The Menino: A Story Based on Real Events

This peculiar book begins in utero and covers all manner of baby benchmarks. Third-person text explains infantile functions from an alien's perspective, with comical results. On defecation (complete with illustration): "For thicker waste, all Meninos have / the same design-- / another little hole at the back..." Scratchy pencil, pen, and Photoshop drawings, in browns, oranges, and blues, interpret the text with lighthearted jocularity.

The Menino arrives, and nothing is the same. This humorous if very peculiar book relates a newborn's journey into being, beginning in utero and covering all manner of baby benchmarks. Isol's waggish third-person text seeks to explain a variety of infantile functions from an alien's perspective, with comical results. On defecation (complete with illustration): "For thicker waste, all Meninos have / the same design -- / another little hole at the back, / hidden by two lovely meaty bubbles / that also serve as pillows to sit on." Scratchy pencil, pen, and Photoshop drawings, colored in a palette of browns and oranges and spots of blue, interpret the text with lighthearted jocularity. Early in the journey we see the Menino encapsulated in his mother's womb, piloting her body through space as he wonders about his destination. As the baby nurses ("He prefers the milk / that is prepared by the woman of the house"), he's attached to Mom's breast, which is drawn with visible milk ducts. Many of the images have double outlines that don't quite line up, either with the coloration or with each other, adding to the sense of new-baby chaos. The book ends on a particularly affirmative note, recognizing our common baby origins and common human trajectories. thom barthelmess