The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles proves this naysayer wrong

The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles lingered on my bookshelf for a little bit. It lingered there because it’s co-written by Jake Gyllenhaal. I don’t need to review an illustrated book with an impossible-to-resist cover that’s co-authored by a famous movie star. Stay in your lane actor man. Still, The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles beckoned me like a siren from the steep cliffs. I was in my boat of pointless bias and the land was the area of great illustrated books that I hadn’t read yet.

Lo and behold, by the second page it had garnered an authentic laugh and by the seventh page I was genuinely surprised by something that happened and fully engaged in the story. The glossiness of the book’s cover suddenly made sense and I was in for a pound or a penny into The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles. You’ll similarly follow down the same path that I did with the book. It’s an immediately silly story that’s quickly paced, very fresh, and one that every kid will resonate with.

Leo is a ten-year-old kid who is trying to figure out what he’s awesome at. He likes to dance, but sometimes his feet get the better of him. Uncle Mo is in town for a rubber band convention and is tasked with sitting for Leo. Leo is bemoaning how lame his uncle is when the car that they’re traveling in drives down a dark void and ends up in a mysterious tunnel. In front of their crashed vehicle stands a freakishly tall woman and a very small man who doesn’t even measure up to her thighs.

The two lead Leo and Mo in a tour of a world called the in-between, where parents of any sort or species don’t exist. It’s The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles and offers games and situations to situations to see how well the uncles or aunts handle issues. What is the actual bedtime? Should you eat the brownie or the broccoli first? If, or in this case when, they give the incorrect answer, they’re sent to the un-uncle zone where the only way to get out is to answer a question about their nephew.

Mo is a nice guy, but he’s not a great uncle. He doesn’t know too much about his nephew and stumbles to come up with anything that he’s interested in. Thankfully, by the end of the book, he figures out what it takes to be a good uncle and can pass some of the classes like grooming, crafts, and cooking. This being the cool uncle or aunt classes the criteria included combing your hair in freaky patterns and colors, wearing chain mail and eating a massive sundae. Having passed the beginner uncle class he’s invited back for more advanced uncle classes before being mysteriously whisked away in his car.

The illustrations in The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles are by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat. Throughout the book they complement the playfulness and potentially complex story very well, and part of that goes back to the book’s cover. The cover shows Mo and Leo standing with their backs to each other. Surrounding them are visions of what they’ll soon discover in their adventures. The very tall woman is on what looks like a game show set complete with a studio audience. There’s a man in a wetsuit with an award on his chest. Why is there a horse with shampoo on its head? There are also two people skydiving and all of this is shown in slightly muted colors that give it a dreamy inference.   The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles is projected at the top of it like a league of superheroes. The book’s cover comes across like a movie poster by blending action, curiosity, a little drama and comedy. It’s also done in Santat’s style which will bring in readers who are already familiar with it.

The text by Gyllenhaal and Greta Caruso is brief and combined with the artistic details in the illustrations is more than the sum of its parts. Readers will understand why there is a duck in many of the foreground pictures and notice that Leo needs a shave by the end of the book. When you get a moment to spend alone time with the book it’s worth paying attention to the front and back interiors to take note of the differences.

Younger audiences won’t enter The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles with the same bias that I did. They’ll look at the cover, love its energy, read the book and have funny memories of their aunt or uncle. It could be of them being like Mo at the beginning of the book where he’s hopelessly awkward or towards the end when he’s the ‘cool uncle’. My aunt is cool, their uncle is weird, your uncle is a substitute teacher, every kid has a story about theirs and a book dedicated to a secret society of them is a natural fit. This is a fun storytime that will lead to some great conversations after the book is read aloud. You can leave your lane Hollywood man, this book is great, please make more of them.

The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles is by Jake Gyllenhaal and Greta Caruso, with illustrations by Dan Santat, and is available on Fiewel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing.

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