ANGEL IN THE PARLOR.

Nancy Willard's gift for bringing out the whimsical in all of us illuminates this memorable anthology.

“Who Invented Water?” celebrates the craft and magic of writing children's books. In “Becoming a Writer,” Willard admits she dislikes giving and receiving advice. Instead, she prefers telling a story, with reallife characters ranging from members of her own family to Jane Austen, Rilke, and Charles Dickens on stilts. “The WellTempered Falsehood” explores the fabulist art of storytelling; “The Rutabaga Lamp” is a dreamy, delightful riff on how to read and write fairy tales. In an autobiographical piece, “Her Father's House,” Erica, Theo, and their threeyearold son travel home for the funeral of Erica's father. As the whole family gathers, the heroine is hit with an onslaught of memories, Willard style. “The Tailor Who Told the Truth” is Morgon Abel, who lives in Germantown and tells nothing but lies...until the day a wild boar comes into his shop.