Short Story Selection Menu
Individual Reading Selections
Select a short story from this menu to read and analyze.
Title
Textbook About the selection
Page #
“Checkouts” by Cynthia Rylant
82-85
“The Girl Who Can” by Ama Ata
Aidoo
86-92
“Sonata For Harp and Bicycle”
by Joan Aiken
46-56
“If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth” by
Arthur C. Clarke
162-166
“American History” by Judith
Ortiz Cofer
240-252
“The Man to Send Rain Clouds”
by Leslie Marmon Silko
292-297
“Rules of the Game” by Amy
Tan
316-328
“Blues Ain’t No Mockingbird” by
Toni Cade Bambara
350-358
In this story, a girl and a boy fall in love, but never
really meet.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
Seven-year-old Adjoa challenges her grandmother’s
views about a woman’s place in society.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
This story combines the elements of mystery,
romance, and the supernatural- with a wink at
Greek Mythology as the hero challenges the absurd
fears of his office and his co-workers.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
Ten-year-old Marvin lives on a space station and is
taken on a trip by his father to the outside world.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
Elena, a Puerto Rican girl living in a tenement in
New Jersey, becomes friends with a boy named
Eugene.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
The death of an elderly Native American, Teofilo,
serves as a backdrop to illuminate the actions,
reactions, and interactions of the living.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
This story focuses on the relationship between a
mother who was born and raised in China and her
daughter, born in America.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
This story explores the issues of family dignity and
the right to privacy.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
“The Invalid’s Story” by Mark
Twain
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
by James Thurber
363-370
128-134
The narrator tells the story of the train trip he takes
to bring the body of his newly deceased friend to
his final resting place.
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
Did you see the movie? The movie was based on
the original story about a man who feels ineffectual
and cannot cope with the world around him, so he
retreats to a daydream world where he becomes
dashing, powerful, and in control.
“The Gift of the Magi” by O.
Henry
260-266
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
This story is about self-sacrificing love- and its ironic
consequences.
“The Scarlet Ibis” by James
Hurst
384-395
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
This story demonstrates how cruelty and selfishness
can be entwined with love.
396-400
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011
This fable highlights the negative consequences
when competition is the only form of interaction.
“The Golden Kite, the Silver
Wind” by Ray Bradbury
Pearson, Prentice Hall Literature, Grade 9, 2011