Hurry Up and Wait

Gr 7 Up—On your marks, get set, here we go! This companion to Girls Standing on Lawns (Abrams, 2014), the first collaboration between Kalman and Handler with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), is another playful and reflective volume of creativity. A work of art in and of itself, this slim volume brings together pictures from a variety of important photographers, along with Kalman's illustrations, inspired by some of these famous images. Handler's spare prose encourages a stream of conscious musing on how we spend each day, or our entire lives, waiting for various things or events. Text about waiting for the bus is juxtaposed with an image of three boys riding a sled, a reminder that while the going can be playful, the waiting can be mindful. Readers are encouraged to slow down and enjoy the wait: "I didn't even know I was waiting. I thought I was just here." Certainly anyone who has hit puberty can relate. A short appended essay provides some background on the process of curation. The details of the photographs, all from MoMA, are collected, at the end and organized by page number.