Short stories for kids

Short stories for kids that take five minutes or less to read: Rumpelstiltskin, The Frog Prince, The Gingerbread Man and Aesop’s fables.

Five minutes is enough for a whole tale, ending included. Every tale we have that fits in that time is here, from Perrault, Grimm and Andersen to the collectors who came later, along with Aesop’s fables. The list runs from the shortest to the longest.

They suit the evening when there are a few minutes left before lights out, or a child who wants to read one alone and get to the end before running out of steam. The shortest tales take about two minutes, and some of the fables just one.

Each shows its reading time up front, so nothing is guesswork. The length also differs by language, since the same tale runs longer in one than in another.