BLACK

Øvreås follows up his Batchelder Award–winning Brown (2019), originally published in Norway, with a similarly poker-faced middle volume.

Hearing a standoffish new girl snippily claim that her mom is famous in America, Jack dons his homemade superhero costume and as “Black” makes a like bid for glory by pilfering the mayor’s prize chicken—with the intent of returning it publicly and basking in the acclaim. But when he goes back to the shed where he’d stashed the purloined pullet, all he finds are feathers. Time to enlist his friends Rusty (“Brown”) and Lou (“Blue”) for detective work and a rescue! The spare narrative leaves much to pick up between the lines, and for readers who don’t quickly twig to the fact that Jack’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, Torseter supplies hair-fine line drawings on nearly every page of a round-headed lad skulking about looking generally befuddled or guilty. In the end Jack does bring the hen back to her owner but, unsurprisingly, gets neither credit nor a picture in the local press. No matter: A store owner’s comment that fame is less important than money leads to an instant readjustment of priorities. In the unfilled line drawings, the cast presents as White; Jack’s indulgent mother uses a wheelchair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

More proof that Wimpy Kid–style hijinks are just as droll in translation.