Notes on The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

All of Kat’s research—

—has come down to making elephants glow in the goddamned dark.

Disney’s bowdlerized animated version of the Topsy Tragedy (the ending where Topsy realizes revenge is Never The Right Option and agrees to keep painting those watch dials For The War Effort

there were entire middle school history lectures devoted to the Radium Elephant trials.

Regan is determined to hang on until she knows her family is taken care of,

A bull had found them all, in the dark and chill Before, and in the way of bulls he had hoarded them for himself.

Furmother was wise, which means curious.

Proboscidian had been an elective at Kat’s university;

We aren’t protecting your secrets. We are guarding the truth.

Cold water words, the departmental equivalent of a baseball striking a dunk tank’s target dead center.

do you really, truly believe anyone should know in detail how the sausage is made?” “We’re scientists,” Kat says. She stands. “All we do is teach people how sausage is made.”

The movement for “righteous” looks a little something like two tusks quickly dipping down and then back up again, a goring, tossing flip.

checked, not asl