Short StoryVerses

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Channel • 5 Shows

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Updated 11/26/2025
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Updated 11/26/2025
Stories for Kids

Stories for Kids

Updated 11/13/2025

12/22/2025

The Boy with the Box – A Classic Christmas Story by Mary Griggs Van Voorhis

First published in 1905, “The Boy with the Box” is a gentle Christmas story about childhood pride, unexpected generosity, and the quiet ways kindness reshapes a heart. It captures a winter world of skates and shop windows, family love and small sacrifices—where the true gift arrives not in a box, but in understanding. Mary Griggs Van Voorhis (1876–1938) was an American writer whose short stories often focused on children, family life, and moments of quiet moral awakening. Writing in the early twentieth century, she was known for her warm realism and her ability to find emotional truth in everyday scenes. Her work appeared widely in magazines of the era and remains admired for its gentle humanity and timeless perspective. If you enjoyed this story, please check out the rest the Season's Reading catalog of holiday tales. You can also find a multiverse of classic and original short stories of various genres at shortstoryverses.com Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/22/2025

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20 min
5D AGO

Uncle Richard's New Year Dinner – A Classic Short Story by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Uncle Richard’s New Year Dinner is a tender, early-20th-century family story about estrangement, reconciliation, and the quiet power of kindness. Set over the course of a single winter evening, it explores how long-standing rifts are rarely healed by grand speeches—but sometimes by a warm stove, a shared table, and a willingness to begin again. It’s a story of kindness, humanity, and hope that arrives without ceremony. Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) was a Canadian author best known for her enduring novel Anne of Green Gables. Writing with warmth, wit, and deep emotional intelligence, Montgomery captured the inner lives of ordinary people and the quiet dramas of home, family, and belonging. Her stories often found beauty in small moments and believed—without sentimentality—that kindness, imagination, and patience could heal even long-held wounds. Though her work is rooted in a specific place and time, its emotional truths remain timeless. If you love short stories, explore our multiverse of timeless tales at shortstoryverses.com Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5d ago

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11 min
12/16/2025

On Christmas Day in the Morning – A Classic Christmas Story by Grace S. Richmond

On Christmas Day in the Morning is a story about family—not as it is imagined, but as it is lived—and the gifts that arrive without wrapping. It was written with music already echoing between its lines. The traditional song of the same name appears directly in the story, assumed to be familiar to its original readers. For this performance, the music is included not as embellishment, but as part of the text itself— the way it may have lived in the reader’s mind when the story was first published. Grace S. Richmond (1866–1959) was an American novelist and short-story writer whose work focused on family life, personal responsibility, and the quiet moral decisions that shape ordinary people. A frequent contributor to publications such as The Ladies’ Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, Richmond was widely read in the early 20th century. Her Christmas stories, in particular, favored restraint over sentimentality—using the holiday as a setting for reflection, reconciliation, and emotional truth. Her fiction was written to be shared, remembered, and reread—often aloud, and often at Christmas. “I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)” Traditional English carol Performed by Matt Norris & the Moon Audio sourced from Wikimedia Commons Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (CC BY 3.0) Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/16/2025

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37 min
12/11/2025

The Santaverse – An Original Christmas Story by Don McDonald

BE AWARE: This is a family-friendly work of speculative fiction that asks: what if Santa Claus were something far stranger, and more wonderful, than we ever imagined? THose looking for a traditional Santa story may be disappointed. In Santaverse, a brilliant researcher completes a quantum experiment that opens a door she never meant to find. What begins as a scientific breakthrough quickly turns into something stranger—and far more personal. On the other side of the connection is a presence that shouldn’t exist, a figure woven from equal parts myth, memory, and physics. And once contact is made, nothing in her world—or any world—stays simple. Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/11/2025

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26 min
12/02/2025

The Burglar's Christmas – A Classic Christmas Story by Elizabeth L. Seymour

The Burglar’s Christmas is Willa Cather’s deeply human Christmas tale—published under the pseudonym Elizabeth L. Seymour—about a young man who has utterly failed in life and reached the end of his rope on a slushy Chicago Christmas Eve. Hungry, cold, and convinced he has squandered every opportunity he ever had, he turns to theft as a last act of survival. But the home he slips into isn’t just any home. It’s the place where his past—and his pain—wait in the shadows. What follows is a moving story of recognition, forgiveness, and the kind of unconditional love that can pull even the most broken soul back from the brink. Cather’s tale blends realism with emotional clarity, delivering a Christmas story that avoids sentimentality while celebrating the deepest meaning of the season: the moment when grace replaces despair, and a prodigal child returns to the arms that never stopped waiting. Willa Cather (1873–1947) was one of America’s finest novelists, best known for My Ántonia, O Pioneers!, and Death Comes for the Archbishop. Early in her career she wrote under the pen name Elizabeth L. Seymour, producing short stories and sketches that revealed her gift for capturing human frailty and quiet courage. The Burglar’s Christmas, first published in 1896, shows her emerging voice—clear, empathetic, and profoundly attuned to the inner lives of ordinary people. This episode is part of Short Storyverses, a storytelling universe of classic tales, original fiction, children’s adventures, and holiday stories. Explore them all at ShortStoryverses.com. Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/02/2025

