Jeff O'Neill (2:47)

You know, it gets a little easier as I get into my later 40s to forget what I did literally 5 minutes ago. I know that spoilers, I think spoilers, spoiler alerts don't really apply if you're like 45 plus because chances are you will have forgotten the salient details at that point over on Zero to well read if you haven't checked the feed over there yet or at all. Braiding Sweet Grass by Robin Wall Kimmerer was our subject this week. Had a really good talk that good

Rebecca Schinsky (3:12)

time talking about that.

Jeff O'Neill (3:13)

That is wrong. I'm sorry, I will never get this right. What's in the feed right now?

Rebecca Schinsky (3:18)

The perks of being a wallflower is in the feed right now. We just recorded Braiding Sweetgrass. We never know. We never know where we are in space time because we're recording weeks in advance and then speaking to middle aged memory by the time an episode we And Vanessa goes to assemble the newsletter for it and she pulls quotes. I'm like I said that right?

Jeff O'Neill (3:39)

Well anyway, I guess I gave away what's coming up in the feed in a little while. But yes, perks of being a wallflowers in the feed this week. It was released Tuesday. Today's the Tuesday May 5th. So it came out just today in the morning. A 90s nostalgia trip for sure.

Rebecca Schinsky (3:55)

A really good time I think a

Jeff O'Neill (3:56)

really good fun episode to talk about. And then the Patreon office hours over there. We talked about our own high school experience for longer than we attended to for if this is your first time joining us for the IT Book Show, I have found selected 10 May new releases. 10 new books coming out in May to present to Rebecca for her consideration in a knockout style where we crown the IT book of the month proactively. This is, you know, this is a prediction, not a description of what's happened in the month. They go mano e mono. So the first one is going to automatically advance but then it has to knock out nine additional books to be crowned the IT book of the Month. The vectors of evaluation are something like critical acclaim, artistic interest, buzz, potential, sales, topicality goes into a big old stew. And we try to get it just right, Goldilocks style. To find the IT Book of the month sales is not enough by any stretch of the imagination. Track record of the author isn't enough. That it got a good review in the New York Times today isn't enough. It needs a little, it needs a little of everything, right? So a lot of times we're not going to talk about the big romantasy or a giant mystery thriller author that's going to sell more than maybe all of these books to put together. Rebecca. But that's a different category. Those are huge books and important for books and reading. But that's not what we're doing here.

Rebecca Schinsky (5:24)

Yeah, you got to ring multiple bells to be the IT Book of the Month. And the ideal IT book rings all four of the critical acclaim, the zeitgeist, the sales, the like je ne sais quoi.

Jeff O'Neill (5:35)

Could it win an award is important. You know that kind of stuff.

Rebecca Schinsky (5:38)

Right. Big book club picks like that's a factor, but also not a deciding factor. All of these things are necessary but not sufficient on their own. And I think really we know an IT book when we see one or we think we do, but we've tried to give some framework to that. So you'll hear us reason our way through which ones continue. Did you have to stack the deck or move anything around?

Jeff O'Neill (5:59)

You know, I, I didn't, I didn't think so. But I could be wrong. Well, it'll be the first time that I'm wrong. So we'll see. It'll be very exciting.

Rebecca Schinsky (6:06)

Stay tuned folks.

Jeff O'Neill (6:07)

See if that, if that happens here. I did not move anything around here. I will give a little synopsis if I know anything else about it. Again, these books are all coming out in May. I will try to remember to mention the publisher and publication date as I can. But before we get into it, let's take our first sponsor break.

Rebecca Schinsky (6:29)

This episode is brought to you by Penguin Random House Audio, the premier publisher of audiobooks. Stick around after the show to hear an audiobook excerpt from Our Perfect Storm by Carly Fortune, read by A.J. burdell and Jack Copland. Best friends have one week in paradise to fix their friendship or fall apart in this heart stopping, utterly romantic new novel from the number one New York Times best selling author of Every Summer after and one golden summer romance fans, this one is for you. Carly Fortune is back with Our Perfect Storm. Two best friends, one week in paradise and everything is on the line. It's emotional, romantic and packed with tension. You can feel they've got one week, one fake honeymoon and a friendship on the edge with feelings that refuse to stay buried. Narrated by A.J. burdell and Jack Copland, Our Perfect Storm by Carly Fortune is available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. It was named a most anticipated book of 2026 by the New York Today, Woman's World, Town and country, Brit Co. And many more. Again, stick around after the show to hear an audiobook excerpt from Our Perfect Storm by Carly Fortune, read by A.J. burdell and Jack Copland, thanks to our sponsors at Penguin Random House Audio. This episode is brought to you by Quince Working from home means that my getting dressed calculus is a little different than most people's. I need something that feels comfortable enough to wear all day at my desk or looks pulled together on video calls, but can also go straight to lunch with a friend or go to dinner out without having to change. The quince 100% European linen popover mini dress is doing all of that for me right now. I like it so much I have it in two colors. It's breathable, it moves well. It looks like I tried, but it doesn't actually require much of me. And that is exactly what I need when I'm going from work from home to important calls to dinner out. And that's the whole thing with Quince. The fabrics feel genuinely premium, all linen pieces starting around $30 and everything is priced 50 to 80% less than comparable brands. Because Quince works directly with ethical factories and they cut out the middlemen, you'll end up double checking the price every time because you won't be able to believe it. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quince.com bookriot for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com BookRiot for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com BookRiot

Katie Ferraro (9:03)

is there a baby in your life who's about to start solid foods? This can be such a confusing and stressful time. As a mom of seven, I really struggled with spoon feeding my oldest baby. But once I realized that babies can safely feed themselves real wholesome foods using the principles of baby led weaning, feeding the rest of my babies became an actually enjoyable experience. Instead of something that I used to dread. Hi, I'm Katie Ferraro, college nutrition professor and dietitian specializing in baby led weaning, and I host the Baby Led Weaning Made Easy podcast. Each week we cover evidence based, safe infant feeding practices for parents and caregivers of babies who are 6 to 12 months of age. So if you're confused by all the conflicting info you hear about starting solid foods, or you want easy, actionable tips on how to safely prep food for your baby, or introduce allergen foods or figure out when to drop a milk feed. We cover all that and more, plus interviews with the world's leading feeding experts in two new episodes each week. Search Baby Led Weaning Wherever you listen to podcasts and happy feeding

Jeff O'Neill (10:05)

this book is out today and as of today it has not been selected by any of the big book clubs. I know where we're curious about this, there's some discussion in our own I keep calling it Slack, our own Google Meet, our own internal official corporate messaging system. That just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Rebecca Schinsky (10:23)

Something like that. Very smooth.

Jeff O'Neill (10:25)

This book is from the author of the Help, Catherine Stockett. It is called the Calamity Club. Maybe even before I get into the synopsis, we should pause there. That is a fraught thing. To now be the author of the Help, which was an enormous hit, you know. When was that? 2012. 20.

Rebecca Schinsky (10:43)

17 years ago.

Jeff O'Neill (10:44)

17 years ago. Wow. So there's a triple zeros in the middle of that date. And as time has progressed, I'd say the estimation of that book has fallen largely along the lines of I'm not sure that was a cool thing to do in representing race relations at this particular time and how that particular book came out, if I can summarize it without maybe necessarily being the voice of this piece, is there's a white sort of savior woman telling the story of these domestic helpers employees and they makes a book and it helps everybody. But it's the white woman at the center with all these black characters, these black women in the periphery. And I think it's just the kind of thing now we're like, we're not gonna do it that way.

Rebecca Schinsky (11:29)

Yeah, it just aged well. It was enormous. In 2009, as big as a book can be. Book club's read it. It sold a jillion copies. I should have gone back and checked to see if it was nominated for any of the awards. It didn't win any of the big literary Aw. It was widely well received by the general reading public I was a bookseller at the time. It was flying off the shelves in Barnes and Noble. And so it's kind of a time capsule of the olden days. And really, an artifact of the Internet was not in the same shape that the Internet is in now or that it became. So discourse about own voices had not popped up yet. Real conversation about what it means to write outside of your experience and what the responsibilities of an author writing outside of their own experiences and identities are. And also, whether it's fair or not. Katherine Stockett then, like, got swept back up in the controversy when American Dirt came out. And Jeanine Cummins had misrepresented her own background to tell a story. Katherine Stockett did not do that. But it was an easy hook for people to sort of hang that on. When we talk about kind of cultural appropriation in fiction, I guess I have wondered how the Calamity Club would be received. Like, even if this book is amazing, how are people going to respond to it? On the other hand, it's been 17 years, and there's a lot of readers today who were not on the Internet and were not readers yet when it first came out. So it's been one of the ones that I've just really felt like we were gonna watch.

Jeff O'Neill (13:05)

Yeah. And, you know, I think those books are related but distinct in this regard, which I do think Katherine Stockett's intentions were good to try to tell a story about people who don't get stories told about them. But people who work in books and reading, who write books, who cover books especially, I think I'll put myself among them, are a little tired of. Look at the book by the white lady about the people of color that sells 10 million copies. When authors of color don't get that, they just don't get that kind of sales. Rebecca, no book equivalent book by an author of color has sold like this. Even something like the Vanishing Half or the Celeste didn't sell multiple millions of copies like this. They just did not. So I think there's some introspection going on there about how to talk about these, how they're packaged them, and some pushback from certain corners of wherever. And I'm one of those corners, say, could we do something a little bit different? So what Stock it has done now, I don't think it's part of the discourse. I don't think she's going to be in any position to be asked about the help at this point, which maybe that's an indictment of the literary reporting and investigative journalist establishment. Has Moved this to Oxford, Mississippi, 1933. An 11 year old gets abandoned on Christmas Eve and sounds like gets hooked up with a club. And this is a group of people around this particular club in sort of late jazz or late late jazz age South. And it's a friendship. Women, new beginnings. I think to me seems like a cagey move. That's what I'm. This seems interesting to me because you're setting it even further in the past. You're farther away from political, cultural, I don't know, hullabaloos that you could wander into just because people aren't as conversant of 1933, even if they were like the 50s and 60s right about before. Bold, big hearted novel about a group of unbreakable women. Power, friendship. I think we get a lot of these 250,000 print run from Spiegel and Grau. A blurb from Bonnie Garmus on the front, a good note from Oprah, A telling review in the New York Times Book Review, as you pointed out. Rebecca, where are you on the Calamity Club right now? What do you think of these? Is this going to earn out? Is this going to sell out? I'm going to see this remaindered everywhere. What the hell's going to happen with this?

Rebecca Schinsky (15:20)

There are several interesting pieces of data in what you just said. First of all, a 250,000 first print run is so small relative to the way that her first book sold and to what Katherine Stockett name recognition would be if the help had not had the journey that it's had in that time. Also that it's coming out from Spiegel and Grau because the help came out from a different imprint who dropped Katherine Stockett after all of those shenanigans. And so she has been picked up by by a new editor. They've both given interviews about this. There was a big interview with Katherine Stockett in the Times this week as well. She's understandably like very shy of doing publicity and giving interviews and how is everybody going to perceive this? And the review in the Times is like a real work of art in a Southern lady, bless your heart kind of way. I'm curious if you read it the same way, but I did.

Jeff O'Neill (16:12)

Well, you read it first, so I was reading it through that line.

Rebecca Schinsky (16:15)

I guess I tainted your lens on it there. But it read to me like the reviewer had found some positive aspects of the book but also was doing a lot of kind of backhanded compliments about it. There's a lot of like, first of all, it's like 650 pages long.

Jeff O'Neill (16:31)

It's so big.

Rebecca Schinsky (16:33)

It's a big book. The review includes that 100 pages in the middle are baggy and repetitive. And it's like. But other than that, the plot goes. But like 100 extra pages of baggy, draggy writing is not ever great, but especially in a book that long. And it's, it sounds like it's pure plot. There's not a lot of thinky thinky, not a lot of character development. Totally fine if that's, you know, you want to be reading. But it doesn't sound great. And I feel like if you're going to come back and try to do a redemption tour after what happened with the Help, you would really need to write, I think a very different kind of book. I think it's also though, very brave that Katherine Stockett is coming back. She made enough money on the Help she never had to write another book again. So I want to give her points for that. We are at the end of the day on this book's release day, which is the day that we would find out it was going to be chosen for a big book club if it had been. They want to drop those into the bookstores with the like Oprah or Jenna or GMA seal on them. I was at Barnes and Noble this morning to pick up a different book that came out today. It already has its own book club sticker on it. So I don't think we have book club potential here. This might earn out just from enough people who still liked the Help. Like I do need to remind myself that what happened with the Help was largely Internet discourse. That's not to invalidate it.

Jeff O'Neill (17:55)

Same with American Dirt. That book still sold and that was earlier in the cycle.

Rebecca Schinsky (17:59)

But there are plenty people who just remembered that they read the Help in their book club and they liked it and that sort of uncritical approach is all that they're looking for. And I think there if this gets put on like new release tables, if it's set up on shelves in Hudson News's and airports, people are going to buy it because from the author of the Help is still going to do a lot of work even if the, you know, citizens of the literary Internet are not interested. So I don't know how far this goes in the rest of the this episode, in this these face offs, but I do think it merits being in the conversation.

Jeff O'Neill (18:32)

Yeah, we're definitely keeping our eye on this with great interest for those of us who care and are interested in the comings of going of the book world itself. It sounds like these are sort of misfit outcast characters initially and eventually they come together to form like this jazz club slash brothel dance club speakeasy. And I can't help but wonder, did Catherine Socket Stockett sit down at Sinners and go, oh no, oh no, what have I done? What have I done? What have I done? What's happening? This can't be good. So anyway. But it does sound. The plot is the thing. So much for the a book like this. Can you get the Lessons in Chemistry crowd? Can you get the King Solver crowd? Can you get the. The Dealy Omens, the Crawdad Singh crowd who are just a good story folk. Because you can sell plenty of books.

Rebecca Schinsky (19:19)

Yeah. I mean those people on the downside really might be the page count. 650 is a tough sell. If it's not. If it's not going to be a page turner and if it drags in the middle, there's a lot of people who aren't going to finish this book which means that they would be less likely to be recommending it to friends and doing the word of mouth.

Jeff O'Neill (19:39)

The R value I think is going to be hurt by the length.

Rebecca Schinsky (19:42)

The help really was a word of mouth hit.

Jeff O'Neill (19:44)

Yes. Yep. Lessons in Chemistry two similar. I think they're hoping for similar things. Up next, John of John by Douglas Stewart, who is someone I'm very much keeping my eye on. This was the Oprah Book Club picked.

Rebecca Schinsky (19:58)

Yeah, this is the one I picked

Jeff O'Neill (19:59)

up this morning and I read Young Mungo. That was not the book that broke Douglas Stewart out. That book was Shuggie Bain writes these very intimate, heartfelt sort of period pieces set in and around Scotland like the upper uk. Great early reviews, Boston Globe, Oprah saying here, I really liked young Mungo quite a bit. This one sounds pretty heart wrenching. There's a young. It's set amongst sort of the Scottish wool weavers. A 22 year old graduate comes back home, he has gotten his degree or an apprenticeship it sounds like in wheat textile mechanics or technology or whatever. Like he's come back to do this thing and he's gay. And it sounds like there are some other secrets that he finds out in this small tight knit, excuse the pun community here as lambing season turns into shearing season. So that's, that's, that's how you know where an agrarian is. Right. That's the kind of metaphor we're using. We're going from lambing to shearing spring to Fall. Rebecca, is that your understanding of lambing, lambing into shearing season? Is that I would think so.

Rebecca Schinsky (21:08)

I'm very out of my depth here.

Jeff O'Neill (21:10)

Yeah. When's the last time you shared a sheep? Been a week or two.

Rebecca Schinsky (21:14)

I actually, I have sheared a sheep, but it's been about a decade.

Jeff O'Neill (21:17)

Okay. This, I am very interested in three books. The first two were quite good. I'm very interested in Fathers and Sons, as a lot of people are. I like a set piece in a time and specific location. I think I'm into this most on a whole bunch of most anticipated books list. Rebecca, what do you want to make what do you want to do with this one?

Rebecca Schinsky (21:41)

I mean this one's going to pass Calamity Club. We're taking John of John through to the next round. Not just because of the Oprah pick. I think the Oprah pick is really interesting though because Douglas Stewart, I think of Douglas Stewart as a pretty literary writer.

Jeff O'Neill (21:55)

Won the booker. You win a booker, right, baby?

Rebecca Schinsky (21:58)

Won the booker. Nominated for some of the other big awards recognized and really appreciated by writers. And that Oprah has gone for it tells me that we're not in such a literary zone that it will feel intimidating or difficult for a more commercial reader. So this might be one of those crossovers from upmarket into literary or literary kind of down into upmarket makes it more accessible. I think this has a lot of potential. This was going to be one of the books that book people talk about this year. But the Oprah pick gives it the potential to be a book that general, more casual readers are into. We'll see. Not all Oprah picks, not all book club picks become big sellers. But I have, I have some faith

Jeff O'Neill (22:43)

in this one and patch it blurb on the front Oprah sticker. Can't ask for much more for a crossover upmarket literary commercial title. Speaking of upmarket commercial that I wouldn't want to bet against, Elizabeth Strout has a new book out today as well. It is the Things we Never say, a poignant meditation on loneliness, friendship and parenthood. Has any meditation on loneliness, friendship and parent ever not been poignant? I. I hope it's poignant only. Are there any non poignant meditations? Is there sort of cavalier meditations just or willy nilly meditating out here? I know what I don't know.

Rebecca Schinsky (23:17)

It's really too bad that this is an audio medium because you waving your arms around like one of those inflatable guys outside.

Jeff O'Neill (23:23)

Do we have a name for those things at car dealerships? My kids and I were talking about this the other day. Whoever invented that, do you think they knew when they like car, you know, they stitched that thing together and turned on a fan. That they would bring something new into the world.

Rebecca Schinsky (23:35)

Inflatable Wavy guy is what I call them.

Jeff O'Neill (23:38)

Yeah.

Rebecca Schinsky (23:39)

So Elizabeth Strout. The things we never say, which I'm back to it. Like it keeps popping up in my brain. Is the Jerry Maguire thing that he writes of. The things we think, the things we do not say. Yeah.

Jeff O'Neill (23:50)

The main character's name is Artie Dam, which is an amazing name. Spends his days teaching history to 11th graders. You know, I love a teaching novel. Expanding their young minds. Goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades. Makes small talk. But inside he's plagued by feelings of isolation. I guess that's where the poignant meditation begins. Maybe if you didn't so much poignantly meditate and like, talk to people, it wouldn't be as bad. Anyway. I have learned not to bet against Elizabeth Strout, though I've been doing so for a lot. I forget. I never think because I. Is this one going to sell kind of like Marvel movies 10 years ago? It's like, really? There's going to be a Doctor Strange movie that everyone's going to go see. Yes, they would. 224 pages. What do you think about this placement? Weird to place it next to John and John's. Because it kind of feels like Douglas Stewart is Elizabeth Strout ten years ago, maybe.

Rebecca Schinsky (24:39)

It is a really interesting face off. I think Elizabeth Strout has come around to being underrated now and. Or underappreciated. She came out so hot with Olive Kitteridge, won a Pulitzer. But then she continued to write in that universe. Which is great for the people who love that universe. But is a barrier to entry for people who aren't yet into Elizabeth Strout. This is a standalone. It moves into a new location. She's writing totally different characters. So that's more accessible. I mean, it'll sell. I think this is an interesting hand sell. Follow on for like the Theo of Golden Crowd.

