A THOUSAND FULL MOONS

Glassman’s tale celebrates a mother-and-son bond with a touch of fantasy.

It’s difficult parenting an unusual child. Silas doesn’t sleep much, wears a cape with an actual wolf head to school, disappears in the woods for days at a time, and claims his best friends are Golnaar, a giant, and Shjineluft, a wizard. Unlike most kids, Silas muses deeply about subjects such as maturity (“If you surround yourself by the right elements, they all feed off each other”) and death (“The forest tells some of us to thrive and it tells some of us to die”). His caretaker Leigh has difficulty coping with some of his behavior, but their bond is profound; when Silas was a baby, his family’s van hurtled over a bridge, plunging them into the river. Leigh, riding by on a bike, managed to save Silas and his older brother from drowning, and Silas’ eccentric grandma, Dolly Doubloon, then gave him to Leigh, recognizing that she herself wasn’t the right guardian. Silas and Leigh collaborate on a YA graphic novel about his exploits called Wolf Boy & the Doubleback Giant, which unexpectedly becomes a bestseller. Silas’ disappearances from home lengthen, leading to Leigh finally discovering the surprising truth about Golnaar and Shjineluft. Glassman’s book is a mish-mash of many disparate ideas. It explores love—both romantic and between a parent and child—and nonconformity; elements of mysticism are also thrown in, such as the concept of Whulaks, “souls in limbo” who return to Earth through another’s death in order to give help. The writing can feel messy and slapdash—some passages have long confusing sentences and strange word choices (“[Leigh] looked up at him with adornment”), and four characters are given the same problem of alcohol addiction. The casual and folksy voice frequently used to narrate can seem jarring (“Then he really shocked the shit out of her”), but the imaginative reach of the story shines bright.

Creative, with a laid-back charm that sometimes borders on sloppiness.