Ms. Beatrice Hempel, teacher of seventh grade, is new — new to teaching, new to the school, newly engaged, and newly bereft of her idiosyncratic father. Grappling awkwardly with her newness, she struggles to figure out what is expected of her in life and at work. Is it acceptable to introduce swear words into the English curriculum, enlist students to write their own report cards, or bring up personal experiences while teaching a sex-education class? Sarah Shun-lien Bynum finds characters at their most vulnerable, then explores those precarious moments in sharp, graceful prose. From this most innovative of young writers comes another journey down the rabbit hole to the wonderland of middle...

When a girl falls into a deep and impenetrable sleep, the borders between her provincial French village and the peculiar, beguiling realm of her dreams begin to disappear: A fat woman sprouts delicate wings and takes flight; a failed photographer stumbles into the role of pornographer; a beautiful young wife grows to resemble her husband's viol. And in their midst travels Madeleine, the dreamer, who is trying to make sense of her own metamorphosis as she leaves home, joins a gypsy circus, and falls into an unexpected triangle of desire and love.

Сказки — не для слабонервных: в них или пан, или пропал. Однако нас с детства притягивает их мир — не такой, как наш, но не менее настоящий. Это мир опасностей, убийств и предательств, вечного сна, подложных невест, страшно-прекрасных чудес и говорящих ослов. Под двумя обложками-близнецами читателей ждут сорок историй со всего света. Апдайк, Китс, Петрушевская, Гейман и другие — вот они, современные сказочники. Но они и не сказочники вовсе, а искусные мастера литературы, а значит, тем больше у них шансов увести читателей в декорации слов, где вечные истории воплотятся вновь. Вам страшно? Не беда. Жутко? Тем лучше. Не бойтесь темноты, вы ведь давно выросли. Хотя, быть может, это вам...

Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, and more than thirty other extraordinary writers celebrate fairy tales in this thrilling new volume. Inspire by everything from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" and "The Little Match Girl" to Charles Perrault's "Bluebeard" and "Cinderella" to the Brothers Grimm's "Hansel and Gretel" and "Rumpelstiltskin" to fairy tales by Goethe and Calvino and from China, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Norway, and Mexico, here are stories that soar into boundless realms, filled with mischief and mystery and magic, and renewed by the lifeblood of invention. Although rooted in hundreds of years of tradition, they chart the...