Questions Without Answers

Pondering the questions only kids would think to ask, this hilarious, poignant collection captures the wonder of a child’s imagination, brought to life by beloved New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck.

“This book is for anyone who has secret questions in their mind they are too embarrassed to ask out loud. In other words, this book is for everyone.”—Lemony Snicket, bestselling author of A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions

Why does a ghost wander? Are bubbles in drinks their thoughts? Do dogs have chins? Where does the dark go when the light comes on? How will it feel on the last day I’m a child?

What’s the best question a kid ever asked you? When Sarah Manguso opened a Twitter account and posted this single (and only) tweet, she immediately received hundreds of answers. Many, she discovered, were intelligent, intuitive, inventive, and philosophical. For Manguso, these responses seemed to form a “choral philosophy” that she believes disappears from most people’s lives in kindergarten. As she says in her illuminating foreword, “These questions are cute by the word’s original definition, swift and piercing. They cut to the quick.”

Gathering more than one hundred of the best questions from this poll and bringing them brilliantly to life with illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck, Questions Without Answers ranges from the ridiculous to the sublime—encompassing birth, death, poop, dinosaurs, and everything in between—to show us the wit and wisdom of little people in all their wondrous glory.

Sarah Manguso is the author of nine books, most recently the novels Liars and Very Cold People. Her other books include a story collection, two poetry collections, and several acclaimed works of nonfiction. Her work has been recognized by an American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Hodder Fellowship, and the Rome Prize. She lives in Los Angeles.

Liana Finck is a cartoonist living in Brooklyn. She is the author of Let There Be Light, Passing for Human, and Excuse Me; a children’s book, You Broke It!; and a memoir about motherhood, How to Baby. She is a regular contributor to The New Yorker. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Wallant Award.