Summary
Summary of Short Stories for High Schools
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Many stories offer different ways in
Rosa M. R. Mikels brings together short fiction by American and British writers in a collection made for school readers. The stories offer different kinds of experience: adventure and danger, a strongly drawn person, or a choice between right and wrong.
Each tale shows something the short story can do within a few pages. Together, they let readers meet many authors and notice how different kinds of storytelling draw attention to action, character or the choices people make.
Key idea 2
An editor guides the journey
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Key idea 3
Danger reveals the person under pressure
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Key idea 4
Small details reveal a whole person
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Key idea 5
Moral courage lives in quiet choices
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Key idea 6
The stories teach a way of reading
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For students, teachers and readers who want a broad first taste of American and British short fiction, with adventure, strong characters and choices about right and wrong.
What this book is
Short Stories for High Schools is a school anthology put together by the editor Rosa M. R. Mikels. It gathers short fiction by American and British writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Anthologies like this were made for classrooms, so that young readers could meet many authors and many kinds of story in one volume.
What you get is a quick tour of the short story at work. Some tales are built on adventure and danger, some on a single strong character, and some on a hard choice about right and wrong. Each one can be read in a sitting. Let us begin with the idea behind such a collection and why the short story suits a student reader so well.
In this summary
- 1A school anthology is a guided samplerFree
- 2Adventure tests what people are made of
- 3A few pages can build a whole person
- 4Moral courage is the thread through the tales
Key point 1 of 4
A school anthology is a guided sampler
An anthology is a gathering of works chosen by an editor. In a school volume, the choice is made with young readers in mind. The editor looks for stories that are clear, lively and worth discussing in class.
That purpose shapes the book. Instead of one voice, you meet many. A reader moves from one writer's style to another's and starts to notice how each handles a setting, a speaker or a surprise.
This is why such a book works well as a first step. It does not ask for a long commitment. The next is only a few pages away, and it may open a whole author's work to you.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
How does adventure help reveal character?
Right. “It puts a person under pressure so that we can see how they think, what they fear and what they will risk.”Not quite. “It puts a person under pressure so that we can see how they think, what they fear and what they will risk.”
How does a short story build a character in limited space?
Right. “A habit, a remark or a small act has to stand for the whole person.”Not quite. “A habit, a remark or a small act has to stand for the whole person.”
What does moral courage mean in these tales?
Right. “It is the quiet strength to be honest, to be kind or to stand alone when it is hard.”Not quite. “It is the quiet strength to be honest, to be kind or to stand alone when it is hard.”
Questions about Short Stories for High Schools
What is Short Stories for High Schools about?
It is a school anthology of short fiction by American and British writers. The tales cover adventure, strong characters and questions of right and wrong, and they are arranged so that students can read them one at a time.
Who was Rosa M. R. Mikels?
She was an American educator and the editor of this collection. An editor chooses and arranges the stories, so the tales themselves were written by many different authors, while she shaped the book for classroom use.
Is this one story or many?
It is many. The book is a collection of separate short stories, each complete in itself, so you can read them in any order and stop after any tale without losing a thread.
Is it hard to read?
The book was made for school readers, and short stories are quick to finish. The plots are clear and easy to follow.
What themes do the stories share?
Common themes in such collections are courage, honesty, duty and the choices people make under pressure. Adventure often provides the setting, and character shows through what people do when a decision is hard.
