unusual and compelling collection of tales. In New York, Zia Tisna’s weird dolls keep watch over a pair of young lovers, while out of the River Thames crawls a ghost baby to torment Janet. Cousin Cherry falls victim to Mrs Wildeve’s gale-force powers, and Uncle Avvie returns from the Dismal Swamp with a bag full of something sinister.... More strange and spooky stories from bestselling author Joan Aiken.

Holmes is confronted with the disappearance of the bride of a nobleman - just minutes after the ceremony. "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" is one of the 56 original Sherlock Holmes stories and was first published in Strand Magazine in April 1892. It served as the (loose) basis for The Eligible Bachelor, a film starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes, Edward Hardwicke as Watson, and Simon Williams as Lord St. Simon.

A gentleman decides to take a sea voyage to calm his nerves. But he encounters an eerie creature on board that has anything but that effect.

Stare if you dare, into Paul Jennings' wild world. What happens when you grow younger?