| Alcott, Louisa May. A Christmas Dream. | | A young girl learns the true meaning of Christmas when her mother arranges for her to be the Christmas Angel at the local orphanage. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
15 Pages. | | Appears in: Wagenknecht, Edward. A Fireside Book of Yuletide Tales | | Category: Christmas, Family, Female Protagonist | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Alcott, Louisa May. An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving. | | A lovely look at a 19th century farm Thanksgiving as only Louisa May Alcott can do. When Farmer Eph and his wife have to leave suddenly for a family emergency, the girls decide they are perfectly capable of cooking a Thanksgiving meal. Between mixing up ingredients and quantities, their dinner looks fine but the taste brings about good-natured humor from their parents and the relatives they brought home. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
3 Stars. |
11 Pages. | | Appears in: Cricket Magazine Vol 2, Num 3, Nov 1974 | | Category: Thanksgiving, Historical Fiction, Family | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Bacheller, Irving. Lost in the Fog. | | Young Willie can't fathom why anyone would like geese but he does like Mother Tipton, the local goose-woman. When he accompanies her on her journey across the bay to sell her feathers, they are overtaken by a fog and driven far off coarse. Mother Tipton's skill and the instincts of the geese steer them safely to dry land, giving Willie a new respect for Mother Tipton's gaggle. | | Grades: 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
5 Pages. | | Appears in: Frye, Burton. A St. Nicholas Anthology: The Early Years | | Category: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Female Protagonist | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Bangs, John Kendrick. The Time Shop. | | A young boy visits a department store where everything is paid for in time but is disappointed to find that the owner of the shop across the street, Mr. Procrastination, has picked his pockets clean. | | Grades: 3, 4 |
2 Stars. |
16 Pages. | | Appears in: Commager, Henry Steele. The Second St. Nicholas Anthology | | Category: Fantasy | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Beard, Daniel C.. A Snow Battle. | | During recess from school a full scale snowball war forms, complete with ammunition sleds, forts and commanders. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
2 Pages. | | Appears in: Frye, Burton. A St. Nicholas Anthology: The Early Years | | Category: Historical Fiction, United States, Winter | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Butler, Ellis Parker. The Rowena O'Toole Company. | | When young William's rabbits destroy Mr. Morton's lettuce, and his chickens pecks holes in Mr. Grady's tomatoes, Mr. Morton and Mr. Grady decide that William should try his hand at raising a pig. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
5 Pages. | | Appears in: Commager, Henry Steele. The St. Nicholas Anthology | | Category: Historical Fiction, Humor | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Butler, Ellis Parker. Pigs is Pigs. | | Mr. Morehouse claimed that the two crated guinea pigs that had just arrived at the Westcote train station should be charged at the 25 cent rate for shipping pets, but Mike Flannery, the station agent, claimed they should be charged at the 30 cent rate for pigs. While their argument raged on over days, the guinea pigs multiplied once, then again ... and again ... | | Grades: 5 |
2 Stars. |
11 Pages. | | Appears in: Manley, Seon. Merriment! A Treasury for Young Readers | | Category: Humor, Historical Fiction | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Claudy, C. H.. The Story of Old Father Gravity. | | A story that goes back to the very, very, very first of all beginnings before the earth was formed when everything was just a big mess and Father Gravity was called upon by Mother Nature to form the Earth. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
3 Stars. |
10 Pages. | | Appears in: Claudy, C. H.. "Tell Me Why" Stories | | Category: How & Why | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Davol, Marguerite. The Coldest Night of the Year. | | One night in Carroll county it was so cold that Papa Alonzo's words just froze in mid air. But little Lulie who was as sharp as an icicle and as quick as an avalanche gathered them up and stored them in canning jars so come spring when anyone wanted one of Papa Alonzo's stories, all they had to do was take down a jar and open the lid. | | Grades: 3, 4 , 5 |
2 Stars. |
6 Pages. | | Appears in: Davol, Marguerite. Papa Alonzo Leatherby: A Collection of Tall Tales | | Category: Tall Tale | |
Additional author information
Read This Story Now |
|
