Why we love short stories

As National short story week comes to an end, we look at some of our favourites and ask for your pick of tiny tales
Straight to the point ... Michael Morpurgo's Letter to Carlos says it all in ten pages Photograph: Erhan Dayi /Alamy

With National Short story week drawing to a close, we thought we'd examine why we love these bite-sized tales so much...

From Roald Dahl's The Upside Down Mice to Guess by Philippa Pearce, short stories are wonderful. Some give you an idea to think about, or a joke to laugh at. Some are like poems. And some are fiction's answer to a doll's house, with a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedrooms, just like a real thing but a fraction of the size. Or a toy bus, with seats, a steering wheel and windows, a tiny version of the ones we ride on. Small but perfectly formed.

This is what I love about them: their ability to to give us everything we expect in a novel, but in the time it takes between tea and bed or for the doctor to call your name in the waiting room. They are able to suck you into another world as quickly as they spit you back out. They can have a beginning, a middle and an end, with characters that you'll love and ones you'll hate. They can make you laugh or cry, scared or shocked. Sometimes they can be even more powerful than a normal book, as their concentrated form will make you really think about what is being said.

Michael Morpurgo's Letter for Carlos tells us about the letter a boy receives on his tenth birthday from his father, who died in the Falklands war. In the ten pages of the story you feel sad and happy, you see the strength of love from a father, and how horrible and unnecessary war can be. He doesn't need to write any longer because he says everything he needs to in this small space. Without pages and pages of writing, we can focus on how Carlos and his father would have felt, and how you feel after reading it.

Their size can make them easier to digest, too, than a big book. My brother finds reading hard and it was the Michael Rosen's Fantastically Funny Stories that helped him see how wonderful books are. From a gorilla in a sandwich to a painted yellow crocodile with no tail, Michael Rosen uses short stories to create hilarious tales that you can read at your own pace.

What is it that you like about short stories? And which ones would you recommend to a friend. Let us know by emailing us at childrens.books@guardian.co.uk

Your recommendations:

My favourite short story collections for children are The Goalkeeper's Revenge (a real gem) and My Naughty Little Sister (Shirley Hughes)