One of the mistakes I routinely see teachers make is selecting texts—whether for whole-class instruction or independent reading—based primarily on grade bands, Lexile levels, or what has traditionally been taught at a particular age. Those things certainly have their place, but they don't tell us the most important thing about a reader:

Will this student actually want to read this?

This isn't a new problem. In fact, I experienced it myself.

I distinctly remember the SRA reading cards my teacher assigned us in fifth grade. Large boxes held folded cards filled with short fiction and nonfiction passages. I remember the colors—Aqua, Gold, Blue, Violet, Rose—and the expectation that we would work our way from the easiest cards to the hardest.

The problem wasn't that the passages were too difficult or too easy.

The problem was that most of them simply weren't interesting to me. I already had a book I'd rather be reading.

In sixth grade, I took the Stanford-Binet test, and my teachers decided I should be placed in an honors reading class the following year. I was thrilled. Finally, I thought, school would let me read books that excited me. I imagined carrying my current novel into class instead of hiding my reading life at home.

Instead, we were assigned the classics.

Looking back, there's nothing wrong with the classics. But they weren't the right books for a twelve-year-old girl who already knew what she loved to read. At the time, I was deep into my Francine Pascal phase and would soon graduate to Lois Duncan and V.C. Andrews. Those were the authors that made me want to keep turning pages.

Needless to say, I didn't do well in that class. For years, I was embarrassed by that fact. It even contributed to the self-doubt that delayed my decision to become an English teacher.

Everything changed during my first year of teaching when I read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. That's where I discovered the term underground reader—someone who loves reading but doesn't necessarily love what school asks them to read. Suddenly, my own experiences made perfect sense.

Those memories came rushing back years later when a group of eighth-grade boys announced during the first week of school, "We don't read."

I didn't argue with them.

Instead, I found stories that matched their interests.

The boys who hunted and fished devoured The Most Dangerous Game and The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant. 

I knew this would work because students in my previous classes who loved horror gravitated toward Poe and Shirley Jackson. My science fiction fans couldn't get enough of Ray Bradbury. Once students found stories that connected with the things they already cared about, many of them began to see themselves as readers.

That's the idea behind the list below.

Rather than organizing frequently taught short stories by grade level or reading level, I've organized them by student interests. When teachers start with curiosity instead of complexity, they're often surprised by how willing students are to read challenging texts (Miller, 2009, 2012).

Sometimes the shortest path to stronger readers isn't finding an easier story.

It's finding a more interesting one.

If your students like...

Finding the right story for the right student isn't an exact science, but it is one of the most powerful ways we can help young people discover that reading can be enjoyable. I hope this list gives you a few new ideas for matching your students with stories they'll actually want to read.

You'll notice that some of the story titles are linked while others are not. Stories with links are currently available through my free short story resources or the Curated Short Stories Library. The remaining stories are on my growing list of resources to develop, so check back as I continue to expand the collection.

I'd love your help making this list even better.

• What student interests have you noticed in your classroom that deserve their own category? 
• Have you found a short story that consistently wins over your athletes, artists, gamers, musicians, history buffs, aspiring mechanics, or reluctant readers?

Share your ideas in the comments. Your recommendations may help another teacher connect a student with the story that turns them into a reader.

Resources

• Miller, D. (2009). The book whisperer: Awakening the inner reader in every child (1st ed). Jossey-Bass.
• Miller, D. (2012). Creating a classroom where readers flourish. The Reading Teacher,  66(2), 88-92.