Answerlands is the place children go in their minds when looking for a correct answer without really thinking. It is also a fairy-tale world of quest, resolution and dissolution, glimpsed in a teacher's dream. And it is nightmare country, disfigured by fear and systemic violence. Joe Minden' s second collection, Answerlands , explores the curiosity-destroying, harmful potential of school even as it celebrates the erring minds of teacher and student, which make encounter possible.