| Davol, Marguerite. Summer Soup. | | One July afternoon in Carroll county the sun got stuck at two o'clock. It got so hot that fish jumped out of the river into the frying pan already fried and the hens laid hard-boiled eggs. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
7 Pages. | | Appears in: Davol, Marguerite. Papa Alonzo Leatherby: A Collection of Tall Tales | | Category: Tall Tale | |
Additional author information
Read This Story Now |
|
| Dole, Nathan Haskell. Percy Ray's Trick Boat. | | Percy Ray builds a real beauty of a boat except for one minor flaw. Everytime someone tries to sail her, she lays over and throws them overboard. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
13 Pages. | | Appears in: Commager, Henry Steele. The Second St. Nicholas Anthology | | Category: Historical Fiction, Humor | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Grahame, Kenneth. Dulce Domum (excerpted from The Wind in the Willows). | | A lovely excerpt from The Wind in the Willows. When Ratty and Mole are returning to Toad Hall, Mole smells his own home and is overcome with nostalgia. When Ratty agrees to go with Mole, despite the coming snow, they find all the coziness, warmth and cheer that should fill everyone's Christmas. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5, adult |
2 Stars. |
14 Pages. | | Appears in: McFerran, Ann. Stories to be Read Aloud to Children and by Children | | Category: Animal Stories, Christmas | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Grahame, Kenneth. The Reluctant Dragon. | | When a young boy stumbles upon a poetry reciting dragon, he must find a way to prevent St. George from killing the dragon which he does with the aid of St. George himself. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
18 Pages. | | Appears in: Lurie, Alison. The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales | | Category: Fairy Tale, Dragons, Mythical Creatures | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Hale, Lucretia P.. Solomon John Goes for Apples and Cider. | | Solomon John can't seem to mount his horse right so rides backwards to get apples, which he loses and cider, which he forgets. | | Grades: 2, 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
4 Pages. | | Appears in: Hale, Lucretia P.. The Peterkin Papers | | Category: Humor, Family | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Hale, Lucretia P.. The Peterkins Celebrate the Fourth of July. | | The Fourth of July celebrations get under way too early for Mr. & Mrs. Peterkin and the day only gets worse as Solomon John tries to make his own fireworks. | | Grades: 4, 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
5 Pages. | | Appears in: Commager, Henry Steele. The St. Nicholas Anthology | | Category: Fourth of July, Holidays, Humor | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Hall, Esther Greenacre. The Send-and-Fotch Book. | | Set in rural Kentucky, Nancy Davis and her family are so poor she can only dream of owning a beautiful dress from a mail order catalogue. When some money finally comes from the sale of their hog, Nancy decides her brothers and sisters need things more than her but her generosity is rewarded in a way she couldn't have imagined. | | Grades: 5 |
3 Stars. |
13 Pages. | | Appears in: Robinson, Mabel L.. Blue Ribbon Stories (1932) | | Category: Historical Fiction, Female Protagonist | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Henry, O.. The Gift of the Magi. | | The classic tale of poor young newlyweds trying to make Christmas a time of giving. He sells his grandfather's pocket watch to buy her a comb for her beautiful long hair. She sells her hair to a wig-maker to buy him a silver watch-chain for his grandfather's watch. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
3 Stars. |
6 Pages. | | Appears in: Wagenknecht, Edward. A Fireside Book of Yuletide Tales | | Category: Christmas, Female Protagonist | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Jacobs, W. W.. The Monkey's Paw. | | A mummified monkey's paw from India holds three wishes for three men, but to their horror the wishes never seem to produce what they expect. | | Grades: 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
12 Pages. | | Appears in: Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy, 7: Magical Wishes | | Category: Fantasy, Magic, Horror | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Jewett, Sarah Orne. An Empty Purse. | | A young woman brings warmth to her neighbors at Christmastime with small gifts and kind acts. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
1 Stars. |
8 Pages. | | Appears in: Wagenknecht, Edward. A Fireside Book of Yuletide Tales | | Category: Christmas, Female Protagonist | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Kipling, Rudyard. The Cat That Walked by Himself. | | All the animals were wild-as-wild-as-wild-could be-and they walked in the Wet Wild Wood by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
