The All-Girl Football Team: Stories

This is the second collection of short stories by the author of Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair. And in five of the nine tales, which range from hilarious to heart-wrenching, Nordan returns to the fictitious Mississippi Delta town of Arrow Catcher. There, bizarre exploits achieve mythic importance, as in ""Sugar Among the Chickens,'' where a boy ends up wearing a live rooster as a headpiece. The title story is an evocation of the meaning of beauty and love. ``The Farmer's Daughter,'' a tale about a teenaged girl who reads too many Southern Gothic novels, is a wonderful send-up of Faulkner. ``Wild Dog'' and ``The Attendant'' are so powerful that they make it difficult to read this volume in one sitting. A collection to savor and treasure. (October)