Let's be real: teens are busy. Between school, sports, social lives, and yes, their phones, finding time to commit to a full novel can feel impossible. Short stories offer a way in—they're low-commitment but high-impact. A teen can read one story before bed, discuss it at lunch the next day, and move on to something completely different the following night.

Plus, anthologies are discovery engines. Your teen might pick up a collection for one author they know and end up finding three new favorites. It's like a literary sampler platter, and for teens who are still figuring out their reading tastes, that variety is invaluable.

This is the big one. The Collectors, edited by A.S. King, won the 2024 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature—basically the highest honor in YA lit. The premise is deceptively simple: ten acclaimed YA authors each wrote a story about collecting something personal.

What makes it work is that "collecting" becomes a metaphor for everything teens are grappling with—identity, memory, trauma, obsession, belonging. The stories range from realistic to surreal, and the lineup includes powerhouses like M.T. Anderson, Jason Reynolds, and David Levithan. These aren't safe, sanitized tales. They push boundaries, get weird, and trust teens to keep up.

Ages: 14+ (some stories deal with mature themes)

If your teen is looking for something literary that still feels relevant and engaging, start here. This is the collection that proves YA short fiction can be just as ambitious and artful as anything adults are reading.

If your teen loves horror (and honestly, what teen doesn't?), there are two standout collections from the past year that deserve attention.

The title alone tells you this anthology isn't here to play. The White Guy Dies First features 13 horror stories by authors of color that deliberately flip the script on tired genre tropes. You know how in every horror movie, the Black character dies first? Yeah, not here.

These stories tackle racism, mental health, power dynamics, and systemic oppression—all while delivering genuinely scary, well-crafted horror. It's the kind of collection that works on multiple levels: entertaining as hell, but also making teens think about who gets to be the hero, who gets to survive, and why those narratives matter.

Ages: 14+ (horror content, some violence)

This collection of 15 stories centers Black girls as protagonists facing both supernatural threats and real-world horrors. The stories range from psychological thrillers to full-on monster tales, but what ties them together is that Black girls get to be complex, scared, brave, powerful, and fully human.

For Black teen readers, it's a chance to see themselves as the main character in a genre that has historically sidelined them. For all readers, it's an education in how horror can be a lens for examining social realities while still being absolutely terrifying.

Ages: 13+ (varies by story)

One of the best things about the recent wave of YA anthologies is how many are centering specific cultural perspectives and reimagining familiar stories.

Classic stories—fairy tales, myths, familiar narratives—get completely reimagined with Latinx protagonists and cultural contexts. It's not just representation for representation's sake; these retellings often reveal how much the "universal" stories we've been told are actually pretty culturally specific. Seeing them remixed makes teens question whose stories get told and whose get left out.

Ages: 12+

Faerie stories from a range of genders and cultures, this anthology expands the fantasy genre beyond the usual European folklore. If your teen loves fantasy but is tired of the same medieval England aesthetic, this collection offers fresh takes on magic, mythology, and the fae from perspectives that rarely get mainstream attention.

Ages: 12+

For teens in that 16-18 range who are thinking about life after high school, there are two collections that capture the specific anxieties and excitement of that transition.

Freshman year is terrifying and exhilarating and lonely and overwhelming, often all at once. Study Break captures that emotional whiplash through 11 stories that follow different characters through their first year of college. It's relatable in the best way—your teen will recognize the feelings even if the specifics are different.

Ages: 15+

This collection focuses on high school juniors navigating identity, romance, academic pressure, and the looming question of "what comes next?" It's less about college itself and more about that specific year when everything feels both possible and terrifying.

Ages: 16+

Selected by Celeste Ng, this year's Best American Short Stories isn't technically YA—it's adult literary fiction. But for teens who are strong readers and ready for more complex, challenging work, it's an incredible showcase of what the short story form can do.

Fair warning: these stories aren't always "appropriate" in the traditional sense. There's adult content, mature themes, and literary ambition that doesn't always resolve neatly. But for a 16- or 17-year-old who's ready to read what adults are reading, this is the gold standard.

Ages: 16+ (advanced readers)

If you want to go deeper, BookRiot's 2025 Ultimate Guide to YA Short Stories is constantly updated with new releases, online story links, and reader recommendations. It's basically a living document of what's worth reading in YA short fiction right now.

Your local library is also sitting on a goldmine. Many of these collections are available digitally through apps like Libby or Hoopla, which means your teen can sample a few stories before committing to checking out the physical book.

Most of these collections span a range of maturity levels within the same book—some stories will be fine for 12-year-olds, others are clearly meant for older teens. The good news is that short story collections make it easy to preview. Read a story or two yourself, or have your teen start with one and report back.

General guidelines:

That said, you know your teen best. A mature 13-year-old might be ready for The Collectors, while a 16-year-old who doesn't love horror should probably skip The White Guy Dies First.

Short story collections are lower-risk than novels. If your teen hates one story, they can skip to the next. If they love one author, you can find that author's full-length work. It's a format that encourages exploration without pressure.

That said, anthologies—especially the horror and culturally specific ones—often tackle heavy themes. Racism, trauma, mental health, identity struggles, systemic oppression—these aren't light reads. But they're also exactly the kinds of stories that help teens process their own experiences and develop empathy for others.

If you're worried about content, flip through the table of contents and read a few opening pages. Most anthologies will give you a sense of their tone and subject matter pretty quickly. And honestly? Teens can handle more than we often give them credit for. If a story is too much, they'll put it down. But more often, they'll find something that resonates deeply and want to talk about it.

The short story renaissance in YA is real, and it's producing some of the most exciting, diverse, and literarily ambitious work in the genre. Whether your teen is a reluctant reader who needs something bite-sized or a voracious bookworm looking for variety, there's an anthology here that will work.

Start with The Collectors if you want award-winning literary quality. Go with The White Guy Dies First if your teen loves horror with substance. Try Latinx Remix or Untold Legends if they're hungry for stories that center cultures beyond the usual YA defaults.

And if your teen finishes one and wants more? That's the beauty of anthologies—there's always another collection waiting, and each one opens up new worlds, voices, and possibilities. Explore more book recommendations for teens or find alternatives to their current reading list.