Rakan is a 12-year-old who, through extraordinary intervention by several powerful men, is flown to an American hospital from Iraq following the death of his parents and his own injury from American fire. It’s a compelling tale. We liked the … Read more
This is a beautiful example of writing well about endangered children. Wilkerson’s voice is at once poised, solemn, compassionate and engaging. The detail she has gathered and included is fine and telling. Her scenes tell us much about her character, … Read more
Wilkerson wrote about Angela Whitiker’s son in her Pulitzer Prize-winning story "First Born, Fast Grown." Twelve years later, she chronicles his mother’s successful struggle to earn a nurse’s degree and move from poverty into the middle class. What makes the … Read more
Orwell uses himself as a character in this piece, in the service of irony. Another character is a dog. We found the dog to be a brilliant, devastating, well-exploited detail. This is an excellent study in when to “show” and … Read more
Narratives that treat the impact of the Iraq War on American families and society often find their central theme in such remarks as “He was proud to serve his country,” “He loved the Army” and “He’d certainly do it again.” … Read more
We liked this vivid and engaging study in character. Allen follows the struggles of a novice nurse as she begins training in the most grueling of nursing domains, the ICU at Mass General Hospital. Her teacher is a strong-willed, skilled … Read more
If there were a genre called moral narrative, this piece (and the book on which it is based) would exemplify it. The driving threads in the story are nothing less than forces of good and evil: anti- and pro-slavery factions … Read more
Here’s what Lake wrote when he emailed us this story: “Lots of people claim their lives have been transformed by miracles. Media coverage of these people tends to swing one of two ways: Either it’s uncritical and cheerleader-ish or it’s … Read more
This is a powerful, honest piece in which Orwell brilliantly gets at the complex human experience of living and ruling in a strange land. It’s a deeply compelling read that is also deeply political. It is also disturbingly graphic—not in … Read more
This series about two men who lost their legs to IEDs in Iraq is built on a wealth of close detail. The piece chronicles their struggles to recover from their injuries, both physically and psychologically. We appreciated the probing interest … Read more
