An entertaining guide to some of the best short novels of all time looks at works from the eighteenth century to the present day, spanning multiple genres, cultures, and countries.

"One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia's mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community -- an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly...

"Two mice--one big and one small--have a terrible problem. Little Mouse is looking for a story--they're in a book, after all!--and Big Mouse has to admit the truth. The story is gone. And (gasp!) he ate it. That is not okay with Little Mouse, who is all ready to hear a story and will settle for nothing less."--Provided by publisher.

Clarisse, a street cat who loves books, finds a new home in the library as a read-aloud cat.

"When the world is brought to a standstill in the early days of a global pandemic, Etta Wilmont finds herself suddenly stranded in Kansas City. Desperate to secure a roof over her head, Etta crosses paths with Henry Logan, a lonely older man in need of a caretaker. His invitation for Etta to stay with him seems to be the solution to both their problems--and maybe the spontaneous adventure Etta's life has been missing. As Etta and Henry settle into...

Disappointed that the new class pet is just a hamster, Polly uses her magic book, Spell, to conjure up a more interesting pet--and than has to figure out how to resolve the resulting topsy turvy chaos.

"A young boy heads into the woods to read bedtime stories to vampires, witches, skeletons, and other kinds of monsters who have no one to help them to sleep"--

A scarecrow stood in the garden. Tall, proud, and smiling. Every day a girl brought her favorite books to the garden and she read to him. He heard tales of courage and of hope. And when she said, "The End," the scarecrow always felt a little bit taller and braver. Year after year, she came and she read to him. Until one spring, two different hands picked him up from the garden shed and placed him in the garden. He waited, but she didn't come to read...

"Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape"--

"A young teacher eager to change her students' lives with her books. An indigenous community with its own stories to share. And a great and dangerous serpent not to be underestimated. Set along the Amazon River, this stunningly illustrated story will spark lasting conversations about cross-cultural relationships, the importance of oral storytelling, and what it means to be a lifelong learner."--Page [4] of cover.