by Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett (This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage) ties together the 22 essays in These Precious Days in surprising ways, building to moving moments with layers of complexity.
In the opening piece, "Three Fathers," a photograph captures the author with her biological father and two stepfathers. Patchett's father recalls that Mike, her aspiring-writer stepfather, said to the other two men, "You know what she's doing, don't you? She's going to wait until the three of us are dead and then she's going to write
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by Amy Leach
With The Everybody Ensemble: Donkeys, Essays, and Other Pandemoniums, Amy Leach (Things That Are) takes readers on a playful, rigorous, mind-bending romp through human nature, the natural world, spirituality and more. Her perfectly singular voice sings the most surprising notes in an imaginative blend of silliness and seriousness.
This sophomore collection of 23 essays opens with the title piece, in which the narrator welcomes all 20 quintillion animals to the Everybody Ensemble. Leach glories in lists
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by Lee Wind, illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky
A community, inspired by a friend's show of support, acts in solidarity after a hate crime targets a Hanukkah celebration in this vibrant and compassionate picture book from Lee Wind and Paul O. Zelinsky.
Best friends and neighbors Isaac and Teresa have much in common, including their love of decorating for winter holidays. A bird's-eye view of their night-darkened neighborhood shows Isaac's house standing out: "On a block dressed up in Red and Green, one house shone Blue and White." Later that night, a stranger
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