Children's book by The Decemberists frontman teaches kids about vegetarianism, murder

Colin Meloy, that guy with the annoying voice who is also the frontman of The Decemberists, has teamed up with his illustrator wife to create a trilogy of illustrated children's books, The Wildwood Chronicles. The books, clearly destined to be classics, center around the adventures of Prue McKeel, a twelve-year-old vegetarian from Portland. Not only does he have the misfortune of being a vegetarian, but his baby brother is then kidnapped by a murder of crows and he must travel through an enchanted forest to return him.

Stephen Heyman, of the New York Times, writes:

The book, intended for ages 9 to 12, brims with grimly comic violence. Coyotes dressed in Napoleonic uniforms train musket, cannon and bayonet on woodland bandits, talking birds and an industrious rat named Septimus. Many perish in the fight, although not nearly as many as Decemberists fans might be accustomed to.

So, hipster parents, here's a great gift idea for your vegetarian child this winter holiday gift-giving season.