Adventures in Reading: Volume 1: Short Stories

by B.J. Chute, Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Dive right in / B.J. Chute
Catherine and the winter wheat / P.B. Hughes
Apprentice / Dorothy Canfield
Ransom of Red Chief / O. Henry
The adventure of the dying detective / Arthur Conan Doyle (pp. 40-57)
Dog of Pompeii / Louis Untermeyer
Mr. Brownlee's roses / Elsie Singmaster
Pride of seven / Robert W. Krepps
Long winter / Walter Havighurst
Tell-tale heart / Edgar Allan Poe
A man who had no eyes / Mackinlay Kantor
As ye sow, so shall ye reap / Jesse Stuart
Trademark / Jessamyn West
Lassie come-home / Eric Knight
Firty-first dragon / Heywood Broun
Lady or the tiger? / Frank R. Stockton
Necklace / Guy de Maupassant
Silver mine / Selma Lagerlof
Unicorn in the garden / James Thurber
The gift / Ray Bradbury.

203 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1963

About the author

B.J. Chute was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and lived there until she came to New York in 1940. A professional writer since 1931, Miss Chute has written hundreds of stories, which have appeared in Boys' Life, the Boy Scout magazine, and numerous anthologies of outstanding sports stories for young people. Her adult stories have appeared in nearly every major magazine, including The Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, McCall's, and Redbook. She has written four adult novels—The Fields Are White, The End of Loving, Greenswillow, Moon and the Thorn—and a collection of short stories, The Blue Cup.
- taken from the dust jacket of Blocking Back

aka Beatrice Joy Chute

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have NO earthly idea where I picked this up, but I've been lugging it around for some 30 years or so. Appears to be a textbook for perhaps eighth-graders, part of a larger collection of literature-for-study, including poems, nonfiction, "Great Expectations" and "Ivanhoe." SO, the book gives an introductory section on the nature of fiction, especially short fiction, what elements are typical (action, character, setting, themes), and the various tpes of stories. Each story has an introduction, and afterwards a number of provocative questions about the plot and characterization and suggestions for activities, plus a biography of each author. So it deepens one's appreciation of the stories. Been a long time since I actually analyzed a piece of literature at such depth, so it was fun. This work is copyright 1963, the latest in a number of editions starting with 1939.

And what swtories! "The Tell-Tale Heart" (Poe); "The Lady or the Tiger?" (Frank Stockton); "The Ransom of Red Chief" (O. Henry); "Lassie Come-Home" (Eric Knight)"The Adventure of the Dying Detective" (Arthru Conan Doyle) and on an d on for 20 stories, each as enjoyable ts the next. If you can find this collection (I would surmise that there are more recent editions), DO go pick it up!