Customer Reviews

Little Worlds : A Collection of Short Stories for the Middle School

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very useful resource for Middle School teachers and librarians. The first half of the anthology contains stories which are grouped according to specific literary terms (character, theme, etc.). Each cluster of stories is introduced by a one to two page description of the literary term the stories illlustrate. The second half of the anthology contains short stories that are slightly more complex and illustrate multiple literary terms. This setup makes it a very useful teaching tool. I have used this book with eighth graders and have found it hugely successful.

I am a seventh grader, and this book is part of our course reading. There are some wonderful short stories in it, ranging in difficulty in both the fluency with which the story was written, as well as in the vocabulary used, for example, the difficult vocabulary in "The Masque of Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe. There are quite a few important, famous, and memorable short stories in Little Worlds, including the infamous story, "The Gift of the Magi," as well as, "The Necklace" and "The Monkey's Paw." But, I do warn you, the book includes some very controversial, yet famous stories like, "The Lottery." Overall, I must say that Little Worlds is a truly wonderful book with exceptional story selections. Some I did not enjoy, but all of them taught an important life lesson to me. Just get a good teacher to tell you about them as well!

I purchased these books as a class set for my advanced eighth grade Language Arts students. The stories are fantastic. The stories will cause students to discuss and challenge the themes presented. Students must understand the short story before comprehending every story presented--today's students expect to be entertained, and, quite frankly, that is not the purpose for all short stories. As a teacher, I found this classroom resource invaluable. This is a wonderful book with memorable stories: "The Monkey's Paw," "The Necklace," "An Occurance at Owlcreek Bridge," "The Gift of the Magi," etc. It's a must have for the accelerated middle school student!

Being a student in 7th grade, I highly recomend this book for teaching children my age. But I must say that some stories like "To Build A Fire" are boring. And as for the person who wrote it was horrible... WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!?!?!?!? Please read this book. It also has a wonderful vocabularly to help students and peopel in gernal learn.

I browsed the internet forever before finding this great anthology. It contains a wonderful selection of stories perfect for middle schoolers. The only thing that would make it better is if the stories were accompanied by discussion questions.

I am a middle schooler. For english I have to read stories in this stupid book. If you want to teach someone about short stories do not get this book! Some of the stories are a page long with no plot! Trust me, you don't want this!