Alison McGhee

A young witch describes what she does on Halloween, her favorite holiday.

A mother reflects on milestones that her child will achieve during life.

"What can a small angel give a most important baby? A Christmas story about the greatest gift of all"--

For seventeen-year-old Rose, it keeps happening - the car crash. The car crash that put her sister, Ivy, in a coma with only a respirator keeping her alive. While Rose tries to find support from her reticent mother, distraction from the series of boys she meets at the town's gorge at night, and empathy from her neighbor William T., what she really needs must come from within herself - a release of what's been welling up inside. Heartrending, honest,...

All the apprehension about school "firsts" is playfully presented in these reassuring stories. In Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth, advice from a "knowledgeable" second grader has the first grade worry-wart convinced that her new teacher is really a 300-year old alien who steals baby teeth from her students. This is especially worrisome since she has a secret: her first tooth is loose! A witty, and spot-on depiction of first-day-of-school jitters, this...

After his dad dies of suicide, Will tries to overcome his own misery by secretly helping the people around him in this exquisitely crafted story made up of one hundred chapters of one hundred words each, by award-winning and bestselling author Alison McGhee. Sixteen-year-old Will spends most of his days the same way: Working at the Dollar Only store, trying to replicate his late father's famous cornbread recipe, and walking the streets of Los Angeles....

Clean, cold, white snow! Snow for sledding. Snow for catching on your tongue. Snow for making a SNOWMAN! Is there anything as wonderful as SNOW? Is there any better friend than a SNOWMAN? Snow isn't forever, though. The wind shifts, the weather warms and snow melts into spring. The Snowman has become something else - the fog, the rain. But, how can this boy forget his good friend? He doesn't…and he doesn't have to.

The angels are aflutter: a baby is soon to be born! One small angel can tell this baby is especially special. And holy moly, are their presents extraordinary. The little angel wants to give a present too, but, what could she possibly offer that is as worthy as the others' gifts? At a loss for ideas, she peeks over the side of her platform and spies something going on in the desert - a caravan of kings on camels, lost in the dark. She does the only...