WDCS133 'The Hooky Players'

WDCS178 'Duelling Neighbours'

WDCS126 'The Cyclone Money Crib'

This is by far the largest group of them all, as the majority of the stories contain several themes. Take for instance Barks' hooky stories (see more HERE). The nephews evade school, Donald pursues them, and in the end everything comes together. Although we tend to hope the nephews get away with their desire for freedom, we do also acknowledge Donald's parental problems, and the moral end result is always one that everybody can accept.
Barks occasionally let his stories flow along familiar lines such as relationships, neighbours, jobs, and travels, but he would most often add something extraordinary to ensure that his underlying intentions got through to his young readers. For instance, he once had the Ducks move to a quiet neighbourhood in order to escape noise. On the surface the story is pure cartoonish slapstick, when Donald immediately starts a noise war with his neighbour, but the bout is a result of simple misunderstandings which are depicted in a clearly outlined graphic way. Surely children are able to grasp how you should conduct yourself in order to avoid such catastrophic escalations.
Barks would sometimes 'educate' the young reader in subtle and understated ways. He made multiple stories, in which children are enlightened as to how the society works. Most famous is presumably his money crib story, where children (and parents for that matter) get an easily understandable introduction to the basic teachings of economics.

WDCS070 'The Smugsnorkle Squattie'

WDCS185 'Food Resolutions'

FC0408 The Golden Helmet

Although his overall character was fairly well established Barks would sometimes rock our perception of Donald as being just Mr. Average - but with an unlucky streak. Barks often portrayed Donald spanning from a penniless nobody to a thoughtless bungler to a master in highly skilled jobs, and his moods changed from being a helpful soul to a stubborn ignoramus to a highly temperamental volcano. But he was much more faceted. Here are three more, less portrayed, layers to Donald's personality:
In WDCS070 'The Smugsnorkle Squattie' he has a touch of snobbery in his genes: Why go for a common and happy dog, when you can buy a posh and haughty one with a pedigree? Donald's snobbishness was also exhibited in WDCS091 'Monkey Party', in which he was sucking up to Duckburg's elite.
In WDCS185 'Food Resolutions' Donald had no problems cheating his nephews, as he calmly read their secret New Year's vow and acted against it. He also cheated them in WDCS186 'Duelling Ice Taxies' when he jealously sabotaged their new invented moneymaker, a homemade ice taxi.
In FC0408 The Golden Helmet Donald suffers from megalomania, a flaw in his character where he attempts a role that in reality is out of his league - being King of North America. In WDCS068 'High-flying Plans' Donald tries to be the greatest kite flyer in the entire world - without having a clue as how to go about it...

U$34 Mythic Mystery

WDCS204 'A Nosy Job'

WDCS169 'Playing Hooky'

An important aspect of a story is that the presence of one or more characters is not only justified but also brings the plot forward thus adding an extra layer. Barks was, of course, very aware of this technical issue, but a few times he sinned against the unwritten rules:
In U$34 Mythic Mystery Donald's presence was really not required! He had nothing to do, and he did not contribute to the plot. All the actions are taken care of by Scrooge and partly the nephews, while Donald rests. And in FC0328 In Old California!, Donald was mostly dallying around as an observer to the goings on. The minimum of action he was involved in could easily have been carried out by his nephews.
In two stories Barks let Grandma be a tiny and dispensable part of the plotlines. In both of them she is merely serving as a listener in the start and in the end (U$GTD 'The Fantastic River Race' and U$32 That's No Fable!). Daisy was guest starring the same way in several stories; WDCS146 'Omelet' and WDCS204 'A Nosy Job' are examples.
It is fairly astounding that Barks on rare occasions 'managed' to produce whole pages or sequences which, in reality, had no other missions than to serve as fillers, i.e. they could easily be omitted without it having any influence on neither plot nor story! One example came in the 10-pager chase story in WDCS169 'Playing Hooky', in which Donald is trying to catch up with the nephews who are on the run in order not to go to school. In the story you may well skip the whole page 2 without missing anything important. Try it...

U$66 The Heedless Horseman

U$54 The Billion Dollar Safari

WDCS187 'The Successor Story'

It has often been stated that Barks' stories are out of the ordinary, because they have so many ingredients and are made with such cleverness that none of his contemporaries were able to dream up stories of the same versatility and eloquence. And still Barks continued along new lines! For instance, many of his stories run on different levels adding to their complexity and fascination:
In U$66 The Heedless Horseman Barks manages to let the entire story unfold as two separate events and actions; Scrooge and the Ducks work on a horse race, while the Beagle Boys work on a new explosive. At no time the two groups meet, in fact, they do not even know of each other's existence!
In U$54 The Billion Dollar Safari two groups also work individually, although they know of each other's existence and occasionally meet. They are Scrooge and the Ducks up against Gladstone. Both parties are frantically trying to find a special type of elephant.
In WDCS187 'The Successor Story' we also follow two plotlines. The Ducks and Gladstone pursue their individual goals in separate series of actions; the Ducks try to manage a featherbed factory, while Gladstone tries to manage a house moving company. Neither of the groups meet except briefly in the beginning.

WDCS167 'The Salmon Contest'

WDCS073 'The Elusive Watch'

WDCS066 'The Fishing Expert'

Barks was a master in piecing together stories that ended with an unexpected plotline layer (see more HERE):
The unlucky Donald and the lucky Gladstone had numerous run-ins for many different reasons, but Gladstone normally ended up the winner. So it is all the more surprising when we witness Donald drawing the longest straw despite overwhelming odds. For example, in FC0263 Trail of the Unicorn, WDCS103 'The Maharajah's Ruby', and WDCS167 'The Salmon Contest' he managed to drive home in style from bouts despite having been severely beaten all of the way.
In WDCS073 'The Elusive Watch' Donald goes crazy trying to figure out what utterly strange events have befallen his gold watch. The plotline in WDCS050 'The Elusive Dime' was a similar one with a highly surprising ending.
In WDCS066 'The Fishing Expert' Donald claims to be an expert on ice fishing, but he goes from bad luck to calamities to catastrophes trying to catch one fish, while the nephews catch plenty of fish. Finally, they catch the elusive fish for him without any trouble at all. Donald marches off mumbling.