The Book of Denial by Ricardo Chávez Castañeda (review)

Reviewed by: The Book of Denial by Ricardo Chávez Castañeda Kate Quealy-Gainer, Editor Castañeda, Ricardo Chávez The Book of Denial; trans. from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel; illus. by Alejandro Magallanes. Two Lions, 2024 148p Trade ed. ISBN 9781592703623 24. 95 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 10 and up An overheard conversation between a child's mother and father leaves the boy intrigued, shaken, and all the more tempted to read the book his father is writing. If it is, as his father claims, "a story of terror" that all children must know, then surely, he must read it, and as an avid fan of horror, the boy scoffs at the idea of finding it truly scary. The book, however, is no supernatural tale or work of fiction; instead, it is a brutal and unflinching account of the tendency of humans to kill their children: the massacre of the Holy Innocents; the Children's Crusade; child sacrifices; parents and whole societies starving their children; the list and the book go on. Appalled, the boy tries to destroy the book before his father can continue, but the book keeps showing up, despite his efforts to burn it, rip it up, and drown it. Eventually, the boy decides to rewrite the book, and here the reader has a choice: end the book here, believing in the boy's success and a happy ending, or continue on to the terrible truth. By no means an easy read, this manages to be deeply insightful and endlessly horrifying, interrogating a species, in its most clinical terms, driven to reproduce but just as driven to kill its offspring in "a war between those who are already here, and those who've just arrived into this world. " The startling black-and-white art of Magallanes' illustrations adds an entirely new layer of gruesomeness, each page a unique and disturbing piece of art: a necktie made of a skeletal hand, a silhouette of a tumbling and mangled child, or a doll squeezed tightly by a shadowy hand. The facts presented are as undeniable as they are repugnant, and a reminder that today's horrors are not especially unique to any generation—perhaps a small comfort for teens and young adults coming to terms with the faults and flaws of their predecessors. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois