The Dam Keeper by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi - ADVISABLE

The Dam Keeper: World Without Darkness by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, 151 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. First Second (Roaring Brook Press), 2018. $22.

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS, HS - ADVISABLE.

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Pig, Fox, and Hippo are on a journey that was set in motion in the first book. Their journey in this book takes them to two different communities, each surrounded by their own dams and experiencing their own problems. The existence of the different dams is surprising to Pig, who was the keeper of the dam back home. The group moves through these communities, avoiding a dark mist, trying to get back to their own community before the next black wave hits, a wave which can only be held off by the dam and the dam keeper. 

This book is beautiful, from the paintings of the three characters’ journey, to the matte heavyweight paper. It is also highly symbolic with a lot of visual metaphor that had me a bit lost as to the direction the book was taking. Under the author bios on the back flap, there is a reference to a 2015 Oscar-nominated short The Dam Keeper which sent me in search of it. After watching that, the book took on more meaning and the characters more depth, but still it is hard to argue with the fact that not a lot happens in this book and not a lot is said by the characters or the narrator, making it a disappointingly short, and arguably undeveloped, read.  

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher