CLARA AND THE MAN WITH BOOKS IN HIS WINDOW

When Clara’s hardworking mother asks her to deliver clean laundry to the man in the big house, the young girl opens the door to a transformative friendship.

The man in the big house stays there—he’s a mysterious recluse who never goes outdoors. In exchange for her mother’s work, he leaves payment for Clara under the doormat. When curious Clara peers into the window, the man asks her name and whether she can read. Next time she visits, Clara finds a book tucked under the mat as well. Clara begins to spend more time with the man, browsing his bookshelves, reading quietly on his floor, and getting to know him. She learns that he was once in love with another man, but when his love decided to leave, the man wasn’t brave enough to go with him. The man explains the meaning of the word courage and the importance of living openly as one’s true self—a complex lesson that will nevertheless reverberate. Trach’s somber yet mesmerizing sepia-toned pencil illustrations are layered in collage-style textures, amplifying this Argentinian import’s minimal text, translated from Spanish. Clara and certain important visual subjects are brightly colored, while background scenery is depicted sparingly, and other objects are sketched only in pencil outline. Clothing and houses imply a rural early-20th-century setting; Clara’s pale-skinned, while the man is rendered in gray, as if in shadow.

A stunning ode to the power of books, friendship, and the authentically lived life.