Were A.A. Milne still alive, he would be turning 134 years of age today, Jan. 18, 2026. Regrettably, his days, as with the rest of us, were numbered. But in the course of them he produced a body of work much larger than that for which he is principally remembered—the children’s collections featuring Winnie the Pooh and his neighbors in the Hundred-Acre Wood.
Amongst his fiction, nonfiction, articles, poetry, and numerous plays stands a single detective novel. The Red House Mystery was first published serially in August 1921 (making 2026 its 105th birth-year). In Milne’s spirited introduction to the 1925 edition he avers that, in contrast to publishers who wish him to write to the market, “The only excuse which I have yet discovered for writing anything is that I want to write it.” It is fair to say that Milne’s delight in writing his mystery sparks delight in the reader.
I Want Golden Eyes: Futuristic YA Sci-Fi from the Middle East
I Want Golden Eyes, by Maria Dadouch, trans. M. Lynx Qualey and Sawad Hussain (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Austin, 2025, 184 pp, ages 12-18)
In the year 2095, Quartzia is a sharply segregated city in which the majority of citizens—the Limited—live underground, in the Burrow. The privileged ruling class—the Goldens—live above ground in a city of quartz domes.
Supposedly, the factor that determines who lives where is IQ—whether one scores above or below 1111 at birth. Protagonist Diyala, however, uncovers suggestions that other factors are involved in the distribution of assets. Also tellingly, the Limiteds are forbidden to read; it turns out that reading raises one’s IQ.
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