SMALL WORLD

When Nanda is born, the whole of her world is the circle of her mother's arms. But as she grows, the world grows too. It expands outward—from her family, to her friends, to the city, to the countryside. And as it expands, so does Nanda's wonder in the underlying shapes and structures patterning it: cogs and wheels, fractals in snowflakes. Eventually, Nanda's studies lead her to become an astronaut and see the small, round shape of Earth far away. A geometric meditation on wonder, Small World is a modern classic that expresses our big and small place in the vast universe.

Ishta Mercurio is an author and actor. Raised in Cincinnati, she has travelled to England, Scotland, Italy, France, and all over the US. She now lives in Canada, where she films and photographs plants and wildlife, from the tall to the small, in her backyard.