8 Pages. | | Appears in: Adams, Richard. Favorite Animals Stories | | Category: Animal Stories, Cats | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| London, Jack. The Sounding of the Call. | | The only thing that keeps Buck from heeding the call and joining a wolf pack in the frozen north, is his love for one man, John Thornton. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
1 Stars. |
12 Pages. | | Appears in: Adams, Richard. Favorite Animals Stories | | Category: Animal Stories, Dogs, Wolves | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Marie-Victorin, Fr. Don't Sell the Farm. | | Felix Delage is saddened to see all the farms around his being sold for development and is about to give in to the inevitable when his grandchildren ask to have it saved for them. | | Grades: 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
13 Pages. | | Appears in: Kingston, E. F.. Modern Stories for Modern Schools | | Category: Family | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Moreau, Shannon. The Story of Ida B. Wells. | | A moving short biography of Ida B. Wells, a woman born into a slave family who became a journalist and devoted her life to raising the conscience of the nation about crimes against black people, especially lynchings. It wasn't for decades after her death in 1931 that lynchings finally stopped. | | Grades: 5 |
2 Stars. |
5 Pages. | | Appears in: Cricket Magazine Vol 26, Num 6, Feb 1999 | | Category: Non-fiction, Biography, African-American, Female Protagonist | |
Additional author information
Read This Story Now |
|
| Muir, John. Stickeen. | | When John Muir sets out one morning in 1880 to explore the glacier above Taylor Bay, Alaska, he is followed by the small but intrepid camp dog, Stickeen. Stickeen had never developed an attachment to anyone until their harrowing day on the glacier when he and John Muir became inseparable companions after an unimaginable close call. | | Grades: 4, 5, Adult |
3 Stars. |
13 Pages. | | Appears in: Peterson, Florence. The Big Book of Favorite Dog Stories | | Category: Adventure | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Pyle, Howard. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. | | A beautiful recounting of the marriage of King Arthur and Lady Guinevere. | | Grades: 4, 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
5 Pages. | | Appears in: Frye, Burton. A St. Nicholas Anthology: The Early Years | | Category: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Arthurian | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Williams, Jay. The Water of Life. | | Pilchard the fisherman who can always give a friend a hand and still have one left is asked by the King to find the Water of Life. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
7 Pages. | | Appears in: Cricket Magazine Vol 6, Num 8, April 1979 | | Category: Fantasy |
|
| Pyle, Howard. One Good Turn Deserves Another. | | A young fisherman frees a stork from netting and in return the stork has him cast his net, whereupon he catches a fish whose scales are of gold and silver. The young lad takes the fish to the King asking for his daughter's hand in exchange. The Princess agrees to marry the fisherman but only if he can bring her the key to the Wish-house. She thinks it an impossible task not realizing the fisher lad still has the stork to aid him. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
10 Pages. | | Appears in: Pyle, Howard. The Wonder Clock | | Category: Folk Tale, Story Tellers | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Pyle, Howard. How Boots Befooled the King. | | The wisest King promised his daughter and half the kingdom to anyone who could befool him. Three brothers tried, Peter failed, Paul failed but Boots the simpleton befooled the King and won his daughter. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
7 Pages. | | Appears in: Pyle, Howard. The Wonder Clock | | Category: Folk Tale, Story Tellers | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Pyle, Howard. Master Jacob. | | When the priest, the provost and the master mayor hear that Master Jacob is bringing his fat pig to market, they decide to fool him and gain a fat pig for free. But Master Jacob is not the fool he seems and in the end they get their comeupins and Master Jacob goes home richer by $100. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
8 Pages. | | Appears in: Pyle, Howard. The Wonder Clock | | Category: Folk Tale, Story Tellers | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Rice, Alice Hegan. The Theater Party. | | A heart warming scene from Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch in which Billy Wiggs comes up with a scheme to grant his mother her wish of going to the old "Opery" house just once in her life. | | Grades: 5 |