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29 min
12/18/2025

The Star – An Original Short, Short Christmas Story by Don McDonald

This is a special Christmas bonus episode for Season's Readings listeners. Frank has reasons for not decorating anymore. Christmas is quieter now. Darker. Easier to ignore. Then a new neighbor moves in next door—six years old, endlessly curious. What starts as a simple conversation turns into a small act of defiance against grief, routine, and the belief that some lights, once turned off, should stay that way. The Star is a gentle story about unexpected persuasion, borrowed wonder, and how the smallest voices sometimes know exactly where the switch is. If you enjoy short stories, there are dozens more just waiting to be heard on the Short Storyverses channel or at shortstoryverses.com Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/18/2025

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4 min
12/09/2025

A Chaparral Christmas Gift - Classic Western Christmas Story by O. Henry

Out on the western chaparral, Christmas doesn’t soften the land so much as sharpen what’s already waiting there—old grudges, old loves, and old wounds that never healed quite right. Madison Lane and Rosita McMullen have built a life together in the years since their wedding was interrupted by a jealous suitor… and a bullet. But Christmas Eve has a long memory in the Frio country, and something—or someone—may be riding back through the brush. O. Henry’s tale unfolds with warmth, tension, and a frontier kind of mercy that arrives in a shape no one expects. Chaparral Christmas was written by O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), the American master of the gently-twisted tale. Known for his frontier characters, ironic turns, and deep affection for ordinary people under pressure, Porter captured both the humor and the heartbreak of American life at the turn of the 20th century. This story reflects his gift for revealing unexpected kindness in the harshest of places. Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/09/2025

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14 min
11/25/2025

The Purple Dress – A Classic Holiday Story by O. Henry

O. Henry often found the heart of a story in the everyday moments most people overlook. The Purple Dress is one of those pieces — a small, vivid glimpse into life in early-1900s New York, told with his familiar mix of humor, warmth, and gentle surprise. William Sydney Porter, or O. Henry, wrote more than six hundred short stories marked by humor, warmth, and his famous twist endings. His work captures the daily lives of ordinary Americans — especially the clerks and shopgirls of early-20th-century New York — with compassion and insight. About Short Storyverses This story appears as part of Short Storyverses, a collection of storytelling podcasts for every mood: Explore them all at ShortStoryverses.com. Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11/25/2025

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10 min
11/14/2025

Christmas at Red Butte – a Classic Christmas Story by Lucy Maud Montgomery

On a cold prairie Christmas Eve, a small family waits for something more than presents: the return of a brother who left home to seek his own way. Christmas at Red Butte is a gentle, reflective story about hope, forgiveness, and the way love can knit together what once felt lost. It’s the kind of tale that reminds us that even in the quiet corners of winter, miracles still find their way home. Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) was a Canadian writer best known for Anne of Green Gables and its many sequels. Growing up on Prince Edward Island, she drew deeply from its landscapes, communities, and family ties to create stories filled with emotional richness and keen observations of everyday life. Her work has remained beloved for more than a century, cherished for its humor, humanity, and enduring warmth. Discover more stories like this at ShortStoryverses.com. Season’s Readings is just one corner of the Short Storyverses Multiverse, created for anyone who enjoys a thoughtful pause and a well-told tale. You can explore the rest of the multiverse at shortstoryverses.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11/14/2025

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18 min
5D AGO

Uncle Richard’s New Year Dinner – A Classic Short Story by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Uncle Richard’s New Year Dinner is a tender, early-20th-century family story about estrangement, reconciliation, and the quiet power of kindness. Set over the course of a single winter evening, it explores how long-standing rifts are rarely healed by grand speeches—but sometimes by a warm stove, a shared table, and a willingness to begin again. It’s a story of kindness, humanity, and hope that arrives without ceremony. Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) was a Canadian author best known for her enduring novel Anne of Green Gables. Writing with warmth, wit, and deep emotional intelligence, Montgomery captured the inner lives of ordinary people and the quiet dramas of home, family, and belonging. Her stories often found beauty in small moments and believed—without sentimentality—that kindness, imagination, and patience could heal even long-held wounds. Though her work is rooted in a specific place and time, its emotional truths remain timeless. If you love short stories, explore our multiverse of timeless tales at shortstoryverses.com We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5d ago

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11 min

Welcome to the Short Storyverses — timeless short stories, both classic and new. All narrated by voice actor, Don McDonald. Explore our universes of fiction, fables, and flights of fancy for all ages. Inside, you’ll find five distinct realms: • Litreading — timeless classics brought to life with rich narration • Readastorus — playful, imaginative stories for kids (hosted by a story-loving dinosaur, of course) • New Tales Told — brand-new original tales echoing the spirit of classic literature • Season’s Readings — warm, evocative holiday stories celebrating the history and heart of the season all year long • FRIGHTLY! — classic and original tales of dread, mystery, and the uncanny, all delivered with atmospheric, late-night charm Whether you crave the familiar, the fantastical, the fearsome, or the freshly imagined, the Short Storyverse is your passport to powerful storytelling — one short episode at a time.

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