Festooned with daisies, an orange-and-yellow-striped bus with bee wings attached to its top and a license plate that reads “HOP2IT” pulls up to the corner on a rainy spring day. Who is the driver? A dapper bunny, of course. Mills’ text breaks into a familiar tune: “One hoppity bus goes SPLISH and SPLASH, / SPLISH […]
This freewheeling tour of human history and psychic life—by a professor of political science at the University of Chicago—invites us to think about our inner beings. The human “self” is no real thing out there, Oliver argues, but rather a complex construction of social, religious, and political institutions. The ancient Greek dictum, “know thyself,” really […]
First, Auntie honors the animal’s sacrifice with a blessing. “Now it’s time to scrape till our hands are raw. After that a good soak and we stretch, pull, tug!” Debut author Iceberg (Aleut/Alutiiq) writes with deceptive simplicity; her lively text flows beautifully, setting an energetic pace and capturing the exuberance of the participants. Earthy details […]
The illustrated sections in this compilation are prefaced by densely detailed publication histories and analytical essays, making this work feel aimed at older fans and collectors of vintage comics. Still, kids will enjoy following the miserly mega-tycoon into and out of pickles with crooks or unscrupulous rivals—particularly as his feckless feathered nephew, Donald, and canny […]
Unfortunately, none of the dogs and cats at the animal shelter feel quite right. Leo is searching for something special, maybe even magical. At a lively open-air market, Leo and his older brother, Rey, are drawn to a vendor selling fantastical, brightly colored creatures—combinations of different animals in dazzling hues. The brown-skinned shopkeeper explains that […]
There are any number of reasons why people prefer pat formulas—get tough on offenders, keep an eye out for broken windows—over science when addressing crime. Science is hard. Yet nonscientific outcomes are, as social scientists say, suboptimal. In the vein of Freakonomics, Doleac turns to scientific method to test a number hypotheses, arguing, “I…see a […]
Lia arrives at Anhame, a crafthall for honing anar—the craft of people with “higher senses.” Lia is a fifth-level anar, meaning she has healing abilities. She can also see others’ inner soulforms, which represent people’s true nature (some take the shapes of animals). That alone puts her on the same level as Anhame’s masters, but […]
Aya awakens, steps out of her hut, and sits by the campfire with her grandparents for breakfast. It’s a special day. Today, Grandpa will take Aya into the forest to see a bear—a first for her. They mount their horses and make their way through the woods, keenly aware of indicators of the shifting seasons, […]
But Michael is in prison on Governors Island, their father is institutionalized at a psychiatric center, and Jonah has just been released from juvenile detention. His drawing skills earn him a spot at Harlem Heights’ High School of Music and Art, the chance of a lifetime for a boy from the South Bronx. At M […]
In the opening story, “Christmas Holiday, 1945,” a veteran returning home to Chicago after Germany’s surrender prepares to meet the wife he hasn’t seen in two years. Upon arriving in America, he visits his sister, Edith, a nun who’s about to embark on a missionary voyage to China. In “The Visit,” a man named Rob […]