St. Francis and Brother Duck

Few could match the passion of Giovanni Francesco Bernardone for the unencumbered life, more theological than logical. To people like his father, he looked like a fool, while to debut talent Stoeckl, a secular Franciscan, St. Francis serves as a transcendent model to whom he pays homage in a comic-book biography of the saint—with a duck (a comic foil and discussion partner) who accompanies Francis through a lifetime of asceticism. While the premise is quirky—telling the story of poverty-seeking clergy while giving a fictional fowl second billing—the purity of Stoeckl’s vision, not to mention Francis’s, makes it compelling. There’s nothing ironic or postmodern to Stoeckl’s book, a straightforward and (barring the species of one character) faithful account of Francis’s life, rendered with Bill Watterson–like sweetness. Like the saint it chronicles, it’s a genuine effort by a kind-natured soul. On every page, Stoeckl offers unabashed, uncritical, unflinching love for Francis, his Christianity, and the bond between all living things. Stoeckl’s work may be an odd duck, but it’s a graceful one. Ages 8–up. (Apr.)