In The Blues of Heaven, Barbara Ras delivers her characteristic subjects with new daring that both rattles and beguiles. Here are poems of grief over her brother’s death; doors to an idiosyncratic working-class childhood among Polish immigrants; laments for nature and politics out of kilter. Ras portrays the climate crisis, guns out of control, the reckless injustice and ignorance of the United States government. At the same time, her poems nimbly focus on particulars—these facts, these consequences—bringing the wreckage of unfathomable harm home with immediacy and integrity. Though her subjects may be dire, Ras also weaves her wise humor throughout, moving deftly from sardonic to whimsical to create an expansive, ardent, and memorable book. Survival Strategies To dig for quahogs, to feel their edges like smiles and pull against their suck to toss them in a bucket. To feel the wind as a friend, to feel its current as luck. To ignore Capricorn and Cancer presuming to slice the globe. To know the lie in “names can never hurt you.” To be a gull breezing the blue, eating nothing but clouds. To measure your ties to the past by the strength of cobwebs. To haunt the widow’s walk, its twelve narrow windows each the size of a child’s coffin. To watch the harbor where the Acushnet runs into Buzzards Bay before it was named a Superfund site full of PCBs. To wonder if that water you swam summer after aimless summer could get you the way something got your brother, too fast, too soon. To bury or burn the whole family you were born to and talk to them only through the smoke of letters you torch at their graves. To see a snake with a ladybug on its back and still refuse to pray.

Set in contemporary New York, this book revolves around four characters, all either unemployed or barely employed. The calamities begin when Gilbert, who is gay, and Moira, an arch bitch, devise a seemingly brilliant plan to swindle their respective monied families - by getting married.

A vivid investigation of how blues music teaches listeners about sin, suffering, marginalization, lamentation, and worship.

"Inspired by Nin-me-'sar-ra, Enheduanna's song to Inanna."

This joyous celebration of a cat’s journey after a happy life on Earth by the Newbery Medalist “will kindle sighs even from the feline-indifferent” (Kirkus Reviews). “The way to Cat Heaven is a field of sweet grass, where crickets and butterflies play!” With a gentle, playful rhyme, Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant explores all the ways our beloved cats enjoy Cat Heaven, as she did for dogs in the–bestselling companion book, Dog Heaven. Her shining artwork illustrates a world of peace for cats in Heaven, where no tree is too tall for exploring, where there is no lack of angels’ laps for sleeping. If your child wonders where his or her kitty goes after a happy life on Earth, they can rest assured that all cats “know where the angel cats fly. They’ll run past the stars and the moon and the sun . . . to curl up with God in the sky.” “The visual impact of the book is stunning . . . Whether read as a story to younger children or used in a discussion of the nature of heaven with older ones, this deceptively simple, sweet book is rewarding.” —School Library Journal

Rock & Roll Heaven is a fascinating look at 120 of popular music's most famous fatalities, from legendary rockers who lived fast and died young to tragic and self-destructive poet-musicians. Discover whose body was washed up at the foot of Beale Street, home of the blues. Find out why country legend Gram Parsons' corpse was stolen. Read about the grisly coincidence that links Keith Moon and "Mama" Cass Elliot. Artist portraits feature career highlights along with details of their untimely demise, accompanied by stunning photographs.