Spiral Bound

Aaron Renier's Spiral Bound is a book that I'd had my eye on for a while, before I finally picked up a copy at APE earlier this year. I liked the art style on the cover, and the book was attractively designed, with a great attention to detail. It was made up to look like a hand decorated spiral bound notebook, as you can see from the image above. What you can't see from that image is how far that idea was taken: the spine has an image of metal spirals with a pencil tucked into them; the back cover is made to look like a typical cardboard backing, complete with faux price stickers; the page edges have half-toned rule lines like notebook paper, which are visible on the edges when the book is closed. It's a charming book, without even getting into the contents.

But the contents are where this book truly shines. Renier has created a rare thing here, a book with the superficial trappings of a children's story that is nevertheless emotionally complex, and moving without being manipulative.

The story takes place in Estabrook, a town of anthropomorphic animals of all species. The world of Estabrook is well thought out, although it works on it's own odd logic. The town has a small-town feel, where all the characters know each other and gossip spreads quickly, in part due to the underground newspaper, The Scoop. The events of Spiral Bound take place during a school vacation, when the younger children are enrolling in various camps. Our protagonist, a shy young elephant named Turnip, chooses sculpture camp, at the urging of his new friend, the exuberant dog Stucky. The sculpture camp will culminate with a sculpture garden event near the town pond. Thing is, the town pond is rumored to be the home of a large monster, and controversy erupts in the town when this plan comes to light.

It all takes place in a world where anything goes. A free public sculpture class taught by a whale? Why not? A haunted pond? Sure! A series of underground tunnels and secret passageways into seemingly every business in town, known only to the staff of the underground newspaper? Hell yes! A rock band with a giraffe drummer, rhinoceros turntablist, feline singer, and bear accordionist? You betcha! Renier's Estabrook is that sort of wildly imaginative place. And the characters who inhabit it are well-developed, with distinct personalities and flaws. There are no evil characters, but plenty of conflict arises out of their misunderstandings and differences of opinion, and this is a touch of realism that really helps sell the idea of Estabrook, and it's otherwise fantastic goings-on.

The story arcs of various characters loop around each other, until they all become intertwined around the question of what exactly is in that mysterious pond? While the staff of the Scoop, including new reporter Ana Rabbit, do some digging for answers, Stucky is working on his own plan to discover the truth, using the submarine he's building at sculpture camp. Meanwhile, Turnip struggles with his frustration with art and his unrequited crush on Viola the mouse, and inadvertently gets caught up in the intrigue.

One interesting creative choice Renier made is to keep a realistic sense of scale betweent he various animals of Estabrook. Ranging from the diminutive (Junebug, who runs the deli, Emily the bird, Viola the mouse) to the gargantuan (Turnip's father, an intimidatingly large and short-tempered bull elephant, Ms. Skrimshaw, whale who teaches sculpture from inside a huge rolling fishbowl), with all range of sizes in between. It's an interesting change from the typical anthropomorphic animals in many comics, who often seem to be generic human-proportioned bodies with animal heads. It's more reminiscent of the character designs in Walt Kelly's Pogo (a clear artistic influence here), but with a wider range of sizes. It's not just a stylistic conceit however, but is exploited for dramatic effect as well, like the terrifying moment when Turnip's father finds Ana Rabbit and Emily snooping in his bookshop.

It's become a cliche at this point to say that a book (or movie, etc.) is truly all ages, but Spiral Bound is certainly that. It's young protagonists' hijinks are straight out of the textbook on young adult adventure fiction, but it's their solidly depicted emotional arcs and growth that really drives the story and gives it a wide appeal. It's an amazing book on all levels, and excellent value, with 184 dense pages for only $15. I can't recommend it highly enough.