Mammals of North America — Becky Brown

This chapbook explores the fictional lives of nine North American Mammals in a series of brief vignettes, each paired with an illustration. You will meet Feral Pig, a student of accounting who cannot calculate an understanding of his own family; Minke Whale, at pains to join his pod to sing the song of their meeting place; and Long-tailed Weasel, surprised by a moment of long-suppressed blood lust. From the book: The mammalian heart is not made up of a single chamber, like the worm, or two, as in fish. Reptiles and amphibians make do with three, but mammals require a four-chambered heart. This complex heart is unwise, and the source of melancholy, generational decline, gossip, the small disapprovals that get in the way of love. It is also the generator of insight.