The Good Deed by Marion Dane Bauer — Review

"The Good Deed" by Marion Dane Bauer is a short story about a young girl named Heather who feels lonely during her summer vacation. To pass the time, she decides to do a good deed by helping an elderly neighbor, Mrs. Brown, with her garden. At first, Heather thinks the task is simple, but she soon learns that Mrs. Brown doesn’t really want help pulling weeds—she wants company and someone to share stories with.

Heather discovers that a good deed isn’t just about hard work; it’s about caring and listening to someone else.

Here is the link to the text of the story:
http://lswaney.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/5/9/15593462/the_good_deed_text.pdf

Tuesday of the Other June by Norma Fox Mazer — Review

"Tuesday of the Other June" by Norma Fox Mazer is a story about the slow, suffocating experience of school bullying. The plot follows a gentle girl named June who is tormented every week at swim class by another girl who shares her name. The bully’s tactics—cruel nicknames, shoves, and public humiliation—are painfully realistic, and the protagonist’s decision to endure in silence to protect her loving mother will resonate with any reader who has ever felt small or trapped. 

The turning point occurs not at school or the pool, but at June’s own doorstep, when the bully threatens her sense of safety and family. June’s explosive, raw shout of "NO!" is a moment of pure, earned liberation. It is not presented as a magic solution to all her problems, but as a critical first step in reclaiming her voice and her identity.

 

https://teacherspondering.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/tuesday-of-the-other-june.pdf

Spar by Kij Johnson — Review

“Spar” by Kij Johnson is a short, strange, and powerful science fiction story. It imagines a human woman trapped alone in a tiny, broken spaceship with an alien being. They cannot talk to each other and have nothing in common. The story is not about romance or pleasure, but about the raw, ugly struggle to stay alive and the weird connection that forms between two completely different creatures in a hopeless place.

This is a difficult but memorable read. Johnson uses very simple, direct language to describe a situation that feels both lonely and claustrophobic. The story makes you think about what communication and intimacy really mean.

Here is the text of the story:

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johnson_10_09/

Sitting straight and smiling by Anna Davis — Review

This very short story by Anna Davis is like a sharp, funny snapshot of a feeling everyone knows. It shows a single moment where a woman is trapped in a boring business meeting. The whole plot is her struggle to keep a polite face while her body rebels. Her smile hurts, her neck is stiff, and the man talking to her becomes a blur of annoying motions and bad breath. The story’s power is in how it turns an ordinary, awkward situation into something almost surreal, comparing the speaker to a "dying fish."

The story is a perfect bite-sized commentary on modern work life. There is no big event or twist, just the quiet violence of having to pretend you’re okay. The title, “Sitting Straight and Smiling,” is the whole plot and the main conflict. It’s about the mask we wear to be professional, even when we’re screaming inside. You finish reading it in a minute, but it sticks with you because it’s so true—a clever and relatable piece about the small tortures of being polite.

Here is the text if the story:

https://short-stories.co/@anna/sitting-straight-and-smiling-pqkln97yyz24