The Story Shop: Stories for Literacy

More than 60 short stories make up this diverse collection aimed primarily at teachers of literacy at KS2 (8-11 year-olds). While most of the stories have been previously published, and a few are extracts from novels, the collection is impressive in its range of authors and writing styles. The stories are categorised by the genres that children are taught – from fantasy and adventure to mystery and sci-fi – while there’s an abundant selection of traditional tales, subdivided into myths, legends, fables, folk and trickster tales.

Each genre provides about five stories, varying in mood and linguistic and thematic complexity. There’s also some overlap, so that some stories can be used as models for more than one genre. My only criticism is that it’s a pity there aren’t more stories from other cultures included. Nonetheless, this is an appealing and thoughtful collection, which, as well as being a valuable teaching tool, will provide children with hours of reading pleasure, and also whet their appetite to seek out other titles by the authors represented.