Review by B.A. Goodjohn – “Yeah,” [the nurse] smiled back. “He’s got nine lives, like a cat…”…After she left, I asked him, “Do you want to KEEP ON living nine lives?” Very clearly, smilingly, and maddeningly, he mouthed, “ten, eleven…”…
Browsing: Reviews
Review by Brooke Harris – Turning straw into gold is one impossible task. “Rumpelstiltskin, or What’s in a Name?” is a variation, dare I say a revision, of the rather-terrifying Grimms Fairytale. Zara Raab turns the strange story on its…
Review by Jill Kelly Koren – As a poet who left Indiana to teach in Texas, I entered Robin Silbergleid’s Texas Girl (Demeter Press, 231 pages) expecting to find my own story, but to my surprise I found what Harold…
Reviewed by Tessara Dudley – I Carry My Mother is dedicated: For my mother, Florence Newman January 25, 1928 — August 22, 2012 may her memory be a blessing In this collection of poems, Lesléa Newman explores a journey to…
Review by Samantha Duncan – So often, the conversation in the modern era of raising families revolves around excess. From the extensive list of “necessities” for newborns to parenting advice books, to toddler play groups and activity classes, to the…
Reader’s Note by Gail Denham – It took me a powerful long time to go through Lockward’s wonderful book, “The Crafty Poet”… mostly because I had to stop and try many of the exercises. Diane Lockward, who is the author…
Review by Issa M. Lewis – The idea of what a mother should be is often romanticized in popular thought. Images of the perfect mother—ultra-organized, fierce protectors of their children (but never taking it so far as to appear unfeminine)—have…
“Pryputniewicz does not flinch from the challenges of the labyrinth—pathways that might lead equally, or randomly, to betrayal or desire.”—Bhanu Kapil, The Vertical Interrogration of Strangers Author Tania Pryputniewicz on November Butterfly – Writing the poems of November Butterfly gave me…
Review by Mindy Kronenberg It may not be a coincidence that I have received Tsaurah Litzky’s poetry chapbook Jerry in the Bardo for review around the same time as Roz Chast’s graphic memoir of her aging parents, Can’t We Talk…
Review by Tara L. Masih – Even before this young adult book was published as a novel, it won a merit award as a novella from the annual SCBWI’s Magazine Award competition. After publication, it garnered a long list of…