The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of short stories to teach reading comprehension skill and reading motivation of EFL grade 11 Debark comprehensive Secondary and Preparatory School students. The participants of the study were two sections of grade 11 students which are divided into control (n=46) and experimental (n=48) students selected by convenient sampling techniques because the researcher samples those units that are available at the given time and respondents’ willingness to respond. At the beginning of the study, students took pre-test to identify students’ current level of understanding based on the concepts of the reading comprehension. A Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) containing 10 items on reading motivation was also conducted to measure the experimental groups' motivation before and after reading texts. Next the experimental group was given treatment on reading comprehension skill by using short stories for five weeks and then the two groups were given the post test. Using independent samples t-test and mean scores of groups on pre-post tests revealed that reading short story texts has positive effect on the reading comprehension of experimental students. Conducting the motivation questionnaire on the experimental group showed positive changes on reading of motivation. As the analysis of the students’ pre-test result showed, there was no significance difference in the students’ reading comprehension performance between experimental and control group before the treatment. However, there was a significant difference between those groups in their reading comprehension test achievement after treatment. The results of the questionnaire revealed that students had a positive attitude and interest towards the effect of short stories to improve their reading comprehension and the treatment given. Based on the findings of the study, it was suggested that short stories could be used primarily to support students’ language learning in general and reading comprehension lessons and reading comprehension motivation in particular. Language teachers could also use short stories to improve students’ reading comprehension and motivation to read.