The Wall Street Journal on Davey McGravy

Sadness suffuses the magical realism of Davey McGravy (Paul Dry, 109 pages, $14.95), a novella-length series of poems by David Mason that explores a boy’s grief after the death of his mother. With the idea that the stories should be read aloud, Mr. Mason addresses the listener as “Love” in a way that recalls Rudyard Kipling’s use of “Best Beloved.” The tale is lightly written—and illustrated with airy etchings by Grant Silverstein—and yet the effect can be wrenching. The day Davey’s mother dies, “even water was sad. / That day everyone felt very bad. / Ah well, these things come to pass. / We cannot always know / where our mothers go. And Davey lived, and Davey grew.”