Down an alley in a dumpster, Mrs. Jane Tabby gives birth to four kittens. But these are no ordinary offspringeach has a pair of wings. Although Mrs. Tabby is unperturbed by her kittens' appearance, her neighbors are not so charitable; when the kittens are old enough to fly, Mrs. Tabby sends her children out into the world. Because both winged and four-footed creatures mistrust them, the kittens have trouble finding a place to live, but eventually discover a loving home. LeGuin, author of the distinguished Earthsea Trilogy and other books, has written a small gem of a book, with convincing and intriguing characters. Dark watercolor etchings by Schindler further convey the plight of these airborne felines and their seeking of a home. A Richard Jackson Book. Ages 7-10. (September)
Zadie Smith, author of bestsellers like NW and White Teeth, is in the process of writing a fantasy-inspired book. According to a recent article in the London Evening Standard, the Jamaican-English writer has been reading a lot of Ursula K. Le Guin (best known for her Earthsea series, or my personal favorite, the Catwings tales): “It’s a concept novel,” Smith […]
The Library of America Canonizes Ursula K. Le Guin’s Science Fiction in The Hainish Novels & Stories
I have an ever-growing collection of horrific paperback editions of Ursula K. Le Guin’s work. She’s my favorite writer, so that explains some of the impulse; I dig the artifacts of decades of publication history. Garish art, yellowing pages, failing spines threatening to turn the book into an unfixable mess of out-of-order pages: these are […]