Tom is the bespectacled class nerd: clumsy, introverted, and relentlessly bullied. When he leaves his lunchbox unguarded, he returns to find it inhabited by ants. When he gazes at the cute girl in class, she responds by sticking out her tongue. And when it is time to partner up on a canoeing trip, he is left to paddle on the river alone . . .

?At home, Tom finds solace in recordings of nature and the wild spaces of his imagination. But when he falls prey to a particularly cruel trick, this imaginative wilderness becomes rampant. It wants out. A moment of crisis marks the beginning of a gradual and disturbing metamorphosis. As his limbs turn slowly into branches, Tom is forced to confront adult life as a man transformed. Outburst is a compelling modern fairy tale and a masterpiece of magical realism—dark, imaginative, and beautifully drawn.