Forever Truffle

Music-loving cool kid Truffle stars in this hip graphic novel spin-off of Louis Undercover. In three linked stories, white, red-haired Truffle attempts to start a band called The Man-Eating Plants; tries to share his feelings with new girlfriend Nina, portrayed with brown skin; and grapples with the inevitability of life’s end after his great-grandmother dies (“Death is a downer,” Truffle summarizes). Throughout, the protagonist’s literal-minded naivete contrasts with knowing quips about rock. In the second story, Truffle declares that he loves his crush “even more than the Beatles,” but he struggles to understand his father’s advice to “let his heart do the talking, which is an expression, which is a figure of speech,” and to take in a friend’s suggestion that he see a doctor for heart surgery. Luckily, big brother Louis (who’s into “robotics, basketball and sarcasm,” Britt writes) swoops in to help—one of many scenes presenting the pair’s affable sibling camaraderie. Employing pencil, ink, and collage techniques and varying accent colors for each story, Arsenault amplifies Truffle’s music obsession with visual references such as posters of David Bowie and Kiss. As the vignettes deal with progressively complex themes, they achieve a steady balance in both their depiction of childlike innocence and their pop culture–inflected wit. Ages 7–10. (Aug.)