Joseph - Softcover

Grade 10 Up–Joseph lives in a world of existential angst filled with dark, shadowy, Jungian-like demons. His attempts at finding purpose, meaning, or self-identity fail as he is demoralized by his parents, other adults, and even his school-yard peers. The child's attempts at self-realization seem futile as he stumbles along in a dark, cold, and dreary world with no one to turn to except perhaps a hideous centipede that he befriends and brings home, where it is stepped on by his ever-oppressive parents. Joseph also has huge awkward hands that are forever spilling ink bottles on floors and wreaking uncontrollable havoc. He attempts to cut them off or squeeze them into small gloves to no remedy. Although the author intends Joseph to appear misunderstood by a callous adult world, he never allows his character to acquire cunning, insight, or tenacity. The boy's gullibility may not resonate with mature, self-realized teens, but those less self-assured will be happy to find someone even more ungainly than themselves. Joseph's final humiliation, getting run over by a car in the last panel (leaving tire tracks across his back and giant hands), may come across as darkly comic to younger adolescents who are themselves unready for a serious representation of childhood loneliness and despair. Robel's simply scrawled drawings and heavy, crayon-textured shadows are contrasted against an innocence-evoking third color–aqua–lending a childlike quality to the book's design.–Jodi Mitchell, Berkeley Public Library, CA
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