Jeff O'Neill (25:15)

Are new people coming to Elizabeth Strout with this book?

Rebecca Schinsky (25:18)

It's a great question.

Jeff O'Neill (25:20)

Whereas I think the Stewart new people might get to that book.

Rebecca Schinsky (25:24)

Yeah. I think Douglas Stuart is cracking open new. A new kind of readership. I think Elizabeth Strout's For Better or Worse is pretty carved out.

Jeff O'Neill (25:34)

I think so too.

Rebecca Schinsky (25:34)

Folks are in the camp if they're gonna read her. I don't know that this is like a conversion book for people. The reviews have been good. They're always good.

Jeff O'Neill (25:43)

They're always good.

Rebecca Schinsky (25:45)

They're always good. She's just solid.

Jeff O'Neill (25:47)

Got a lonely teacher in his boat. What's not to like? Rebecca, let's go.

Rebecca Schinsky (25:51)

Right. We are at the end of the day on its release date and it has not been announced as a big book club pick. So I think John gets the edge on Elizabeth Strout. Also just awards potential for Douglas Stewart too. So we're gonna, we're gonna roll with John.

Jeff O'Neill (26:10)

What do you make of the title John of John's? Is that memorable or not? I can't, I can't decide if that's confusing. Well. Or it's gonna stick with you.

Rebecca Schinsky (26:17)

Ten minutes before we recorded this, I was thinking, is it Doug of Doug? And I was like, no, that's not right. Doug of Doug by Jon Stewart.

Jeff O'Neill (26:25)

This will only be the second most confusing title of the month. Stay tuned as we get into it here.

Rebecca Schinsky (26:31)

Yeah, I, I think it's, it's not memorable, but it's the kind of it's memorable adjacent. People will walk into bookstores and be like, there's something about John.

Jeff O'Neill (26:39)

Right?

Rebecca Schinsky (26:40)

It's in Scotland. And that'll be enough for books.

Jeff O'Neill (26:43)

You think they're gonna remember Scotland? They're not. They're gonna be like Ireland, Australia, just all of the Anglophone places.

Rebecca Schinsky (26:48)

It's on an island. They wear wool. Like, I'm here anytime I get to talk about the Hebrides.

Jeff O'Neill (26:52)

Do we think the name of the place he's going to is John or is his dad's name John?

Rebecca Schinsky (26:57)

Oh, like the of John, like in a Margaret Atwood construction. I think it's probably father and son or both. Yeah, that's my guess.

Jeff O'Neill (27:04)

Makes sense too. Okay, up next, is this my most anticipated book of the month? It might be also out today. God, what a day it is. From Norton, One Leg on Earth by Pemi Oguda. Her debut novel after her National Book Award finalist short story collection Ghost Roots, which you and I loved. I love. Did you love. I love.

Rebecca Schinsky (27:26)

I loved it.

Jeff O'Neill (27:27)

I'm. I'm very much eager to say I loved eerie, thoughtful, funny, memorable short stories. She has not done the thing to do sort of a straight ahead book novel. After writing a book of short stories that have some speculative fiction, this one very much has follows through on what might sound like a short story premise of some kind. Something is haunting the pregnant women of Lagos. Across the city, they are walking into water and drowning. So zombies possession. What's going on here. There's a main character, 23 year old, who's working in an architectural firm, and things get. Happen, Things start happening. Something's not right. What's gonna. I don't. Is this. Is this a horror story? Is it. Is it a ghost story? Is it a thriller? Are we trying to figure this out? I really don't know, Rebecca. What did you say?

Rebecca Schinsky (28:16)

I just read it.

Jeff O'Neill (28:17)

Oh, you did? Yeah. Well, that is convenient for me.

Rebecca Schinsky (28:20)

So I was gonna. I'll talk about it more in front list foyer later this week. But it's not zombies, I'll tell you that much. It feels at moments like horror because of how this phenomenon is occupying the main character's mind and.

Jeff O'Neill (28:36)

Well, it's not good to have women walk in water and drown. That's not good.

Rebecca Schinsky (28:39)

Yeah. And what she's afraid of, or what she's afraid is happening to her through the course of the story, but it feels like a blend of horrible horror and fable to me.

Jeff O'Neill (28:48)

Yeah, now we're talking.

Rebecca Schinsky (28:50)

I'm not 100% sure what the fable was about. And I also don't think that matters at all.

Jeff O'Neill (28:56)

Okay.

Rebecca Schinsky (28:57)

It's just I'm. I think I'm figuring out that Pemi Aguda is a. A vibe. And I really loved the vibe of Ghost Roots that you are in this sort of eerie, otherworldly. You kind of feel like you're behind the veil. The writing is so sharp. The humor that came through in Ghost Roots, there's less of that in this because of, I think, the construction of what the story is. But there are still some really pointed moments between this main character and her mom that are funny in their own way. I really, really loved this. I wouldn't be surprised to see it get nominated for some awards, especially like getting nominated for the National Book Award on the back of your debut short story collection, as we know from Laura McGrath is a huge success.

Jeff O'Neill (29:41)

Huge success.

Rebecca Schinsky (29:42)

But it's a difficult read. The language is. It's just. It's literary.

Jeff O'Neill (29:46)

It's not a hard 240 pages.

Rebecca Schinsky (29:48)

Yeah, it's more difficult than like Oprah is going to pick. It is arty. I don't know how well it'll sell because the concept, it's high concept. And this concept of pregnant women walking into bodies of water and drowning is also.

Jeff O'Neill (30:03)

It's not really metaphorical. It's not really a page turner. Doesn't sound like you're there to exist in the world. It's. It's. It's a different book. But we'll Talk more about this later in the week. It feels like it's in that audition. Katie Kitamura, Zone which critics are going to like it that people like that kind of book are going to like it. But some people are going to like what was that all about? What is I don't understand.

Rebecca Schinsky (30:25)

That is that's a great comp. And so like Katie Kitamura, this might get nominated for a bunch of awards. The reviews have been great so far but I don't think we're we're definitely not looking at like a book club pick. I don't know what we're really looking at for sales. So I'm gonna take Douglas Stewart through for another round. But never sad for a chance to talk about Pemi Aguta.

