Crime Stories by David Belbin et al.

Evans Publishing, 2009. ISBN 9780237536183
Sci-Fi Stories by Mary Chapman et al, Evans Publishing, 2009. ISBN 9780232536190
(Ages 10+) These two small books (about 60 pages long) each has 4 short stories along the theme of the book. Each story is written by one of the authors on the cover, and each story is written in large type face, with a clear, easily read font. The stories are easy read, will provoke discussion in a class room, but are equally easy to digest if reading alone. They are part of a series of books called Shades Shorts and will fill a niche for those students who want something thin to read.
The first story in Sci-Fi Stories will intrigue. It tells of a hated teacher, showing the students a chimaera in a tank in the science laboratory. Told that it had no feelings the boys realise that it shuns the teacher as much as they. There are hints of a society removed form ours, when the teacher hits the students with an electric shock to demand their attention.
Each of the stories is easily absorbed, and will fit the bill for those students seeking them out, providing a quick read, and possibly a template for writing their own. Fran Knight