First Day

by Seth Fried

A well-meaning dad frets because his fifth-grade daughter dresses as Dracula for the first day of school in this funny short tale. Haunted by his own memories of childhood insecurity, he nervously awaits the call from school.

Seth Fried, a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, is a recurring contributor to The New Yorker's Shouts & Murmurs and NPR's Selected Shorts. He is also the author of the novel The Municipalists, available now on Audible.

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Audible Audio

Published September 2, 2022

About the author

Seth Fried is a recurring contributor to The New Yorker’s “Shouts and Murmurs” and NPR’s “Selected Shorts.” His writing has also appeared in Tin House, One Story, Electric Literature, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, Vice, and many others. His short stories have been anthologized in the 2011 and 2013 Pushcart Prize Anthologies as well as The Better of McSweeney’s Vol 2. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his fiancée and their two goldfish.

Reviews

[Valerie Book Valkyrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another 5 Star MicroFiction Story from Seth Fried via audible.
The author's daughter wears her favorite outfit on her first day of school spawning results wildly unexpected by her father as he reminisces about his own first-day-of-school experience provoked by his choice of attire!
This is my second microfiction-listen written by Seth Fried; he seems to be a master of the six-minute story. I'll be looking for more by him 💛🧚‍♀️🙋🏼👍.

[Landa · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

[Lynn Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars ✨ my heart just grew several sizes ☺️ This was absolutely precious!

[Ronie Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

adorable

[Makenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened on Audible to help me sleep. Cute story :)

[TheCornerReads aka Libby (Libs) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful book about the first day at school 🏫

[Bruce Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a poem of love and affection written in the form of prose.

[Ashley O'shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened with my 3rd grader and she really liked it!

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parenting as a way of healing childhood trauma.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, dad, the wold has changed since you were in fifth grade!

[Debi Ruryk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute short story.

[Dkolacinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly rlihtful tale of a fifth grade girl who attendin a new school goes ddressed as Dracula.

[olive · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olive is a queen! We should all think like kids sometimes, without worries and with complete freedom to express ourselves.

[Jenni Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story.The audible version is great with the voices. it's a quick, fun listen

[John Remedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and fun.

[prettysureannereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a mom, this is so precious and relatable. We always have fears for our kids that roots back to our own childhood, and we forget that time's are actually changing.

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short story about the first day of school.