The punnish title does not really reflect the tone of this fiction collection featuring coming-of-age rituals in various cultures—there’s almost no lightheartedness. Instead, Han Nolan’s “Maroon” presents the harrowing tale of a girl who finds her own horror in an unmarried teen cousin’s pregnancy and death; and Linda Oatman High prays that “The Uterus Fairy” will make that period arrive at last. Alice McGill starkly presents the breeding of slaves in “Moon Time Child.” The Jewish ritual mikvah and the Lenni-Lenape’s women’s house have central roles in the stories by Deborah Heiligman and Dianne Ochiltree. As often happens in anthologies around a theme, the quality of the writing is uneven. The lone male contributor, David Lubar, whose “Heroic Quest of Douglas MacGawain” is the sweetest and least dark, describes a young man’s search for tampons for his girlfriend at the local store, and it will produce chuckles and joy. (Short stories. 11+)
