Good Short Stories for High School English Language Learners (ELL/ESL)

A young couple sacrifices their most prized possessions to buy each other Christmas gifts.

Content note: Poverty depiction

A policeman sees an old friend waiting for a meetup, but recognizes him as a wanted criminal.

Content note: Crime, betrayal

A safecracker tries to lead a normal life but must use his skills one last time to save a child.

Content note: Crime, redemption

Two kidnappers steal a boy who is so annoying they pay his father to take him back.

Content note: Kidnapping (comedic treatment)

A woman with heart trouble receives news of her husband’s death and feels an unexpected sense of freedom.

Content note: Death, heart condition

A nervous man is frightened by a girl’s story about a tragedy involving an open window.

Content note: Implied supernatural

A woman ruins her life paying for a diamond necklace she lost, only to find out it was fake.

Content note: Poverty, vanity

A boy tries to steal a woman’s purse, but she takes him home and feeds him.

Rachel is humiliated on her birthday when forced to wear a sweater that isn’t hers.

Content note: Classroom humiliation

Two children in the future find a printed book and wonder about schools of the past.

Content note: None

A housewife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb and feeds the weapon to the police.

Content note: Domestic violence, murder

A young man stays at a cheap B&B, but the landlady is too welcoming.

Content note: Implied murder, taxidermy

A man escapes his boring life through vivid daydreams.

Content note: None

A boy hates his guacamole-colored jacket and blames it for all his bad luck.

Content note: Poverty, adolescent anxiety

A girl is denied a scholarship jacket due to discrimination but stands up for herself.

Content note: Discrimination, racism

A semi-barbaric king has a unique justice system involving two doors. A princess must choose her lover's fate.

Content note: Violence (implied), jealousy

A magical paw grants three wishes, but with terrible consequences.

Content note: Death, implied zombie

Prince Prospero tries to hide from a plague in his abbey, but death finds him.

Content note: Plague, death imagery

Montresor takes revenge on Fortunato by walling him up alive.

Content note: Murder, burial alive

A murderer tries to convince the reader of his sanity while describing his crime.

Content note: Murder, mental instability

An alcoholic man descends into madness and violence against his pets and wife.

Content note: Animal cruelty, domestic violence, alcoholism

A confederate sympathizer is hanged, but imagines a miraculous escape.

Content note: Execution, war, death

Two enemies are trapped together under a tree and decide to reconcile, just before wolves arrive.

Content note: Violence, death

A man travels through the Yukon in freezing temperatures and underestimates the cold.

Content note: Freezing death, animal death

A village follows a brutal tradition without questioning it.

Content note: Stoning, mob violence

Children on Venus lock a classmate in a closet during the only hour of sun in 7 years.

Content note: Child cruelty, isolation

A virtual reality nursery becomes too real for two spoiled children.

Content note: Implied child murder, violence

Time travelers hunt dinosaurs, but a small mistake changes the future.

Content note: Hunting, time travel paradox

In a future where everyone must be equal, one man rebels.

Content note: Violence, dystopian execution

A boy pushes his disabled brother too hard because of his own pride.

Content note: Child death, disability

A hunter becomes the hunted on a remote island.

Content note: Human hunting, violence

An old woman writes poison pen letters to her neighbors to keep the town "clean".

Content note: Psychological manipulation

A narrator visits an old friend in a decaying mansion and witnesses the family’s collapse.

A prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition faces psychological and physical torture.

Dupin solves a locked-room mystery using "ratiocination". The first detective story.

Dupin finds a stolen letter that the police couldn’t find because it was hidden in plain sight.

A woman in Louisiana is rejected by her husband because their baby has dark skin.

A poor mother finds 15 dollars and spends it all on herself instead of her children.

A man tells a long, rambling story about a gambler and his frog.

A cat is taught to speak and reveals the guests’ scandalous secrets.

A utopian city depends on the misery of one child.

Content note: Child abuse, moral philosophy

A family runs into an escaped convict on a road trip.

Content note: Murder, violence, religious themes

A boy rejects his Chinese mother and her magical origami animals.

Content note: Parental death, cultural rejection

A cashier quits his job to impress three girls in swimsuits.

Content note: Sexual objectification (mild)

Two sisters have different views on their family heritage and quilts.

Content note: Family conflict, racial identity

A young girl is lured out of her house by a charismatic but dangerous stranger.

Content note: Sexual predation, implied violence

A blind man teaches a sighted man how to truly "see".

Content note: Disability, marijuana use

A mother gives a stream of advice and warnings to her daughter.

Content note: Sexual repression, gender roles