Summary

“Suffer the Little Children” by Stephen King tells the story of Miss Emily Sidley, who is a school teacher. She is feared by the children and known for her ability to know exactly what the children are doing behind her back.

As she teaches spelling to third-grade children she notices in the reflection of her glasses that one of the boys, Robert, looks strange and distorted. However, when she turns to the class, the boy looks perfectly normal. She asks him to spell out a word and is irritated by the boy’s smugness. As she continues her class she senses that the boy keeps staring at her.

That evening, Miss Sidley reflects on what she saw; she cannot make sense of it and during the night she has nightmares about Robert. The next day, she is asked by Mr Hanning to replace the toilet paper in the girl’s bathroom and hears two girls talking and laughing about her reaction to Robert’s attitude. When she wants to scold them, she sees their shadows turning ...