Jeff O'Neill (30:46)

I think if this was her second book and her second novel Pardon Me and the first novel had done quite well could been nominated. I might be I might push me over the edge to the art piece of the critical piece, the longitudinal piece

Rebecca Schinsky (30:59)

of this but like as we know like a debut short story collection, even one that does very well is still selling very minimally relative to like all other types of books. And so I don't think like from the author of Ghost Roots gets her a lot of new sales or a lot of continuing people who are like it's an if you know, you know folks who liked Ghost Roots are going to pick this up but that's a pretty small club so far.

Jeff O'Neill (31:24)

This next one might sell the most copies of anything going to talk about. It's May 26th from Random House. It is Matt Haig's the Midnight Train or as I like to call it Trying to catch Lightning in a Bottle twice after the Midnight Library a high concept sentimental verging on modlin premise where you can go on a train. It sounds like and relive the moments that meant most. Sounds a little bit to me like what if Mitch Albom wrote Spec Fic? I did not love the Midnight Library as maybe that comp right there would tell you but a feel good nostalgic spec Fic is a pretty good recipe to sell some books. Rebecca what make you of the Midnight Train by Matt Haig?

Rebecca Schinsky (32:17)

I'm mad that he took Midnight Train because Midnight Train to Georgia is a perfect song and he's a bastardize it I think. Yeah. What are we doing? This will sell like it's going. You're right. It's going to sell very well. It's also I think well positioned right now into that Theo of golden kind of crowd yeah.

Jeff O'Neill (32:35)

Which I am reading right now, by the way. I will talk about that on Thursday.

Rebecca Schinsky (32:38)

Okay. I can't wait for that like sentimental verging on maudlin kind of vibe. People who like Matt Haig love him and there are a lot of them. So it will sell. It's kind of late in the month for a book club selection.

Jeff O'Neill (32:51)

It could be June. Could you pick up June?

Rebecca Schinsky (32:53)

Maybe. Maybe. I think usually I mean they find out like months in advance and then the publisher would bump it up earlier in the month. So I don't think we're looking at that. Probably not. Awards fodder. And I just cannot bring myself to pass Matt Haig ahead of Douglas Stewart. So John of John gets to carry on for another round. But everybody who's enjoying Matt Haig, have fun out there.

Jeff O'Neill (33:21)

Yeah. I think also too, I think it's interesting that he seems to have gone back to a. Well, it feels like an LLM remix the Midnight Library to get this kind of a book. Which suggests to me that maybe the other books in the HA Verse since the Midnight Library has not sold as well as other people. People have hoped. I don't feel like there's a position of strength. It's like Veronica Roth going back to write some more Divergent books which he's doing right now. That's generally not a sign of what you do Been doing since. Has been working really great at this.

Rebecca Schinsky (33:51)

Yeah. And of course we don't know for sure. But it's not hard to imagine that a book like this comes out of a conversation where someone's editor is like so do you got anything else in that zone? Because people sure liked that.

Jeff O'Neill (34:03)

People like trains and libraries. This next one I decided I kept it on the list. But I decided after this mention this author will ascend to. We used to have a. That like the. The emeritus it book emeritus status and maybe even Elizabeth Strout. We could think about this. I'm not sure. You wouldn't pull it. Surprise. I'm not going to do that. But there's a certain kind of book like we don't talk about the Emily Henry's or the Abby Heminis like they are what they are. Even Stephen King at this point would have to do something quite a bit different. Which is saying something for Stephen King who's written like horror novels and historical fiction and time travel and everything.

Rebecca Schinsky (34:35)

Yeah. I don't put it past him.

Jeff O'Neill (34:37)

But I'm past him. But I think this is the last time that David Sedaris will appear as an ebook Finalist. Because David Sedaris is so consistently great at what he does. But the window of what he does is pretty narrow. Which is acerbic. Seven minute audio essays. That's how I experience them. About what it's like to be David Sedaris in the world. Which I enjoy and I will. To listen. Listen to every single one of them. The print run for this is 700,000 copies. I think probably audio is the canonical experience of a David Sedaris. Whatever at this point. He tours. He's a celebrity in his own right. The land and its people. A wrinkle here is he's including his long term partner Hugh as part of these stories. Which gives it a little added interest. But David said Harris would have to do something different than this. I think for future iterations of the IT Books of the Month. Congratulations to David Sedaris. That's what all authors are trying to do is get into the IT Book Emeritus hall of Fame. I know they put on their. Their vision board when they start their MFA program. IT Book Emeritus hall of Fame someday.

Rebecca Schinsky (35:40)

Yeah.

Jeff O'Neill (35:40)

Where you're just Darius.

Rebecca Schinsky (35:42)

So reliable at what you do that right.

Jeff O'Neill (35:45)

You get 700,000 print runs and no one can say really anything interesting about you.

Rebecca Schinsky (35:50)

You're totally right. Audio is the way to experience David Sedaris. If you're going to. This is really smart timing for a David Sedaris book. Every dad in the country is getting David Sedaris for Father's Day. And like I love that for the dads. Have a great time with it. This is going to sell well. And like it might get on some best of lists at the end of the year. But you know, not a book club pick, not an award nominee. I don't think it rings enough bells. It doesn't ring as many bells as John of John. So we're going to keep going with Douglas Stewart here.

Jeff O'Neill (36:24)

Yeah. David Sears will have to console himself with the millions of dollars he will make.

Rebecca Schinsky (36:27)

And I will say, folks, like, if. If you like David Sedaris and he's coming to your town or anywhere near you. A live David Sedaris experience is really wonderful. He reads some pieces that you've heard before. He also reads material that he's working on and he'll have his little like a comic.

Jeff O'Neill (36:42)

He'll workshop stuff that's gonna appear in future books. It's amazing.

Rebecca Schinsky (36:45)

He'll have his little pencil on stage and he's noting like what works and what doesn't work. And then you will read the refined version of that piece. In his next book. But just a great hang and a really generous author. I have seen him a few times in Richmond with a friend who runs a bookstore here. They do his book sales and he will stay until the last book is signed. He hangs out for hours after an event to talk to people. So don't. I don't want to discount that. You don't get the IT book, but you do get some cookies.

Jeff O'Neill (37:15)

No. Yeah, you do too. Yeah. And enough cookies for us. You could take us all out for cookies. David Sedaris, like Andy, Cookies with David

Rebecca Schinsky (37:20)

Sedaris, I think would be pretty delightful.

Jeff O'Neill (37:22)

Yeah, I like to squeeze in a debut novel. I like to pick something that sounds cool. I don't know much about it. Has to like, have some juice. A debut novel with a hundred thousand print run. Rebecca is not nothing.

Rebecca Schinsky (37:34)

Yeah, pretty good.

Jeff O'Neill (37:34)

This is from Flatiron. It is also out today. Vincent, you seek immediate shelter. Did this come across your desk at all?

