Each bi-annual volume presents vital information on approximately 20 of the most-studied short stories at the high school and early-college levels. Titles featured in vol. 1 of Short Stories for Students include:
"Araby" by James Joyce
"Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County" by Mark Twain
"Children of the Sea" by Edwidge Danticat
"Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving
"Eatonville Anthology" by Zora Neale Hurston
"Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez