Featured Stories

There Was Once

There Was Once: Short story by Margaret AtwoodThis humorous vignette from Margaret Atwood uses satire to not only highlight the frequent use of stereotypes in children’s stories, but also draw attention to the modern-day obsession with political correctness. A storyteller is humiliated into whittling his twenty-four-word opening sentence down to just one, and then changing it. This illustrates how, taken to extremes, almost anything one says has the potential to offend someone. Atwood’s message is that literature, the performing arts, news reporting and free speech as we know them would be impossible under such constraints. Themes: storytelling, stereotyping, political correctness, freedom of expression.

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Searching for Summer

Searching for Summer: Short story by Joan AikenPublished in 1958, ten years into the Cold War, this Jane Aiken story is set in the aftermath of an unstated nuclear event. Massive clouds surround the Earth, blocking out the sun and stars. People crave the sun’s warmth and light, which only penetrate the clouds on rare, short-lived occasions. A newlywed couple set off on their honeymoon in search of one of these “bits of sun”. An act of kindness along the way leads them to more sun and starlight than many people see in their lives. Themes: taking things for granted, consequences of war, kindness, consideration for others.

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The Champion of Quiet

The Champion of Quiet: Short story by Tracy StewartThis story by Tracy Stewart for Highlights Magazine includes a number of important life lessons for young learners. The first is individual differences. Nobody is good at everything, but almost everybody is good at something. Importantly, you don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it. By joining in and trying your best, you can have just as much fun as those who are great at it. Maggie proved that she wasn’t just the Champion of Quiet. She became the Champion of Understanding and Kindness, and learned that this is the easiest way of all to make new friends.

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The Adventure of the Dancing Men

The Adventure of the Dancing Men: Short story by Arthur Conan DoyleIn this mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, an English squire from a highly respected family asks Sherlock Holmes for help. His new bride has been receiving messages written in a strange code that appear to terrify her. The woman, an American, refuses to discuss her past, and a condition of her marrying him was that he must promise never to ask about it. Holmes takes on the case and easily cracks the code, but doesn’t move quickly enough to prevent a murder. Themes include honor, shame, secretiveness, fear, unrequited love, obsession, crime and justice.

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In the Withaak’s Shade

In the Withaak's Shade: Short story by Herman BosmanLike a number of Herman Bosman‘s Oom Schalk Lourens stories, In the Withaak’s Shade is a satire of the life of Bushveld Afrikaners embellished in the form of a “tall tale”. It tells of a farmer’s unlikely encounter with a leopard as he was lying down under a withaak tree while busily searching for some lost cattle. Several of Bosman’s common themes (storytelling and the indolence, independence and mateship of the Boer landowners) are obvious. Two others (the mass hysteria that follows the reported sighting, and destruction of wildlife) are not.

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Shhhh

Shhhh: Short story by NoViolet BulawayoIn this story by NoViolet Bulawayo, a Zimbabwean girl is full of hatred when her father returns home terminally ill after years of no contact or family support. He is totally helpless and, because of his condition (AIDS), her mother forbids her to tell anyone he is back. There are few secrets in an African slum and, when her friends insist on seeing him, she fears they will treat him cruelly. To her surprise, they are respectful, gentle and caring, which begins to turn her feelings around. Themes include abandonment, hatred, fatal illness (AIDS), shame, secrecy, compassion, religion, church greed/corruption.

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A Game of Cards

A Game of Cards: Short story by Witi IhimaeraThis early story by Witi Ihimaera examines the universal themes of love, family, community and mortality from a Maori perspective. A university student visiting his dying grandmother symbolizes the deep family connections among his people. The old woman’s only recreation over the years has been lively card nights with friends and neighbors. These symbolize the strong connection and, despite some good-natured cheating, unity among community members. The spontaneous gathering in her final hours demonstrates her community’s approach to death. Rather than shying away until after the event, they come together to pay respects and ease her passing.

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The Man of the Crowd

The Man of the Crowd: Short story by Edgar Allan PoeThis story by Edgar Allan Poe opens with a man in high spirits after recovering from an illness sitting in a London coffee shop watching people go by in the street. He is absorbed in classifying them by occupation and social class until a “decrepid old man” with a fiendish expression unlike any he has seen before commands his attention. Curious, he follows the old man for twenty-four hours, learning nothing other than that he seems to want always to be part of a crowd. Themes include social class, obsession, curiosity, hidden secrets, urban alienation and loneliness.

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