Straw house, Wood house, Brick house, Blow / Four Novellas by Daniel Nayeri

This compelling and cutting-edge novella is a hard-boiled detective drama about the wish police in modern New York City. To prevent murder, the special forces of the Imaginary Crimes Unit must unravel and apprehend the secret deadly impulses held by a resentful boy against his parents. If you enjoy reading ''Brick House,'' check out Daniel Nayeri's three other whimsical riffs on classic genres, all available in the collection Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow. Review [The] novellas riff on influences as varied as The Wizard of Oz , Mad Max, and the sardonic Death of Pratchett's Discworld...Strong and assured, these stories seamlessly merge different styles, teasing out and playing with readers' assumptions about how westerns, fantasy and fairy tales work...provocative and deeply satisfying.* * -- Kirkus Reviews ''With characters deft and real, with language quick and clever, with insight deep and full, these stories lead the reader to wonder, Is this possible? Whatever is going to happen next? And then, incredibly, it is possible, and it happens. Dare to read this.'' --*National Book Award nominee and two-time Newbery honoree * Gary D. Schmidt ''I'm so impressed by the ingenuity of the project as a whole, and Brick House / Wish Police is sheer genius. I can't remember the last time I've read such a clever and successful plotline.'' -- *Newbery medalist * Linda Sue Park Nayeri's voice is chameleon-like, easily adapting to the conventions and expectations of each genre without losing a bit of its edge or its wit.... Straw House is a delightful amalgam of the high and the low, the silly and the sublime. --BookPage Four stylistically brilliant novellas offer readers a range of exquisite reading experiences in this collection... Nayeri's storytelling finesse is on full display here, as he creates characters and spins plots out of breathtakingly vivid wordsmithery; each story features language uniquely suited to its ambience and desired emotional effects, whether it be through clever wordplay in chapter titles, futuristic technojargon, a deliciously turned phrase, or a particularly apt metaphor. Language lovers as well as those who appreciate the artistry of a perfectly compact novella will consider this collection a treasure. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review) Overall, provocative and deeply satisfying. Kirkus Reviews From the Back Cover ''Whenever we invoke this title -- Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow -- let us breathe this word soon after: virtuosity . In a remarkable collection of four novellas, Daniel Nayeri plays a modern Lewis Carroll, pulling us down rabbit holes where the world is cockeyed -- disturbingly cockeyed -- and anything at all can happen. In one, toys planted by an absent creator are left to fend for themselves when evil arrives; in another, the very air we breathe has been infected with a technology that allows us to create our own reality--or others to create it for us; in another, the narrator Death is moved to play the jerk by powerful love.With characters deft and real, with language quick and clever, with insight deep and full, these stories lead the reader to wonder, Is this possible? Whatever is going to happen next? And then, incredibly, it is possible, and it happens. Dare to read this.'' -- Two-time Newbery honoree and Printz honoree Gary D. Schmidt

Written entirely on an iPhone, this quartet of YA novellas by Another Pan and Another Faust author Daniel Nayeri showcases four different genres.

This bold collection of novellas by Another series author Daniel Nayeri features four riveting tales. These modern riffs on classic genres will introduce young adult readers to a broad range of writing styles that explore universally compelling themes such as identity and belonging, betrayal and friendship, love and mortality.

Straw House: A Western sizzling with suspense, set in a land where a rancher grows soulless humans and a farmer grows living toys.

Wood House: This science-fiction tale plunges the reader into a future where reality and technology blend imperceptibly, and a teenage girl must race to save the world from a nano-revolution that a corporation calls "ReCreation Day."

Brick House: This detective story set in modern NYC features a squad of "wish police" and a team of unlikely detectives.

Blow: A comedic love story told by none other than Death himself, portrayed here as a handsome and charismatic hero who may steal your heart in more ways than one. With humor, suspense, and relatable prose, this hip and cutting-edge collection dazzles.

A collection of four novellas in different genres, including a western about a farmer who grows living toys and a rancher who grows half-living people; a science fiction story of the near-future in which the world is as easy to manipulate as the Internet; a crime story in which every wish comes true and only the Imaginary Crimes Unit can stop them; and a comedic love story in which Death describes himself as a charismatic hero.