Frog Legs — Holly Thompson

In its short stories about life, FROG LEGS has something for everyone. You'll cheer, tsk-tsk, sigh, search the heavens, ache, think again, remember when..., nod knowingly, and laugh out loud. You'll recognize the ruts you're in, consider your mistakes, hear a confession, long for your chance, reach for a hug, face uncertainty, sing out, applaud, be surprised, and be grateful. You'll be unbelieving and have faith all at once, finding compassion for yourself and others. From a masterful storyteller, this extraordinary book knows what you need before you do, and what better way to grow than with a story that will become a part of you. Thirty-one wise, heartfelt, and generous slices of American life are served up in fiction and nonfiction, fantasies, a fable, a poem, an ancient text, and a tall tale. The fare includes: a cute peek at children playing funeral, a child facing and embracing the dark, a boy processing the loss of his mother and meeting God, a student handling harassment and giving his teacher a lesson, a teen scoring a first date and making the connection between sex and love, a young adult reading Tarot cards & still living with his mother, two sports fans acknowledging racial inequality, a young woman who uses social media to counter a dealership's bait-and-switch tactics, an professor of Greek who meets a genie, a young caretaker in a nursing home who finds her gift of song, competitive neighbors undergoing the perils of pride, an ivy league professor-hopeful riding the slippery slope to murder, a pianist's wonderment at a church member's respect for the homeless, a homeowner surviving a monstrous fix-it disaster, a Spirit describing the walls that divide us, a crazy cowboy taking the biggest jump of his life, a steamrolled wife finding her power, a country girl haunted by her family's hard times, an older man who trades places with a younger man to have a one-night stand, a father planning an intervention for his adult children who never get along, a young traveler stopping in to help a congregation challenge the practice of shunning, a sojourner reflecting on the Good Book, a local tavern holding God accountable for what's wrong in the world, and an old man waiting for and speculating about death.