Rebecca Schinsky (37:40)

No, I don't know this one.

Jeff O'Neill (37:43)

So the premise here, it's a literary novel. It's a small Asian American community in Massachusetts. One morning, kind of pedestrian morning. They get a sort of public safety alert. Ballistic missile threat inbound. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill. So they all panic and they do whatever you. Whatever you're going to do when the missile comes and it's going to come down, they all go do that. Then an hour later, two hours later, they get a second message. False alarm. Please disregard. All clear. And then it sounds. I don't. It sounds like that might be more of the front of the book, but the rest of the book is them reckoning with who did what to whom with whom. Where did people go? Who did they not grab hands? Like, I'm just sort of guessing here. I'm trying not to find out so much about it a little bit. It feels like some leave the world behind vibes is what I'm kind of hoping for here. But then not because the world isn't ending, right? Because. Well. Spoiler alert for leave the world behind. Something really bad happened. At least that's our. We're given to understand.

Rebecca Schinsky (38:38)

Yeah, it's.

Jeff O'Neill (38:39)

This one is what if you did all the things you're gonna do then and you have to live with it the next day? I think it's a cool idea.

Rebecca Schinsky (38:44)

It sounds kind of in the zone of paradise on Hulu. Have you seen any of that with Stephen Brown?

Jeff O'Neill (38:49)

I have not. I've read a little bit about it, but I've not seen it.

Rebecca Schinsky (38:51)

Okay. Yeah, we've been watching it just catching up and it kind of seems like it's in that zone which can be really entertaining. A different way of doing a the world has ended story of like jk we're all still here. Debut novels gonna have a hard time in the it books anytime. But I'm glad that we make it an exercise to talk about them because debut novels need as much shine as they can get. Who knows? It's a great premise that if it's executed well, you do have a high ceiling on getting, you know, sales, but also getting word of mouth. Maybe some best books of the year stuff at the end of the year. I didn't come across this in any of my research, so I don't think it was on like most anticipated lists. But that doesn't mean anything. The book that won the pull the Pulitzer yesterday was also not anticipated last year. But everybody liked it at the end

Jeff O'Neill (39:41)

of the year and even though the first books. Anyway, we'll talk more about that on Thursday. I've got this idea. I want to get in more debut novels, but they. They just don't have a shot. Like the one that maybe had the closest shot was Tilt the Emma Petty. I was trying to sell the heck out of that. That was an April title, which there's always a bunch of April stuff. Let me propose this to you. You know how like the in March Madness there's like the play in game, like the play in tournament for the people that don't make the actual field but they win the right to get slaughtered by Duke in the next round. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to remember for June to have a three book debut novel play in it. Book section at the top.

Rebecca Schinsky (40:16)

Oh, I like that.

Jeff O'Neill (40:17)

Where I'm gonna prevent three. We can talk about them. They can get some shine and then they can get wiped out by Ann Patchett or whatever. It's gonna be in June that watches that.

Rebecca Schinsky (40:25)

I think we could also think about a seasonal debuts to watch for episode on this podcast. There aren't enough every month to do it monthly, but to do it on the same cadence that we do. The giraffes like to do January, May and September.

Jeff O'Neill (40:43)

Yes. The debut novel ball. The debutante ball for the seasonal. I like this idea because there's so many interesting books and I want to give people a shot like this. When you said paradise, it reminded me that when I first read this, it really sounded like this could be a seven series. A seven episode Apple limited series.

Rebecca Schinsky (41:00)

Totally.

Jeff O'Neill (41:00)

And maybe it's going to get turned into that and I hope for everyone's in sake then they can cash them checks. But very cool to see I didn't even look anything about. Oh Vincent, you is a sales manager at Norton.

Rebecca Schinsky (41:11)

Cool.

Jeff O'Neill (41:12)

We love a publishing published a bunch of stuff in plowshares and small literary magazines.

Rebecca Schinsky (41:16)

Okay.

Jeff O'Neill (41:17)

Okay.

Rebecca Schinsky (41:18)

One to keep an eye on.

Jeff O'Neill (41:19)

I see you. I see you. John of John rolls on John and John rolls on. Okay. This certainly gets the word to the most confusing title of the month. You may know. You know where I'm going with this? Probably May 19th from Simon and Schuster. Yes indeed. It is on Witness and Respair. Yes, by the great Jasmine Ward. Respair is actually a word I know we're all mentally auto correcting to repair. It means hope after despair. A cool word, but hard for to stick in our brains. A collection of essays from Jesmyn Ward. I don't know what else I need to say. Writing about Octavia Butler, writing about Richard Riffe. It sounds like there's a little more lit crit in this than Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith. Which is the itch I'm trying to scratch with a Jasmine Ward collection of short stories. I'm happy to get whatever she does. I don't know what else to say about the multiple two time National Book Award winning Jesmyn Ward. Yeah, Rebecca, what else is there to say?

Rebecca Schinsky (42:20)

I mean normally an essay collection would have very minimal chances at the it book of the month, but an essay collection by a two time National Book Award winner who won those very early in her career. And also we are still early in Jesmyn Ward's career, which. What a gift.

Jeff O'Neill (42:38)

No, I don't think she's even 50.

Rebecca Schinsky (42:40)

Yeah, what a gift for us. Like to be on the same timeline as Jesmyn Ward really does feel pretty special. It's not gonna sell a jillion copies, but I think we're talking about awards, nominations, we're talking about good reviews, we're talking about best of the year lists. I should probably stick with Douglas Stewart here. I don't know what else you have on the lineup. We've only got a couple more to go. But I don't hate.

Jeff O'Neill (43:08)

Let me throw this back at you. What essay collection? Like literally you get to pick from all the essay collections that we've covered or been do. Maybe Roxanne Gay's Hunger. That's more of a memoir.

Rebecca Schinsky (43:19)

Bad feminist. Yeah, maybe.

Jeff O'Neill (43:22)

Yeah, bad femme. But like it just doesn't happen.

Rebecca Schinsky (43:25)

It just.

Jeff O'Neill (43:25)

Essays don't happen.

Rebecca Schinsky (43:27)

Yeah, my Heart really wants to ride with Jesmyn Ward. This is the first book in a two book deal, I think. And the next one is a novel. And like that month we're just gonna skip this episode and be like, welcome to Jesmyn Ward month.

Jeff O'Neill (43:39)

Yep, I have to hide it at the end. If this were a novel, even if it were a short story collection, yeah, she would take it harder to sell at this point.

