NIGHT STORIES

This graphic novel from cartoonist Liniers weaves together a trio of Latin American folktales full of thrills and chills.

Unable to sleep, a sister asks her brother, “Can you tell me a story? A SCARY one.” The brother obliges, sharing two gripping tales, while his sister returns the favor with the third and final tale, a nice bookend that brings the night to its unsettling end. In “The Mermaid and the Pink Dolphin,” Capitão Gabriel encounters a mermaid known as the Iara while sailing the Amazon River with only his pet monkey. Despite warnings from old sailors back on land, Capitão Gabriel cannot resist the mermaid’s watery allure. In “The Owl of Doom,” the ominous La Lechuza—a witch-owl who foretells death—terrorizes a town, leading to a hilarious solution to the townspeople’s woes. And in “The Evil Light,” two gauchos on the pampas trade rumors of a demonic force that searches the plains for souls to devour. Interjections from the siblings add an appealing dose of humor, accentuated by Liniers’ artwork, full of intricate linework and muted colors. An introduction from author and scholar David Bowles contextualizes these folktales within the broader historical arc of European colonization and the systematic erasure of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture, tracing modern retellings to their roots in Indigenous traditions and storytelling. An appendix provides further background info on each story.

Spine-tingling, enlightening, and fun.