Great Short Stories

Short Story readers will find thousands of titles in the American Literature Short Story Library. We feature your favorite authors from around the world, including Mark Twain, Anton Chekhov, O. Henry, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Guy de Maupassant, Kate Chopin, Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe, H.H. Munro (SAKI), H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling. We have the greatest collection of free short stories online, whether reading for pleasure or instructing in the classroom. Students & Teachers are welcomed and embraced!

Short Story Collections

Poetry for Students

The Children's Library

Searching for favorite stories and fables to share with your child? The Children's Library includes classics like Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Aesop's Fables, stories from Hans Christian Andersen, and fairy-tales from The Brothers Grimm. Explore Pre-K Wordplay!

Children's Stories

Your Favorite Authors

Whether you wish to read about Louisa May Alcott, James Joyce, Mark Twain, Mary Wilkins Freeman, or Herman Melville, we have you covered. We have essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson, poetry of Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Shakespeare's plays & sonnets, and select American Biographies.

Authors Index

Classic Literature & Novels

Read Moby-Dick, Huckleberry Finn, Little Women, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Scarlet Letter, The Red Badge of Courage, Ethan Frome, The Call of the Wild, The Secret Garden, and dozens of other classics from American literature and around the world. Featured 25 Great American Novels.

Classic Books & Novels