Co-produced by Ilan Stavans and Steve Sheinkin, El Iluminado is a wonderful novel to read. Steve Sheinkin writes and illustrates this story brilliantly along with Ilan Stavans, the main character and a contributing author to this novel. Ilan is a professor and an author, who also plays that role in the novel, too. This book caught my attention because Steve Sheinkin illustrated it. Overall, I have enjoyed many Sheinkin reads, and this book is no different; a brilliant storyline with an enormous twist near the end, leaving the reader at a small cliffhanger, always opens the opportunity for our protagonist Ilan to further continue this series in the story.

Filled with pictures, cartoon speech bubbles, and action, El Iluminado delves into the heritages of families living in the Americas in the present day. The families carry legacies dating their family tree back to the 15th-18th centuries, when Spanish settlers were avidly practicing Christianity and only Christianity. However, a large population of these so-called Christians originated from a Jewish heritage, practicing customs and traditions that outlived the beliefs themselves.

These families of Jewish heritage (or at least those who believed so) could not express the fact that they were Jewish, as religious intolerance was extremely prevalent at the time. If these families were to be found Jewish, they would be killed or tortured in gruesome ways. The story begins when a man, Rolando, gives his life protecting documents that could prove the existence of these hidden Jewish families, “crypto-Jews.” Because of how the book begins, a reader immediately will want to know what foul play is involved.

The contents of these documents remain unknown until the end of the story. Rolando’s cousin, Irina, assists the protagonist, Ilan, to find these documents so she can reclaim these documents as those belonging to her family. Throughout the story, the two meet others who are trying to obtain the documents in order to expose the history of these crypto-Jews to the public, claiming the benefits to the work. However, in the rundown, average New Mexico town, not just Irina are fighting for the same cause.

This book takes at most an hour to read for fast readers, as it mainly consists of images. However, mild swearing and a few references take place in the book, making this marvelous read better suited for a more mature audience. One walks away reminded that things are not always what they appear and heritage can be more complex for simple delineation and check boxes. This book would be rated a 5 out of 5, due to the sheer genius in Sheinkin’s and Stavan’s flow of collaboration. Their combined talents make the book seem as if these two literature masterminds came together as one amazing author. I would further recommend to readers to seek out other Sheinkin novels carried by the library.

Check out El Iluminado from NBPL!