Draw the Dark

Christian Cage, 17, is a gifted artist and the dark curiosity his small town community would like to ignore. Christian’s parents disappeared when he was young. Then, one of his elementary school teachers nearly committed suicide, pointing a finger at Christian in her note, and there was the death of Christian’s aunt. Death seems to follow the boy, and the residents of Winter, Wisconsin, don’t even know half the story about the true darkness that inhabits Christian’s drawings. When the teenager defaces a prominent citizen’s barn with Nazi symbols, he comes into the spotlight again and is sentenced to community service and therapy. Working at the local rest home, Christian finds himself suddenly dropping into the memories of Winter’s last surviving Jewish resident. As he researches David’s past, Christian discovers covered up murders, hate crimes, and the year that Nazi war prisoners came to Winter. Joshua  Swanson infuses Christian’s narrative with just the right amounts of self-doubt, obsessive behavior, and confusion. As Christian delves deeper into the dark history of his town and faces his own demons, Swanson draws listeners easily into the suspenseful tale. Ilse J. Bick’s intriguing book (Carolrhoda, 2010) may spark listeners to do more research into the years following World War II and the prisoners’ experiences in America.–Jessica Miller, West Springfield Public Library, MA