by
Peter Guthrie and
Mary Page
"When we talked with other middle-school English teachers," write the editors, "we discovered that they were...frustrated by the lack of a good anthology for [their] students. It was out of this frustration that Little Worlds was born. The title, by the way, is inspired by an observation by Eudora Welty: that "we're seeing this story as a little world in space, just as we can isolate one star in the sky by a concentrated vision."
And a delightful collection of 30 short stories it is! In addition to the expected classics--including Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill," WW Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" and Jack London's "To Build a Fire"--Guthrie and Page include a number of wonderful stories off the beaten pedagogical path. Here are a few of my favorites:
Ray Bradbury, "Sun and Shadow" (1953)--Much is written now about the evils of "cultural appropriation." So what a surprise to find a short story from the 1950s touching upon this theme--and written by a sci-fi writer, no less!
Kay Boyle, "Winter Night" (1946)--An older babysitter tells her charge, Felicia, that she reminds her of a little girl the babysitter knew once. As the babysitter elaborates on the little girl and her fate, the reader comes to a horrible realization.
Eugenia Collier, "Marigolds" (1969)--A heart-rending account about how poverty and prejudice engender destructive rage in an adolescent girl: "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst--the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father's tears. And these feelings combined in one great impulse toward destruction." (To me, the story is one answer to the question Langston Hughes posed in his poem, "Harlem.")
Doris Lessing, "Through the Tunnel"--A boy sets an ambitious athletic goal, and strives day-by-day to slowly realize that goal. A wonderful story of spirit.
Bernard Malamud, "A Summer's Reading"--A young man's loneliness leads him to falsely boast about a summer's goal to read 100 books.
Needless to say, I greatly enjoyed (and was edified by) the editor's selection of stories. This book isn't just for middle-school students.
And a delightful collection of 30 short stories it is! In addition to the expected classics--including Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill," WW Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" and Jack London's "To Build a Fire"--Guthrie and Page include a number of wonderful stories off the beaten pedagogical path. Here are a few of my favorites:
Ray Bradbury, "Sun and Shadow" (1953)--Much is written now about the evils of "cultural appropriation." So what a surprise to find a short story from the 1950s touching upon this theme--and written by a sci-fi writer, no less!
Kay Boyle, "Winter Night" (1946)--An older babysitter tells her charge, Felicia, that she reminds her of a little girl the babysitter knew once. As the babysitter elaborates on the little girl and her fate, the reader comes to a horrible realization.
Eugenia Collier, "Marigolds" (1969)--A heart-rending account about how poverty and prejudice engender destructive rage in an adolescent girl: "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst--the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father's tears. And these feelings combined in one great impulse toward destruction." (To me, the story is one answer to the question Langston Hughes posed in his poem, "Harlem.")
Doris Lessing, "Through the Tunnel"--A boy sets an ambitious athletic goal, and strives day-by-day to slowly realize that goal. A wonderful story of spirit.
Bernard Malamud, "A Summer's Reading"--A young man's loneliness leads him to falsely boast about a summer's goal to read 100 books.
Needless to say, I greatly enjoyed (and was edified by) the editor's selection of stories. This book isn't just for middle-school students.
