Featured Stories

Lullaby

Lullaby: Short story by Leslie Marmon SilkoAlthough this story by Leslie Marmon Silko takes place over a single evening, some of the events described span three generations. An aging Native American woman searching for her alcoholic husband reminisces about her life. Although her childhood memories are pleasant, her adult memories are full of loss and tragedy. Her husband has been exploited by a “white rancher” and, having lost at least three children to natural causes and one to war, her last two were removed by “white doctors”. Themes: memories, tradition and change, language barriers, racism, oppression and exploitation, motherhood, death and loss.

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Mother and Daughter

Mother and Daughter: Short story by Gary SotoIn this story from Gary Soto, the close relationship between a struggling single mother and her eighth-grade daughter is tested by a wardrobe malfunction at a school dance. Mrs. Moreno is a flamboyant, hard-working, devoted mother. Her daughter Yollie appears genuinely appreciative of her mother’s efforts and understanding of their financial position. After fleeing the fall dance to avoid embarrassment, Yollie directs her frustration and anger toward her mother. It is Mrs Moreno, not Yollie, who cries herself to sleep that night. The themes: motherly love and the hurt that can be caused by a single thoughtless action.

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Araby

Araby: Short story by James JoyceIt is tempting to think the central theme of this story by James Joyce is an adolescent boy’s infatuation with a friend’s older sister. However, the title gives it away. The main theme, brought about by the boy’s wish to impress the girl, is his obsession with visiting the Grand Oriental Fete (Araby). The story helps us vicariously re-live our own Arabies. Whether it be a relationship, work opportunity or important event, we all have experiences where something much looked forward to greatly disappoints. We know how the boy feels! We know how the boy feels! Other themes: alienation, loneliness, religion, vanity, disillusionment.

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The Magic Sweet Shop

The Magic Sweet Shop: Children's story by Enid BlytonIn this story by Enid Blyton, two children out playing in the woods follow a path they had not seen before. It leads to a small village in which there is a strange candy shop. They each buy five different colored sweets with unusual names: a Giant-sweet, Dwarf-sweet, Invisible-sweet, Spiky-sweet and Home-again-sweet. They then have some exciting adventures in which the candy they bought saves the day. As might be expected, the Home-again-sweet leads them home. When they take their mother to the path that led them to the village, they find that it is no longer there.

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The Time Machine

The Time Machine: Novella by H. G. WellsIn this H. G. Wells classic, a Victorian era scientist who invents a time machine and travels over 800,000 years into the future finds a disintegrating world. Mankind has devolved into two species: the care-free, childlike Eloi (descendants of the elite) who live above ground in crumbling cities, and the aggressive, ape-like Morlocks (descendants of the working class) who live in perpetual darkness underground. He soon learns the gruesome secret of their co-existence. Themes include time travel, technology and “progress”, inequality and social class (the capitalist divide), the decline of humanity, love and kindness, entropy and decay.

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Poonek

Poonek: Short story by Lim Beng HapIn this story by Lim Beng Hap, a young man returns to his riverside village in Sarawak after ten years absence at school. The only thing that has changed is that a girl who had been his constant childhood companion has grown into a beautiful woman. When the girl’s father offers her to the young man in marriage, he initially declines. The belief among his people is that refusing such an offer makes him Poonek (likely to suffer a disaster), and he soon has a warning encounter with a crocodile. Themes include tradition, superstition, patriarchy, love.

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The Ingredients

The Ingredients: Short story by Jason ReynoldsA major theme of this story by Jason Reynolds is dreams vs. reality. Four African-American boys on the way to hang out at one of their homes after a day at the swimming pool try to outdo one another with descriptions of the exotic sandwiches they would like to eat when they get there. What they are served is very different to what they imagined. The sad message of the story is that in later life they are likely to encounter many similar reality checks. Other themes include Brooklyn life, social inequality, friendship, individuality, imagination, disappointment, acceptance.

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The Book of Sand

The Book of Sand: Short story by Jorge BorgesThis story by Jorge Borges deals with one of the author’s common themes… the infinite. In this case, a book lover exchanges a rare edition of the bible for a book that can’t be understood. It is in a strange language and has an endless number of randomly changing pages. He becomes obsessed with discovering the book’s secrets and, when he fails, concludes that it is so “monstrous” that it should be hidden away somewhere it will never be found. Other themes include spirituality, the power of books, obsession (the need to understand), fear.

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