9 h 27 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 27 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A story begins with someone who wants something—and something that stands in the way.
Short Stories of Various Types brings together classroom tales by various authors from different places and periods. Realistic stories, fables, tales of suspense, and quiet studies of one person's mind offer different ways into the short story. Each type invites you to notice how a writer makes a small space count.
Conflict, character, and culture guide your reading. A person's choices reveal what matters; words left unsaid can reveal just as much. Customs, beliefs, work, and family roles shape what people want and what they think is possible. Reading across these stories helps you compare how those forces work.
What you’ll discover
- The force of conflict See how a person's wants meet resistance and give a short story its forward movement.
- Choices that reveal character Look closely at what people do, say, and avoid saying to understand who they are.
- Culture beneath the surface Notice how customs and beliefs shape a character's desires, fears, and sense of possibility.
- Different kinds of stories Move from realistic tales to fables, suspense, and studies of the mind, changing your reading habits.
- A more attentive eye Compare voices and techniques, and find tools for reading any story with greater care.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy short tales with clear hooks, warm humor, ghostly legends, detective puzzles, war stories or fables will love this collection. It also suits those who enjoy varied voices in one sitting.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Pressure reveals what people value
- Della gives up something precious
- Families hold together through war
- Loyalty means staying beside another
- Kindness can miss another person's meaning
- Fine appearances can conceal emptiness
- Strange details point toward hidden plans
- Kindness hides behind a grumbling excuse
- Choices connect very different lives
Who’s who
- DellaA young wife with one dollar and eighty-seven cents and long brown hair, she wants to find the perfect Christmas gift for her husband Jim.
- PenrodA boy full of big schemes who decides to keep a stray horse and claim a reward, with his friend Sam.
- Miss BaileyA kind teacher who agrees to hold a small pupil's money and finds herself caught up in his secret.
- Peter HarrisonAn outspoken American history scholar in Paris who treats everyone fairly and befriends an English music student, Agatha Midland.
- Mother RigbyA New England witch in a good mood who turns a scarecrow into a fine gentleman, mostly for the joke.
- Sherlock HolmesThe detective who listens to a pawnbroker's odd story about a league of redheads and sees a larger plan behind it.
- WilliamA club waiter who agrees with everyone at the club and conceals deep anxiety about his sick wife.
- King Gustav the ThirdA Swedish king racing through Dalarna, who needs money and soldiers to defend his kingdom.
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- Audiobook
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- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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25 languages, side by side
Short Stories of Various Types in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Short Stories of Various Types
Della sells her hair for Christmas, a scarecrow walks to town, and Sherlock Holmes puzzles over a league of redheads.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you give up for someone you love? On the day before Christmas, Della counts one dollar and eighty-seven cents, and the pile will not grow.
Short Stories of Various Types at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 20 min4 h 15 min fast, 6 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 76,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Della has one dollar and eighty-seven cents
Della sits in a rented flat on Christmas Eve with one dollar and eighty-seven cents, and sixty cents of it is pennies. Her husband Jim earns twenty dollars a week, down from thirty. O. Henry tells this in a joking, chatty voice that keeps tears and laughter side by side.
The couple own two treasures. One is Jim's gold watch, handed down from his father and grandfather, and the other is Della's brown hair, which falls below her knees. Della lets her hair fall, hurries out, and climbs the stairs to Madame Sofronie, who buys hair. She hears a price of twenty dollars and tells the woman to be quick.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
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- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Short Stories of Various Types. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types.
Short stories of various types. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types
Short Stories of Various Types. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types.
@book{anonymous2026short,
title = {Short Stories of Various Types},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types}
}
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What is Short Stories of Various Types about?
It gathers thirteen short stories by different authors and shows several kinds of short fiction: comic tales, war stories, a legend, a detective case and a fable. Each story centers on a person making a hard choice.
Which stories are in this collection?
The tales include The Gift of the Magi, A Reward of Merit, American, Sir!, John G., Friends, A Camping Trip, A Thread Without a Knot, Chu Chu, Feathertop, The Red-Headed League, The Inconsiderate Waiter, The Siege of Berlin and The Silver Mine.
Who wrote the stories in the book?
The authors include O. Henry, Booth Tarkington, Hamlin Garland, Bret Harte, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie, Alphonse Daudet and Selma Lagerlöf. Each writer receives a short biographical sketch in the collection’s concluding notes.
More by Various Authors
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