There is an underlining tenderness to this story that is almost palpable through the gritty illustrations and grim beginnings.
Here you have an older man taking his son's girlfriend's son following a double-homicide, and what follows is a dialogue between the two as the boy grows up that will entail the relationships of men, how men should use their strength, and how sometimes you don't need to think but act in situations to survive.

And you can tell that this man, Pop, does care about the kid. Why else would he go through the lengths he did to parent and teach the boy essentially how to be a good man? It's a philosophy I can get behind.

Gorgeous picture book about growing up and not becoming that what you hate.