I'm Jose and I'm Okay: Three Stories from Bolivia

An 11-year-old orphan working in his uncle's auto repair shop, Jos gets into dilemmas that lead to some questionable choices. In the first tale, the uncle scorns Jos 's offer to help loosen a recalcitrant screw: ""YOU? Help ME?? That's a laugh."" After Jos frees the screw, he can't resist tripping his uncle. In another scenario, angry that he has to work in the auto shop while his uncle and his uncle's friends drink until they pass out, Jos locks them in the shop. The result of a collaboration between German writer Holzwarth (The Story of the Little Mole Who Went in Search of Whodunit) and Yatiyawi, a Bolivian nonprofit organization, the stories are based on the life of a real Bolivian boy. While it may be refreshing that the stories are not preachy, their cursory treatment of the themes repeatedly justify the boy's rash actions rather than open up a discussion of the events. The book's real strength is the gritty, thickly painted artwork. Despite the collaborative effort of three different artists, the style is coherent, the lines and brushstrokes are loose and expressive, and the perspectives suggest how small Jos feels next to his uncle--or while mounting a too-big bike. In one accomplished sequence, viewers are situated right in the path of a treacherous bike race. But while visually bold and morally provocative, this book will be best viewed with adult guidance, or kids may think that, like Jos , it is okay to act on one's first impulse. Ages 8-up. (Sept.)