** Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo by Boris Fishman

Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo is the only request a young mother makes when relinquishing her son to his adoptive parents. Eight years later, after some mild shenanigans on the part of the son, his mother worries that he may need to meet his birth parents, which means that the family needs to drive across the country to Montana. It sounds like the story may be about the son’s anguish, but it’s not, not at all. It’s about the mother’s anguish about her life, her marriage, and perhaps, but only a little bit about her son’s well-being. During an epic road trip she faces her past and her regrets — and then the story ends, abruptly, stranded in a snow storm. It feels like a cop-out, after a rich story line.