By Dustin Cabeal

Initially, I didn’t even plan on reading Bera: The One-Headed Troll. I already had an extensive list of First Second Books I was planning on reviewing and didn’t think I could handle one more. First Second actually reached out to me to see if they could get me to review it, so I said yes. One of the best decisions I made this year.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a new father and I stay at home with my son all day, but Bera’s journey to protect a baby from being killed spoke to me. It wasn’t just that because if you haven’t noticed, most of my list is comprised of stories that have layers. That are one thing but are more if you look deep enough. Bera’s mission is the surface of the story, but along the way, the story becomes about so much more. It’s a circular story as well, by the time you get to the end you can see the message that creator Eric Orchard was setting up all along.

Of all the things on my list this year Bera was one of the biggest surprises because I never imagined I would love this book as much as I do.