The Wild Book by Juan Villoro

Author:Juan Villoro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction;school library books;middle grade books;world literature for young readers;world literature for kids;international literature for kids;books about reading;Mexican children's books;Juan Villoro; yonder books;yonder restless;restless books for young readers;The Wild Book
Publisher: Restless Books
Published: 2017-09-19T17:26:20+00:00

‌The Pirate Book

Although this story took place many years ago now, I haven’t forgotten the sound that shook Uncle Tito’s house the next day. It was something as strange as if a horse had neighed in the living room.

Those rooms in which one usually only heard the turning of pages or the gentle pitter-patter of the cats were altered by a sound that nobody could expect. To the surprise of us all, the phone rang!

Uncle answered and I ran to him to be able to hear his responses.

“Carmen? Here? Why?”

When I reached the little table where the phone rested, he had already hung up. He looked down at the rug thoughtfully.

When he noticed my presence, he looked up and said, “Your sister is coming to spend a few days with us.”

He looked very worried. His face was no longer the threatening sight it had been the previous night.

He approached me and tried to caress my hair with his plate-drying movement. He was once again my usual uncle, a bit strange, but nice enough all in all.

“I want to beg for your forgiveness, Nephew,” he said suddenly.

“Why?”

“I insulted your girlfriend.”

“Catalina is not my girlfriend!” I shouted, although, truth be told, I felt an odd sense of pride that Uncle thought she was.

“Whatever she is!” he said. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening to me. Lately, I get irritable more than usual. Perhaps I’m drinking too much of my smoky tea.”

“What were you saying about my sister?”

“Oh, yes! She was spending the holiday at a friend’s house. Her name is Leila Bermúdez.”

“I know that. What happened?”

“Her friend’s father was offered a job in the US. They’re moving in a few days. Carmen will spend the rest of her break with us. Does she like stuffed toys?”

“Yes.”

“And does she have a lot of them?”

“Lots and lots.”

“And is she going to bring them with her?” Uncle asked strange questions.

“Perhaps she’ll bring Juanito.”

“She has a toy with the same name as you?”

“She named it that so I would invite her to the Shadow Club.”

“What’s that?” Uncle was very interested.

“I made up a story of a secret club that meets to go on nighttime adventures. I told Carmen to make her jealous and she believed everything. She always believes me.”

“It’s curious, very curious,” Uncle said, scratching his chin.

“I don’t understand.”

“A few days ago, you went into the room of the books for the blind. They helped you to leave, forming steps and placing themselves beneath your feet. I have already told you that some of the best readers have been blind. My father stopped seeing at a very young age. Your great-grandfather was also blind. He founded this library. You have a very peculiar association with the Shadow Books.”

Tito paused. He ran his fingers over his unshaved chin, making a rasping sound. He squeezed his chin, as if he wanted to make ideas spurt from it. Finally, he said, “Something very strange happened last night.”

Had he discovered what I’d done? Did he know I had

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