The Book of Secrets

August 1, 2020
Tonti seems not to be afraid to mix genres. Readers who open this graphic novel to a random page might find a forbidden romance, a philosophical story about the delicacy of life, or an epic fight scene. Most of the stories are traditional Jewish folktales, but, disconcertingly, one chapter of the book is adapted from a bleak, cryptic section of Franz Kafka's The Trial. It's even more surprising when one of Kafka's characters shows up in the middle of an apparently unrelated fight sequence. But every sequence is inventive. Ben, one of the main characters, uses a cup-and-ball game to fight off attackers. And the two siblings at the heart of the story are protected by the "Doughlem," a golem baked from flour and other household ingredients. Remarkably, the story only rarely feels episodic or disjointed. It's held together by a compelling, conventional fantasy plotline about the quest for the titular Book of Secrets. The artwork is less traditional. Perspective and anatomy are often distorted, as though the pictures had been drawn while the artist was looking at the page in a mirror. The character design is wonderfully odd, though. A pair of angels resembles the sea monkeys from ads in old comic books. Almost all of the human characters are White, though King Solomon and his daughter are light brown. Readers will be happily confounded by every secret in this book. (Graphic adventure. 8-11)

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