In this short, somewhat whimsical tale, two very different men meet in a ward for patients with mental illness: a short Jewish man named Josh with a brown beard, and Nick,a big-bellied fellow with white whiskers. Josh was just committed by paramedics because he was found wandering in traffic after breaking up with his boyfriend; […]
At a point in ancient history “before time,” a nameless young girl travels to the ruins of a great sphinx. She arrives in this place somewhat magically, “as if the wind had carried her from a golden palace far away.” The girl does not behave like a child. She appears to have wisdom that is […]
Veteran film writer McBride clearly esteems Cukor’s “rich, multifaceted, deeply personal” worldview as expressed in his oeuvre. He ascribes Cukor’s masterful conveyance of nuance in human behavior, of subtext, to the director’s own “double life”—Cukor’s outsider status as a “partially closeted” gay man, a son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. McBride appraises Cukor’s craft throughout his […]
Linden High student athletes must follow a strict code of conduct or face being benched or suspended. Varsity volleyball player Macy has been on the starting lineup all season, but after she injured her ankle, the coach moved new student Alliyah into the starting spot for the playoff matches. One evening after a game, Alliyah […]
Rowan James and her sisters, born with magical gifts, live in Caball Hollow, West Virginia, where the townspeople treat them with a mixture of awe and suspicion. Rowan has a special ability to smell lies, so she becomes confused when she can’t detect dishonesty where she expects to find it. This discovery leads her to […]
Wolfgang—a gray wolf with a large gray guitar case strapped against his red-jacketed back—puts up a poster on a tree: “WOLF SEEKS GANG to form a rock band…Let’s howl!” Wolfgang becomes increasingly disappointed when no one responds. Just as he’s about to tear down the sign, a white rabbit named Rex—clad in a dark jacket […]
Every Sunday, Martin, his parents, and his dog, Maize, go to his grandparents’ house. Every visit is the same; bored one day, Martin decides to “[step] out into the unknown.” In detailed, action-packed double-page spreads in muted colors, Martin and Maize trek across several landscapes, from the “freezing cold of ice caps” to the “baking […]
With their lives destabilized by war and a devastating sickness spreading, Sabel, who has “wood-coloured” skin, sits down with her family to share a last meal before leaving home. But instead of the family leaving together, Appa and Amma send the kids—Sabel, Reya, Theri, Verlane, and S’Jin—off on their own. After a turbulent and disorienting […]
The book opens with a scene of a newborn daughter, Eleanor, on a mother’s chest, with the grandparent speaker experiencing sympathy twinges in her own womb (“Grandmothers”). Another poem prays for infants in their “sheltering globes” in an intensive care unit, where “my first grandchild” was treated (“Neonatal ICU Prayer”). In “Alternate Reality,” set at […]
Ananda’s mother regales her with stories about how the river springs from a Himalayan glacier and is revered as a goddess. She tells her that the Ganga is “the greatest mother of all.” When Mamma falls ill, Ananda and her aunt travel to bathe in the Ganga’s healing waters and pray for her. As they […]