Questions Without Answers
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
Pondering the questions only kids would think to ask, this hilarious, poignant collection captures the wonder of a child’s imagination, brought to life by beloved New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck.
“This book is for anyone who has secret questions in their mind they are too embarrassed to ask out loud. In other words, this book is for everyone.”—Lemony Snicket, bestselling author of A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions
Why does a ghost wander? Are bubbles in drinks their thoughts? Do dogs have chins? Where does the dark go when the light comes on? How will it feel on the last day I’m a child?
What’s the best question a kid ever asked you? When Sarah Manguso opened a Twitter account and posted this single (and only) tweet, she immediately received hundreds of answers. Many, she discovered, were intelligent, intuitive, inventive, and philosophical. For Manguso, these responses seemed to form a “choral philosophy” that she believes disappears from most people’s lives in kindergarten. As she says in her illuminating foreword, “These questions are cute by the word’s original definition, swift and piercing. They cut to the quick.”
Gathering more than one hundred of the best questions from this poll and bringing them brilliantly to life with illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck, Questions Without Answers ranges from the ridiculous to the sublime—encompassing birth, death, poop, dinosaurs, and everything in between—to show us the wit and wisdom of little people in all their wondrous glory.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist and essayist Manguso (Liars) teams up with cartoonist Finck (How to Baby) for a slight if occasionally profound exploration of young children's curiosity. Manguso attests she was once put off by people who found their own children fascinating, calling them "people who had decided not to be interesting anymore." Surprised to later discover that her own son was "intellectually" compelling, she decided to "challenge the popular depiction of children as adorable idiots." Using social media, Manguso crowdsourced examples of strange questions people had been asked by their children, 140 of which are collected here, each accompanied by one of Finck's minimalist drawings. Sometimes the pairing is droll, as when the question "Did cavemen clean their caves?" is illustrated by a caveman holding a broom. Elsewhere, the illustrations are oddly literal—"How important are necks?" is depicted by a question mark aimed at a person's neck. The best entries demonstrate, as Manguso puts it, children's "ease with the abyss"—"Can a person die of sadness?" is accompanied by a dead body lying in a pool of tears—while a few questions like "Is there a spot in our house that no one has ever walked on?" tickle the mind with the feathery force of a zen koan. This has its moments.