2 Stars. |
15 Pages. | | Appears in: Fenner, Phyllis. Fun, Fun, Fun: Stories of Fantasy and Farce, Mischief and Mirth, Whimsy and Nonsense. | | Category: Historical Fiction, Humor, Family | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Robinson, Harry Perry. On a Mountain Trail. | | On a supply trip from Livingston to Gulch City, Montana, two men travel the first part without trouble but at the ten mile mark they are surrounded by a pack of black wolves, lean and hungry from the winter. | | Grades: 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
5 Pages. | | Appears in: Frye, Burton. A St. Nicholas Anthology: The Early Years | | Category: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Wolves, United States, Western Fiction, Winter | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Seton, Ernest Thompson. Lobo, the King of Currumpaw. | | Old Lobo, the gigantic leader of a pack of gray wolves, terrorizes the ranches in the Currumpaw cattle range in New Mexico while outwitting hunters for years. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
12 Pages. | | Appears in: Adams, Richard. Favorite Animals Stories | | Category: Animal Stories, Wolves | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Squier, Emma-Lindsay. Even-Steven. | | An old prospector, after escaping from the debt farm, returns to his old claim only to find his cabin occupied by a runaway orphan. But soon they join forces against the man who falsely claims he owns the cabin and the gold claim. Trouble is, there is no gold until the boy's pet pack rat, Even-Steven, starts trading gold nuggets for scraps of food. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
3 Stars. |
16 Pages. | | Appears in: Robinson, Mabel L.. Blue Ribbon Stories (1932) | | Category: Historical Fiction | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Stockton, Frank. The Griffin and the Minor Canon. | | When a Griffin hears of his likeness carved by a sculptor over a church door, he comes to town to view the sculpture. The frightened towns people send the Minor Canon to talk with him, a young man for whom the Griffin takes quite a liking but doesn't like the way he is treated by the cowardly and selfish inhabitants of the town. | | Grades: 4, 5, Adult |
3 Stars. |
9 Pages. | | Appears in: Commager, Henry Steele. The St. Nicholas Anthology | | Category: Fantasy | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Swett, Sophie. How Santa Claus Found the Poor-House. | | Two young friends in an English poor house are befriended by a portly old doctor that looks surprisingly like Santa Claus but gives them a gift that even Santa couldn't match. | | Grades: 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
7 Pages. | | Appears in: Commager, Henry Steele. The St. Nicholas Anthology | | Category: Holidays, Historical Fiction, Christmas | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Terhune, Albert Payson. "One Minute Longer". | | When a young boy falls through the ice, he keeps repeating something he had read..."Heroism is the ability to hang on one minute longer"... until his dog, Wolf, can fetch help. | | Grades: 3, 4, 5 |
2 Stars. |
14 Pages. | | Appears in: Commager, Henry Steele. The Second St. Nicholas Anthology | | Category: Animal Stories, Dogs, Historical Fiction | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Twain, Mark. Jim Wolf and the Cats. | | On a two cent bet, Jim Wolf climbs out on an icy roof in pursuit of two old tom cats arguing atop the chimney. Jim gets within reach of one of the Toms but when he stands to grab it his feet fly up and down he slides landing in the hot-candy dishes at the party below. | | Grades: 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
4 Pages. | | Appears in: Twain, Mark. The Birds and Beasts of Mark Twain | | Category: Humor | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Twain, Mark. The Pinch Bug and His Prey. | | Board with the Sunday sermon, Tom Sawyer takes out his pinch bug but when it bites him he flings it in the isle where a wandering Poodle sits on it and takes off yelping for parts unknown with the pinch bug stuck to his rear. | | Grades: 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
5 Pages. | | Appears in: Fadiman, Clifton. The World Treasury of Children's Literature, III | | Category: Humor | |
Read This Story Now |
|
| Twain, Mark. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. | | Jim Smiley had about the most uncommonest luck of anyone who ever placed a bet, that is until he placed Daniel, his jumping frog up against another man's frog and Daniel could barely lift himself off the ground due to the quail shot the other man secretly dumped down his gullet. | | Grades: 5, Adult |
2 Stars. |
8 Pages. | | Appears in: Twain, Mark. The Birds and Beasts of Mark Twain | | Category: Humor | |
Read This Story Now |
|
