“The inspiration for this book came to me one afternoon as I watched my son, Hudson, playing with his toy bus. I was trying to keep pace with his three-year-old mind as he got deeper and deeper into a fantasy involving nothing more than a yellow plastic box and armless figurines. At least that’s what I saw. He saw frantic commuters rushing to catch the 77 local bus to Australia. He jumped in place, mouth open and slapping his knees, joyously reacting to a world I couldn’t see, but one powerfully present for him...”. – Jordan Matter

Photo: “Dancers Among Us”: Macys, NYC – Annmaria Mazzini. (Photo by Jordan Matter)

Two women kiss as they hold up a placard that reads in Turkish: “I live free. Who's the fool who will put me in chains? I would be shocked” during the LGBTQ Pride March in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul Sunday after city authorities banned a LGBTQ Pride March, organisers said. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

Rickshaw puller Shiori Yoshida, 28, attracts tourists to the guided tour at the Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on August 22, 2023. Pullers walk or run an average of 20 km (12 miles) a day and, in addition to being physically strong, they must have extensive knowledge of Tokyo and know how to engage with the tourists who mostly hire them for sightseeing. “I have fun and enjoy myself”, Yoshida said. “In order for the customers to enjoy themselves, I also enjoy myself”. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

A person dressed like a zombie walks during the 2015 Comic-Con International Convention in San Diego, California July 9, 2015. The pop-culture held at the San Diego Convention Center event runs July 9-12. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Women dressed like manga characters attend the 16th edition of the Japan Expo exhibition, in Villepinte, north of Paris, Thursday, July 2, 2015. (Photo by Thibault Camus/AP Photo)

A boy dressed like Hindu Lord Krishna waits to attend celebrations on the eve of Janmashtami at a school in Mumbai, India, Friday, September 4, 2015. The day marks the birth of Krishna. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

Dancers perform the traditional Kuda Lumping in Bogor, Indonesia early November 2022. They are said to enter a trance-like state as they perform, and often claim not to remember the dance once they awaken. (Photo by Sita Gramich/Solent News)

Keen diver Yusuke Fukami fulfilled a personal dream by snapping a cartoon-like Costasiella sea slug while in Bali in the last decade of December 2024. (Photo by Yusuke Fukami/South West News Service)