OCTAVIO AND HIS GLASSES

In this Spanish import, a boy’s new spectacles help him see the world anew.

After an eye exam, Octavio chooses a pair of round-framed glasses. Now, “he sees everything differently.” He can see so far that aliens come into view and so close that he can communicate with an ant. Most surprising to Octavio (judging from his eyes—wide-eyed fear mixed with curiosity), he now glimpses “things in the dark that he couldn’t before.” González Rossell’s bold, grainy black-and-white sketches, set against an ominous mustard yellow background, depict Octavio descending into a world of monsters, cheaters, and liars, good guys and bad. These intimidating images turn out to be stories in the books he’s now able to read at night with his new glasses on—tales that launch his imagination when his glasses come off. González Rossell’s vintage-style illustrations convey the bulk of emotion in Octavio’s eyes—apt for a tale about getting glasses. Readers will see frustration in his squint, a wary perplexity in his encounter with a monster, a hangdog look when he’s among the liars, and the alert thrill of reading in bed. It’s an appealingly immersive tale that will have youngsters lingering over the artwork. Characters have skin the color of the page.

A feast for the eyes.