The Book of Murmurs
Little Moon’s mother reads to her every night out of Grandma’s story book. Little Moon’s favorite story is about the scary monster the 
Shenk. Is it real? Then something horrible happens to her parents—luckily, some witches in hiding find her and help her understand the real purpose of Grandma’s book. But then, a spooky fairie librarian steals her book! Why? This opens the door to Little Moon learning about magic of all kinds—dark, light, helpful and tricky. Magic that is no longer allowed. She must get her Grandma’s book back! Thus starts Little Moon’s adventures, which take the form of spooky fairie stories. Think “fae” as in the old Gaelic tales, not the sanitized Disney version. It’s kind of Alice in Wonderland, with a gothic edge. Librarians and professors are portrayed as dark eyeless authoritarians and “keepers of the accredited institutions.” The first story explains how the Shenk came to be. Think of an origin story, somewhat like Thor and Loki, but as sisters.
The art is surrealistic (sometimes with no gutter or border, and sometimes with the gutters elaborately decorated with background actions) in grayscale, which is a shame, because the pencils are lush and textured and swirl every which way – it must have taken forever to layer them. This is an advance copy, though, and the back says, “vibrantly rendered in watercolors”. Colors would add to the fantastic weirdness. EVERY corner of every frame is crammed with swirling action and spooky visions. It’s a little hard with so much layered texture to determine what’s happening. The eye goes every which way and the story pacing suffers. It’s a challenging read. But the story is supposed to be creepy and disorienting—I get it. The lettering looks hand done. The book is marked for 14 and up, which I don’t think really fits. I might say 16 and up, because the parent’s disembodied heads are portrayed in the first few pages. Hiding who you are and refusing to listen to authority are also recurrent themes, better suited to older teens. The Book of Murmurs started as a web comic titled The Shenk. Webcomics are more of an older teen thing, I think. There are no adult themes, but there are lots of teeth, empty eyes, and skulls. Older teens should love it, difficult as it is.
The Book of Murmurs
By Candice Purwin
Fantagraphics, 2026
ISBN: 9798875001765
Company Age Rating: 14 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
