The Grudge Keeper

Tue, 08/04/2015 - 12:40pm by evelyn

It can be difficult to find youth books about being kind that aren’t didactic or patronizing (I’m looking at you, Berenstain Bears!). Luckily, the new and beautiful book The Grudge Keeper escapes these problems and offers a lovely tale of a town learning to be kind.

Written by Mara Rockliff and illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, The Grudge Keeper follows a man who is responsible for holding on to all of the grudges that his fellow citizens experience. After a terrible storm, the grudges fly everywhere and the townspeople must learn how to live without them. The illustrations in this book are fantastically old-fashioned and weird; they remind me of the art in The Triplets of Belleville. And the vocabulary is equally delightful, with words like “tiffs, squabbles, umbrage, and imbroglios.” This book is a winner for kids and adults alike.