10 Free Short Stories for High School Students (and What to Teach With Each)

Ten free CommonLit short stories for 9th and 10th grade, from a town stuck in a haunting to a chess set that says more than it should, plus what each one teaches best.

You assign a short story, and a student asks if there's a movie or TV version. Fair. Kids deserve to read stories that are going to engage them when they are living in a world that is constantly trying to push content towards them. The stories that get past that reaction have an early hook, something worth arguing about, and enough layers to carry a full discussion.

These 10 stories come from CommonLit's free Text Library, and each one comes with the skill it teaches best, from suspense to symbolism. Five are labeled for 9th grade and five for 10th grade. Pick one, or build a short fiction unit from three or four.

New to CommonLit? These lessons are free with an educator account. Sign up for one here.

What Are the Best Short Stories for 9th Grade?

These five 9th grade stories cover suspense, dystopia, family relationships, metaphor, and allegory, and all five are free in the CommonLit Text Library.

"Showdown" by Shirley Jackson (9th Grade)

The town of Mansfield is haunted, stuck reliving the same day because its people stood by while Thad Ruskin killed Tom Harper. Once Billy realizes what's happening, he has to stop the murder to break the cycle. It's a clean pick for teaching how authors build suspense.

"The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury (9th Grade)

Leonard Mead is out for an evening walk in a society run by screens. An automated police car stops him, asks why he doesn't own a television, and hauls him off to a psychiatric center for his "regressive" view of technology. Students will have plenty to say about technology in their own lives.

"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan (9th Grade)

In this excerpt from The Joy Luck Club, June's mother is determined to make her a prodigy, and June is just as determined not to try. After a disastrous piano recital and a bitter fight, June later reconciles her mother's ambitions with her own. Use it for character development and relationships.

"Rules of the Game" by Amy Tan (9th Grade)

Waverly recalls growing up in San Francisco's Chinatown and learning chess from a set her brother got for Christmas. She becomes a skilled player, but her mother's pride starts to feel suffocating. Chess stands in for the conflict between them, which makes this excerpt from The Joy Luck Club a good one for studying metaphor.

"He — Y, Come On Ou — t!" by Shinichi Hoshi, translated by Stanleigh Jones (9th Grade)

A village finds a new hole, shouts into it, tosses in a pebble, and hears no echo. A businessman soon claims the hole and starts charging people to dump their trash. Then a shout comes down from the sky, followed by a single pebble. This allegory is built for talking about selfishness and respect for the environment.

What Are the Best Short Stories for 10th Grade?

These five 10th grade stories center on identity, change, and social commentary, and each one is free in the CommonLit Text Library.

"Eraser Tattoo" by Jason Reynolds (10th Grade)

Shay and Dante sit on a Brooklyn stoop while Shay's parents finish packing to move out of town. Shay uses a pencil eraser to leave a friction burn in the shape of an "S" on Dante's arm. He knows the sting will fade, but Shay's mark on him won't. Students can trace how dialogue develops characters and reveals theme.

"Safety of Numbers" by Lucy Tan (10th Grade)

A Chinese-American teenager just wants to hang out with her friends and can't understand why her mother pushes so hard about the SATs. As she learns about her mother's experiences in China, including the Tiananmen Square Massacre, she starts to see her differently. It's a strong choice for analyzing complex characters and how they change.

"Cooking Time" by Anita Roy (10th Grade)

In a dystopian future, every natural source of food is gone, and people live on synthetic food tubes made by one powerful corporation. A girl who dreams of tasting real food enters a reality TV competition where contestants time travel to retrieve real ingredients. Use it to show how science fiction comments on the real world.

"Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier (10th Grade)

Lizabeth looks back on the moment her childhood innocence ended during the Great Depression. Confused and afraid of the upheaval around her, she destroys Miss Lottie's marigolds. The flowers mean something different to each of them, so this classic is ideal for teaching symbolism.

"The Wretched and the Beautiful" by E. Lily Yu (10th Grade)

Two groups of aliens arrive on Earth. The first looks grotesque and unwell and asks for asylum. The second is smaller, better resourced, and strikingly beautiful. The story asks what it means to be human and uses symbolism to explore prejudice, immigration, and charity.

What Comes With a CommonLit Text?

Every CommonLit text comes with the lesson built around it: questions, discussion prompts, an answer key, a teacher overview, paired texts, and related media, all free with an educator account. Take "Two Kinds" as an example. Each text lists its grade level and Lexile score (9th Grade, Lexile: 830 here). Above the passage, a short note gives context about the author and the excerpt, plus a prompt that tells students what to track as they read. For this one, it's how pride shapes the narrator and her mother.

You get the passage and the materials to teach it in one place, and none of it needs building from scratch. Here's what else sits on the page at a teacher’s fingertips: 

• Teacher Overview: key themes, setting, important characters, and a beginning, middle, and end plot summary, so you can preview the text before you assign it.
• Guiding Questions, Assessment Questions, and Discussion: three tabs of ready-made questions and prompts in the activities panel.
• Paired Texts: Texts hand-selected by our curriculum team to keep the learning going. These texts come with a quick overview and suggestion for how to pair. 
• Student tools: Read Aloud, Annotate, and Translate (30+ languages) 
• Assigning options: assign it digitally via Google Classroom, Clever or Class Code. You can also download a PDF, and administer the full lesson to kids offline. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Are these short stories free?

Yes. Every text in the CommonLit Text Library is free with an educator account, including reading questions, assessment questions, answer keys, and paired texts. Go to CommonLit.org, click "Sign Up," choose "I Am an Educator," and confirm your school email.

What comes with a CommonLit text?

Each CommonLit text includes guiding questions, assessment questions, discussion prompts, an answer key, paired texts, related media, and a teacher overview with key themes, setting, characters, and plot. Students also get Read Aloud, Annotate, and Translate tools. All of it is free with an educator account.

Can I print these lessons?

Yes. Each text can be downloaded as a PDF or assigned digitally to students.

What grade levels does the CommonLit Text Library cover?

The CommonLit Text Library includes lessons spanning grades 3-12. Once you log in to your free educator account, you can browse the 9th and 10th grade collection to find more stories like these.

Which of these short stories work best for teaching symbolism?

"Marigolds" and "The Wretched and the Beautiful" both use symbolism to carry their themes. "Rules of the Game" is a good fit for metaphor, since the chess game represents the conflict between Waverly and her mother.

Which of these short stories work best for teaching character development?

"Two Kinds" and "Safety of Numbers" both follow characters who change as they come to understand their mothers. "Eraser Tattoo" shows how dialogue develops characters and reveals theme.

Next Steps

All 10 stories are ready to assign. Create a free CommonLit account to unlock reading questions, assessment questions, answer keys, and paired texts for every lesson.