Visual media, from comics to anime, interactive video games, and movies, are all ways of telling stories. The process of storytelling is similar, in many aspects, from one medium to another. Here the author, with thirty years’... Read More

“Will I like it?” Amada Irma, a young Mexican girl, asks herself. “Will I make new friends?” Young readers will relate to these questions, which exemplify the typical insecurities caused by the uncertainty of relocating to a new... Read More

Hannah is fourteen years old in 1866, living in the Utah territory. The story begins shortly after her mother and sister have died of diphtheria, and Hannah has assumed the home duties and primary care of her four younger siblings.... Read More

The author is one of the most significant jazz pianists still playing. His influences cast a wide net on the world of music. Classically trained, he is noted for his eclecticism. The same can be said of his writing: in addition to... Read More

Draper wanted to do to American blacks what Hitler did to the Jews. As a blue-blooded Harvard man and grandson of Kentucky’s largest slave owner, Draper had the wealth and connections to think he could make this happen. The author, a... Read More

The more one reads world mythologies, the more one recognizes that although cultural differences influence language and symbol, there are still common themes about the story of being human: creation, the relationship of gods to mortals,... Read More

Any backpacker who’s felt superior to the passengers filing off the tour bus in front of the Eiffel Tower, and every vacationer who has fretfully sought to experience the “real” culture of a foreign country from the comfort of a... Read More

Reading H. L. Mencken’s book reviews feels like a secret indulgence. One relishes in Mencken’s frequent barbs at the famous and would-be famous (and is thankful that Mencken never reviewed one’s own work). Mencken once called Edith... Read More