WHAT IF YOUR Dad loved books, owned a bookstore, and even called his cherished volumes “my little bookies”? You would probably despise books—just like the young protagonist in this deliciously bizarre story.

One summer vacation, while Odilon is working in the store and hoping shoplifters will ease his burden, he spots a weird, pale stranger drinking a book. With a straw. As soon as the ink drinker flees (at the sound of the boy’s gasp), the young spy locates the customer’s book and discovers that it is completely blank except for a letter or two! He races out of the store on the heels of this tough customer—all the way to the cemetery. . . .