Seven lovely short stories centered around the holidays, each funny, warm and a gem! A favorite of parents and teachers! ++++Funny short stories For teens And kids (and parents, too!): A humorous short story collection! ++++ ++++List of stories:++++ ++++ What The Fat Boy With Bad Skin Got In His Stocking ++++ ++++ The Iron Toys Make A New Year's Resolution ++++ ++++ How Maria Got Extra Hours At Taco Bell ++++ ++++ The Metal Horse Learns Spanglish ++++ ++++ A Christmas Tree Grows In Oregon ++++ ++++ The Boy Who Got Lost In The Airport ++++ ++++ How Amy (and Bellissima) Got Their Red Nails ++++ ++++ From "How Maria Got Extra Hours At Taco Bell": ++++ ++++Whenever Elvira was at work, Maria noticed that all of the workers soon appeared to lose height, and one or two of the older guys became hunchbacked. The other girls frowned like their grandmothers. Older women grimaced from lower back pain. Tomatoes whitened, and customers stole packets of salt. The heating vents emitted a smell exactly like that endured daily by the crows. Flies appeared in the kitchen and ankles swelled. ++++ ++++ From "The Iron Toys Make A New Year's Resolution": ++++ ++++ One night, just two days after Christmas, Maggie got even. She leaned her whole horseshoe-shaped body against the side of the toy box and said, "Here comes the force, people, prepare to be dazzled!" And Maggie's magnetic powers were felt inside the toy box by each and every iron toy, and they began to move up the side of the box, with the cap gun on top, and the other iron toys below it, with larger toys attached one by one and smaller toys attached two by two. The wood and tin toys did not feel a thing, and, in any event, the wood and the tin toys were asleep. ++++ ++++ "That's curious," said the wizard, "we are moving. It must be that the little boy knows a special trick." ++++ ++++ From "The Metal Horse Learns Spanglish": ++++ ++++ "My parents were deported," said Emilio. "I live with a lady now who eats my candy." ++++ ++++ "That is no good," said the metal horse. ++++ ++++ "She also eats my sardines," said Emilio. ++++ ++++ "That, too, is bad," said the metal horse. "If it would make you feel better, you can ride me." ++++ ++++ Chestnut was a real beauty, and lived on a white mansion on a hill; she had a big red bow on her tail and a smaller one at the top of her head. Chestnut said that she had never seen a horse made of metal before, even in books, and she offered Emilio and the metal horse cups of strong coffee. Then she spoke to the metal horse. ++++ ++++ "Before flying a thousand miles in the rain and snow, you should have looked me up on Facebook, and you would have learned that I am engaged to be married. And you would have seen pictures of my engagement ring," Chestnut said. ++++ Emilio and the metal horse looked down at Chestnut's front left hoof, and indeed, it was surrounded by a silver ring the size of a huge donut with a diamond on the ring the size of a walnut. ++++ ++++ Later that Christmas morning, the shoulders of the metal horse shook gently and nuts and bolts collected around his hooves. "I am destined to remain single forever," he said. "Let's go back to Oregon," the metal horse said to Emilio, "I will live as a neglected statue in the park and that's all she wrote. Anyway, no hollow horse should expect to marry a real horse." ++++ ++++ From "A Christmas Tree Grows In Oregon": ++++ IN THE TIMES OF THE Americans, they grew a giant garden called Oregon, but there were no flowers. Instead, Oregon is made of trees - the locals call them fir trees, even getting all chummy and calling them by their first names, for they are all named Douglas. ++++

The Metal Horse Learns Spanglish: And Other Holiday Stories

Literature & Fiction

Cunningham, Jerry

Humor & Satire

Rogue River Books

The Way of the Cross - a meditation on Jesus' passion and death using hands as visual inspiration

James V. Wisnewski

Learn to Lead with Love

Robert W. Siegel Jr.

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Rogue River Books publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Rogue River Books