Literacy 2026: Book 5: Strange Pictures

BookStrange Pictures by Uketsu, translated by Jim Rion SynopsisSeemingly unrelated stories about drawings found on an abandoned blog, a child’s drawing in pre-school, and an art teacher who’d made a quick sketch on the day he went missing, all reveal a sinister story that stretches back decades. NotesI read the sequel, Strange Houses, first, because the original always has a long wait at the (virtual) library. There’s been a lot of buzz around the book, both as an unusual and accessible mystery-horror story, and because of its unknown author, who only appears online wearing a mask. Both books are very similar, in that they’re written in the creepypasta style, where “here’s what happened” takes precedence over the inner minds of the characters. And they go to great lengths to put all the facts before the reader, giving multiple diagrams, charts, or timelines to illustrate every detail mentioned, with all of the pertinent facts highlighted in bold type. It often feels like overkill, a…