Rebecca Schinsky (43:47)

It's so tough. I love it for us that we are getting this book. I hope I am wrong and that it becomes the biggest thing of the whole year. That would be such a great surprise. But it is going to be John of John for at least one more round.

Jeff O'Neill (44:00)

Up next, we got two more to go here. Making its first appearance in the IT books cavalcade of nerdness, though maybe should have happened before Parade A Parade of Horribles by Matt Deniman, which is the eighth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Dungeon Crawler Carl. Actually, I've got some so hard to say from this things we've talked about today. Could it be Dungeon Crawler Doug? That would roll off the tongue so much easier. Also, also Doug has to be on Witness and Repair. It just has to be Jasmine Ward. I think you're the best. I just want to throw my two cents in. Also, Robin Wall Kimmerer. That Kimmerer is extraordinarily tough. I know we can't change anyone's names, but that's very tough stuff. That's why I call her rw.

Rebecca Schinsky (44:47)

Rwk.

Jeff O'Neill (44:48)

RWK is what I'm calling Robin Walking.

Rebecca Schinsky (44:51)

I. I do struggle with Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Jeff O'Neill (44:54)

It's hard to Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Rebecca Schinsky (44:55)

Yeah. Every time. I was talking to a friend about it this weekend because she mentioned at a party that this is what she's reading. So like Matt Deniman is everywhere. But I do feel like I'm doing The Roger from 30 Rock Every time I try to say Dungeon Crawler Carl. What a huge moment Matt Denman is having. And it's one of those that looks like an overnight success. But this is, as you said, book eight. It's just been a slow burn until now and now he's having just a huge pop. Millions of people are reading these books. An interesting one for the IT books exercise because unlikely to ring bells beyond sales. And people talk about it, you know, like genre. This is a literary rpg. Do the mainstream book reviewers even know what a literary RPG is?

Jeff O'Neill (45:46)

Did we? Six months ago, nine months ago.

Rebecca Schinsky (45:49)

Like, what do you do with a huge genre sensation? I Think it's Congratulate Matt Deniman on his incredible success. I look forward to reading the first one at some point. I am now sure that within a couple years we're going to have to do a zero to well read on Dungeon.

Jeff O'Neill (46:08)

I'm looking very. I'm actually kind of saving it for a plane because I know I'm to enjoy this. I just know I'm going to enjoy

Rebecca Schinsky (46:13)

and like a friend told me that his bookstore has been selling a lot of copies of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to people who have been reading Dungeon Crawler Carl and are like more whimsy, more silly. Let's do it. Like that's good for us. We need that in our reading lives. John of John is going to take it bookiness. But if we were just going to go purely on what are people going to have a good time reading this month? Like fun is is underappreciated and harder to come by in books than I w than I wish it were. Like, we just talked about Go Gentle by Maria Semple and how funny and just outright fun it is. And I think Matt Deniman has really tapped into something here.

Jeff O'Neill (46:54)

Yeah, I think we're probably due for a buy sell hold of like people's careers of like the top 25 or 30 people. That'd be a fun episode. And I think Matt Deniman probably, if you bought it two years ago, kind of like Tesla or bitcoin, you are thrilled to have it. But it's probably kind of expensive now. Like, where else can this go? Eight books in, you know, a big series. There'll be an adaptation that will be a huge moment too, so you can maybe get in before that. But we're on book eight here. And if this were book three or book two or somewhere earlier in the series, I think maybe we'd have a better time. But book eight is pretty hard for

Rebecca Schinsky (47:27)

new people to get on board with. And I do think that this might be a candidate for going into it book emeritus status.

Jeff O'Neill (47:34)

Like how many more.

Rebecca Schinsky (47:36)

How many more Dungeon Crawler Carl books will there be? He could keep doing this for a really long time, right?

Jeff O'Neill (47:40)

Terry Pratchett, Discworld, kind of that many books.

Rebecca Schinsky (47:43)

I think that's the right zone too. But like if you were in early on, Matt Denman and you bought the stock at the right time, like you're really seeing some dividends now and that's exciting and fun for people. Parade of Horribles also sounds too close to Basket of Deplorables to me,

Jeff O'Neill (48:01)

too Close for whom? Them. Us.

Rebecca Schinsky (48:03)

I don't know. My 2016 trauma is still showing, so continuing to love this for Douglas Stewart.

Jeff O'Neill (48:12)

This is a weird. It's a weird one to be at the end. I really don't know what to do. We do have a Booker winner here at the end.

Rebecca Schinsky (48:17)

Oh, okay.

Jeff O'Neill (48:18)

Anna Burns. Do you know that name?

Rebecca Schinsky (48:20)

No.

Jeff O'Neill (48:21)

Anna Burns. So she won the Booker Prize in 2018 for Milkman. In 2019 the Orwell Prize for political fiction. She is Irish. No bones and little constructions. Milkman was, I believe, a nonfiction. I think. I can't remember at this point. I didn't read this, but I made note of the name and I've been remembering since then. Would you like to hear the summary of Mostly Hero? Here we go. Still 82 with 57 bullets in her, still dying and with a blood trail resembling a post structuralist anti principle of a traditional abstracted counter composition. She was softly cursing and willing herself not to die. A witty hell raising romp through a world of superheroes. So it sounds like the main character is an 82 year old woman who's been saving the world for like decades.

Rebecca Schinsky (49:11)

Hell yeah.

Jeff O'Neill (49:11)

Finally coming to the end of the rope and then like falls in love. Who says no? Rebecca. Who says no?

Rebecca Schinsky (49:17)

Give me Edie Bannister vibe from Nick Harkaway. But the synopsis says post structuralist.

Jeff O'Neill (49:26)

What are you suggesting? Rebecca?

Rebecca Schinsky (49:27)

Which is a road. That's a little speed bump for a casual reader. This sounds like it could be a great time. But also like she's a Booker winner. It's high concept. It's probably pretty literary given the post 144 pages.

Jeff O'Neill (49:41)

Does that move your.

Rebecca Schinsky (49:42)

Interesting. Interesting. I think I would have a great time with this. I don't know that it's flying off the shelves at Barnes and Noble or that people are going to be like googling what post structuralism is to talk about it at their book clubs. So maybe not. Maybe this is Douglas Stewart's month.

Jeff O'Neill (50:00)

Also it sounds like this is one she had in the Chamber, written before Milkman.

Rebecca Schinsky (50:04)

Oh, interesting.

Jeff O'Neill (50:05)

So I don't know if this is a revision or it's been a while. Anna Burns. What else you got? I'm not really sure.

Rebecca Schinsky (50:12)

Or they were waiting for the right moment.

