Actor Jake Gyllenhaal will make his literary debut with a children’s book coming next summer, People magazine reports.
Feiwel & Friends will publish Gyllenhaal’s The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles, co-written with Greta Caruso and illustrated by Dan Santat. The Macmillan imprint says the book is “a goofy, loving portrait of one of the most important relationships in children’s lives” and a “funny and heartfelt romp of a picture book.”
Gyllenhaal, the star of films including Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, and Nightcrawler, told People that he thought relationships between aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews often go unexplored in children’s literature.
“Parents can often be blinded by absolute parent love, and they make rules that sometimes get in the way of fun,” he said. “The kind of fun that uncles and aunts can bring, along with a safe loving place to be oneself.”
The book follows a 10-year-old boy who’s determined to have a more fun relationship with his uncle, a stationery salesman. The publisher says that it’s a “madcap, magical adventure into the heart of what it means to have an aunt or uncle—how we learn to keep each other close and how we find love in the simplest things.”
Gyllenhaal announced the book on Instagram, writing, “Being a lifelong nephew and seasoned uncle I’ve wanted to write a book that shined a light on the relationship between aunts and uncles and their nieces and nephews…and here it is!”
The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles is slated for publication on Sept. 5, 2023.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
