Nuance and understatement deepen this story about an Icelandic girl’s developing relationship with her pony, and teach an important lesson about how an animal’s needs must always take priority, even over the desires of an eager... Read More

Little did Naomi Fisher imagine what changes a simple promise to her mother would wreak upon her life. Immediately after her mother’s terrible accident, Naomi vowed to care for her younger siblings, especially two-month-old Zach. The... Read More

Of the many risks that poets may choose, this one opts—unusually—for quietness. These poems speak in an understated, direct voice, with few verbal flourishes or tricks with language. “Gray,” for example, begins with the prosaic... Read More

Delightful Designs: When Boston’s Museum of Fine Art (MFA) announced that it was planning to mount an exhibit featuring cars (March 6 to July 3, 2005), the Brahmins of the New England art community were alarmed. Then a month before the... Read More

In this novella, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a dowry. Unfortunately, Juli wants to be alone with her books, and thinks that amassing household goods for a... Read More

While testing a Hawk airplane for exhibition maneuvers at the 1929 Cleveland Air Races, ace speed pilot Jimmy Doolittle performed a loop that almost ripped the wings off the ill-equipped plane he was flying. Despite his efforts to get... Read More

In Geauga County, Ohio, cows do indeed learn Dutch. So do horses and dogs and pigs. In this Amish settlement, the fourth largest in the U.S. and Canada, more than 1,800 households speak Pennsylvania Dutch, at home and on the farm. The... Read More

April 2, 2005 marks the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth. This reissue of an early work proves that Andersen remains a master of the fairy tale, infusing the simple theme of good vs. evil with elements of magic and... Read More