Jeff O'Neill (50:13)

But I love, I like that the hero's name is Hero and the femme fatale she falls in love with. Name is Femme Fatale. Like it sounds very trippy. Meta. I'm, I'm. I'm here for.

Rebecca Schinsky (50:23)

Yeah, we can adopt. I think one of our listeners who wrote in for the Mom's Dads and grads episode was requesting weird little books and adopted the acronym WLBs and was

Jeff O'Neill (50:32)

like this is a WLB, the WLB. Weird little book. So that brings us to the end. And John of Johns has made all the way through. Any, any regrets, recriminations?

Rebecca Schinsky (50:41)

I think a literary novel with crossover to commercial appeal and an Oprah pick is kind of everything I want.

Jeff O'Neill (50:50)

Yeah, what else do you want?

Rebecca Schinsky (50:51)

Right. We had Kin by Tayari Jones earlier this year in that zone. And if Douglas Stewart ends up sitting next to Tayari Jones on the, you know, 2026 throne, not a bad look, right?

Jeff O'Neill (51:02)

Have a couple of big could have a couple big wins on belt at the same time.

Rebecca Schinsky (51:07)

I don't feel I have no regrets. It's a good list.

Jeff O'Neill (51:08)

Sounds pretty good. I like it. Okay, Rebecca, thank you so much. You can shoot us an email podcast bookriot.com you can follow us. Well, you can shoot us an email. You can also find the Shownotes book riot dot com. Listen, you can join the Patreon. The summer release draft is over there and waiting for you. I don't do look at the votes as they come in. You only do it after the fact. Do you know, I usually just, I

Rebecca Schinsky (51:31)

give it a couple weeks, weeks and then I check. Like when I think most people have listened, I'll go check. So another week or so. And we do also maintain a running list of all of the nominated IT books and the monthly winners for our Patreon members. So if you're looking for that, you can find it over at Patreon as well.

Jeff O'Neill (51:46)

I think my own personal most anticipated from this list, I think now is One Leg on Earth.

Rebecca Schinsky (51:51)

It's so good.

Jeff O'Neill (51:53)

Do you think you'll read John of John's? Have you done a Douglas?

Rebecca Schinsky (51:55)

I just bought it this morning, so I'm gonna do it.

Jeff O'Neill (51:56)

I just bought it this morning. Okay, you went down to the BNN and just like picked it out? No, I was doing. Why were you there?

Rebecca Schinsky (52:03)

I was down at the BNN buying a stack of big classic novels to take pictures of for.

Jeff O'Neill (52:09)

For the content.

Rebecca Schinsky (52:13)

Yeah, for content making purposes. And I saw John of John on the shelf and I'd been meaning to read it and you know, that paper book is nice. Every now and then in my life I have a digital galley, but like, come on, let's do the hardcover.

Jeff O'Neill (52:26)

Not the same. Not the same. All right, Rebecca, thank you. Thanks everyone for listening. We'll talk to you later.

Rebecca Schinsky (52:37)

Thanks so much for listening today. We hope you'll enjoy this excerpt from the audiobook edition of Our Perfect Storm by Carly Fortune, read by A.J. burdell and Jack Copland, thanks to our sponsors at Penguin Random House Audio.

Francesca (Frankie) (52:50)

I met George St. James the day my mom vanished. The night before, I fell asleep the same way I always did, wishing for something extraordinary to happen. At eight years old, I was certain of one I was destined for great adventures. In the morning, a heavy spring rain attacked the last of the snow, liberating purple and white crocus blossoms from their icy beds. My older brothers and I knelt by the window, watching tire grooves fill with Heaven sent tears. Mom's station wagon was missing. Our dad barely spoke when we roused him, but as he sipped his first cup of coffee, he told us our mother had gone home. Only Darwin, who was 12, seemed to understand what that meant. Moby was 10, and I could tell he was as confused as me. This was our house. Wasn't this home? Dad couldn't say how long mom would be gone, but he assured us she'd come back, and we had no choice but to believe him. As soon as the rain tapered to a drizzle, we were kicked outside. Without mom to patiently comb out the tangles, my hair was a ratty mass. I was still wearing my nightgown, but Darwin made sure I put on my rubber boots and yellow raincoat. Moby fetched the basketball. I wanted to play, but my brothers wouldn't pass to me. They never passed to me. I yelled and stomped in puddles, but they kept chucking the ball over my head. Fed up, I grabbed the green butterfly net from the mudroom and set about trying to capture a creature in the thicket at the edge of the field. A worm, a grasshopper, maybe even a frog. Instead, I found something far more exciting. A pale brown rabbit sitting in the fresh blades of grass. It had long, velvety ears and a twitching pink nose. I was going to catch it, and oh, how jealous Darwin and Moby would be. But patience had always eluded me. I charged after the rabbit, twigs cracking beneath my feet, and off it went, bounding across the field. I chased it all the way to the cedar hedge that bordered the neighboring property. The rabbit didn't know what I did. The woman who lived in the big house next door was a witch, and witches had all sorts of uses for rabbits. I had to save it. I followed the dense wall of evergreen to a gap wide enough to slip through. I peered through the branches and gasped when I saw a pair of dark blue eyes squinting at me from the other side. I'd never seen the boy before. He was winter pale, with round, rosy cheeks and dark eyelashes. His hair was buzzed, short freckles dotted his little nose, and he was the same height as me. He was nothing to be afraid of.

Rebecca Schinsky (56:14)

Hello.

Francesca (Frankie) (56:16)

I'm Francesca. I stuck out my palm like dad taught me. But you can call me Frankie. The boy blinked, and I wondered if he might run away, but then his hand shot out suddenly and he took mine in his.

Jeff O'Neill (56:34)

I'm George.

Francesca (Frankie) (56:36)

Hands on hips, I gave him a thorough inspection. He had no rubber boots, no raincoat, and his pants had a hole in the knee. All he had to keep him warm was a hooded sweatshirt with a stain on the sleeve. Were you watching me? I asked.

Jeff O'Neill (56:55)

No.

Francesca (Frankie) (56:56)

He blushed.

Jeff O'Neill (56:57)

Well, not for long.

Francesca (Frankie) (57:00)

What are you doing over there? The big house was no place for a boy, especially one as soft looking as George. He'd need defending, maybe even rescuing. My toes curled at the thrill of it. I live here now, he said, sounding resigned. I gaped at him. You live there? I pointed at the imposing stone house behind him. With the witch?

Jeff O'Neill (57:28)

She's not a witch. She's my grandmother.

Francesca (Frankie) (57:31)

I hate to tell you this, George, I said, relishing the moment, but your grandmother is definitely a witch.