Amulet Book One: The Stonekeeper

Have you noticed that the stories most children love are the ones that tap into the primal fears of adolescence, like the loss of one’s family? The stories that make for effective bedtime reading (or narration) are the ones that make you curl your toes and huddle a little deeper under the blanket, as a sequence of seemingly insurmountable events push protagonists further into unknown dangers. By “dangers,” I do not mean dragons or demons or ghosts, the real effect comes from how these beings affect our characters and disturb the comfortable cocoon of everyday family life that these characters inhabit. This is a trait shared by every landmark publication in children’s literature ”“ be it The Brothers Grimm, Lewis Carroll, Enid Blyton, or JK Rowling.

Maybe I am just stating the obvious here, but I can’t help it. Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet made me feel like a kid all over again. Every page of the book, with lushly drawn panels and edge-of-the-seat storytelling reminded me of the Blytonian elements that appealed to me as a child ”“ dark basements, otherworldly creatures, both friendly and ominous, ancestral secrets, perilous quests and, above all, immensely engaging characters. The two protagonists of this fantastical tale are siblings who bicker from time to time and make faces at each other behind their mother’s back and yet, when things go rough, they stand firm for each other. Emily Hayes and her younger brother Navin are, without doubt, two of the most endearing, identifiable children to grace a story in recent times.

It takes courage to begin a book aimed at younger readers with a prologue as emotionally brutal as the opening sequence in this book, and to Kibuishi’s credit, he nails it perfectly. As the main story begins, Emily, Navin and their mother are in the process of moving into an ancestral house to start a new life. Emily stumbles across an amulet in the library that belonged to her great-grandfather, a puzzle-maker. While investigating some strange noises in the basement on the first night of their stay, their mother is kidnapped by a grotesque creature. As the children race to save her, they are transported to an alternate earth beneath our own, a world where Emily is recognised as a “stonekeeper” and has a destiny to fulfill, should she choose to follow the amulet’s instructions. The amulet whispers secrets in her ear, at first warning her of the impending danger to her family and then leading her brother and her deeper into the other world. And this is one of the tricks the story has for the reader; until the last page, you are on edge about the proceedings: Are the siblings being taken for a ride? Is the amulet manipulating Emily and her brother to suit its own ends, whatever they might be?

Not all is dark and dreary however, for, in addition to its moments of heart-stopping peril, Amulet has moments that bring a smile to your face, panels that crackle with excitement and sequences that make the word “page-turner” seem like an understatement. One of the highlights of Kibuishi’s work is his seamless breakdowns ”“ just the perfect mix of words and pictures. Having cut his teeth on the Flight anthologies and his regular webcomic Copper, Kibuishi obviously knows the precise dynamics of pacing a story. The quiet, character-driven moments in the early parts of the book – when the family enters their house for the first time, for example, and when they sit around at night and talk about the changes in their lives ”“ are followed by hyper-kinetic sequences in the later part of the book. There is a chase sequence through a tunnel that I can only describe as cinematic. The book’s color scheme plays a major role in its immersive appeal ”“ Kibuishi painted it himself, with some help from his wife Amy. The rich textures add a glow to the artwork that rounds off the fantastic elements with the kind of realism that this generation has come to expect from CGI-heavy videogames and films. Another thing that the book gets right is the supporting characters and the gadgets. A pink talking rabbit, a cranky robot, mushroom parachutes and, in an epic moment at the end of the volume, a vehicle of a very different kind are a few of the things you’ll encounter as the story progresses, and that’s all I can say without giving much away.

All in all, the first volume of Amulet is a fun, sensitive, character-driven fairytale with stunning visual appeal. It bridges reality and fantasy in a charming way, and leaves the reader with just the kind of gung-ho finish that is needed to enjoy the first part of a series and a hook that keeps one looking forward to the next volume expectantly. An adventure that owes a huge debt to other all-ages comics like Jeff Smith’s Bone, Carl Barks’ Duck Tales and Miyazaki’s Nausicaa, this is one book I would recommend to anyone who’s looking for a quick, satisfying read for a summer afternoon.