Curriculum Alternatives

[Rachel]

READERS CHALLENGE: My daughters Middle School Language Arts teachers have included The Tell-Tale Heart in a short story required reading list this year and we are all extremely uncomfortable with anything that even hedges at horror, so I'm hoping that someone, well read, can recommend a short story (must be classified at literature) that would fit the suspense genre without any creepy factor?

[Anna]

I can't, I'm sorry, but I applaud your attempt to find something suitable for your daughter and others.

[Abigail]

You might check out for consideration:

The Birthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Purloined Letter, by Edgar Allan Poe
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving

Does it need to be American lit? Or is English allowed? If English is ok, maybe try:

a Sherlock Holmes story, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Bottle Imp, by Robert Louis Stevenson

[Christin]

I love Edgar Allen Poe so it's hard for me to recommend anything else, but I remember Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde being pretty short, not sure if it is considered a "short story" though.