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. . . .

Eric Sanvoisin was born in Valence, France in 1961. Father of seven children, he works in a library.Thierry Martin was a French illustrator, known under his pen name Martin Matje. Born in Paris, Matje was originally educated as an engineer. Matje was the author of several children’s books published by Nathan, Gallimard and Nathan. Also a press illustrator, his work appeared in Liberation, Marie-Claire, Lire, Le Monde de l’Education, Les Echos, and The New Yorker.