Volume IX, Issue 2: Conflict, Dissonance, and Resolution: Disrupting the Status Quo
Editor’s Note:

The realities of conflict, dissonance, and resolution are essential aspects of the human condition. None of us escapes the movement between conflict and resolution, but what that cycle involves and how long it may take is uniquely individual. Conflict can result when challenging or disrupting the status quo, while dissonance may result from a change in the normative. Resolution is often the result of our conflicts and dissonance, but often only after we have explicitly addressed what is causing our discomfort.

In this issue, reviewers considered the books they have read that address conflict, dissonance, and resolution in connection to the typical or expected. These reviewers bring us new ways to think about the world and our interactions with those within it. Starting with A Rare Nativity, which will have readers considering their own conflicts with others, this issue also includes books such as The Red Pencil, The Sun is also a Star, and Mama’s Nightingale, all of which present complications around displacement and immigration. Other reviews include Emmanuel’s Dream and The Other Boy, which interrupt typical thinking about identity and ability. Irena’s Children, Guantanamo Boy, and Flight give readers the opportunity to address issues around the treatment of those who may not fit within the status quo because of ethnicity, religion, or a combination of the two. And then there is Soldier Sister, Fly Home, which presents internal conflict in respect to one’s identity. Regardless of our own conflicts and dissonance, these provocative books give readers a chance to work toward their own or society’s treatment of individuals or groups who share elements of a common, but often differing, culture from their own.

Take the time to read some of the books in this issue, but also consider sharing your winter reading. Our next issue has an open theme, and reviews are due February 15, 2017. Let us all resolve to read more, write more, and share more of the wonderful books available from around the world.

Holly Johnson, Editor