OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

A youngster is taken on a rite-of-passage trip to the snowy mountains in this French import via Canada.

The narrator, an unnamed youngster whose parents are absent (possibly dead; it’s not clear) and who now goes to a new boarding school, comes home from school to find Bruce, an old companion of the narrator’s parents, sitting with the narrator’s uncle. Years earlier, Bruce had told the youngster that one day he will take them to “seek the mountain in oneself.” Now Bruce asks, “Are you ready?” Not sure but wanting to get “away, far away,” the youngster packs a bag, and the two drive far out to the mountains. The two begin to ski beyond the markers, the narrator following “Bruce’s tracks exactly.” Then there’s an accident, and the narrator must find the courage to save Bruce. This evocative story only hints at particulars: Where are the parents? Who is Bruce, really—a friend to show a fearful child how to be courageous or someone being careless with a child’s life to soothe his own demons? The illustrations, done in a limited palette of flat blues, browns, and reds, showcase a spare graphic-design–like style that is just as evocative and ambiguous (paper-white faces are rendered without features) as the narrative, while the use of white space to define shapes also effectively gives a sense of the vast, cold space of the mountains.