Broken Wrist Project

When we were younger, the books we read were understandably age-specific. For example, it was the colorful Dr. Seuss in our early elementary school days. Then the Hardy Boys and Sweet Valley Twins series in junior high. And then, when we grew up, we tackled the more bulky, wordy classics pushed on us by our parents and teachers, with dictionaries as our companions.

Now comes the Broken Wrist Project, which is filling a gap for those caught in the middle — or simply, those who miss getting lost in the colorful images that once accompanied their childhood storybooks. By pairing short-fiction writers with illustrators, BWP stories come alive. While the idea of a more mature version of stories plus pictures is similar to the book-bound McSweeneys, this rawer version trumps the traditional ideas of books for adults, turning it into an art book in the broadest sense. If Albert Camus' The Plague originally came with colored pictures, we might remember it differently.

The fact that the people involved in the book are among our peers is especially important for its accessibility. The first book, BWP One, features stories by Def Jux star Aesop Rock, much-published music journalist (and URB scribe) Dave Thompson and others. The illustrators also have a repertoire of recognizable outlets.

Four more books are planned for BWP, featuring different writers, illustrators and designers, and all include a serialized piece written by co-founder James Huges and images by his partner Kevin Christy. "We're trying to make books for people who don't like to read," says Hughes. Which is a good reason to pick up this book for its pictures. Phuong-Cac Nguyen