Animal Stories #[nn]

Peter and Maria Hoey bring their distinctive illustrative sensibility to *Animal Stories*, and the cover alone makes a compelling case for picking it up. A wooden human head in profile opens like a cabinet of curiosities, its compartments holding a bitten apple, a feather quill, a "Vote" button, a diamond ring, a porthole looking out onto a stormy sea, and a vivid green-and-orange parrot perched calmly on a rod — each object hinting at a different tale nested within. It's a wonderfully inviting design that promises an anthology of human (and animal) experience, set against a deep, star-scattered night sky.