Britt, Fany; Arsenault, Isabelle (2012) Jane, The Fox, and Me. Toronto: Groundwood Books.
Opening lines: “There was no possibility of hiding anywhere today. Not in the halls at school or out in the schoolyard, or even in the far stairway, the one leading to art class that smells like sour milk. They were everywhere, just like their insults scribbled on the walls.”
So begins the story of Helene, drawn in this graphic novel as an average kid, but apparently the bullying and abuse and insults on the walls that proclaim that she is overweight and smells and say, “Don’t talk to Helene, she has no friends now.” Helene escapes from the horrible loneliness of the drab grey schoolyard by imagining herself to be Jane Eyre. When she is able to plunge into her book, she lives in a world of vibrant color and peace. Strangely, at school, where she feels so lonely, she is constantly surrounded by people. In the world of her book, she often seems to be the only person there, but it is a world of great beauty and tranquility. Where there are other people in the world of Jane Eyre, they are people who understand her and connect with her. Forced to go to camp with her schoolmates, Helene endures more insults and humiliation. She sees a fox (one of the few creatures (or objects) in her world with color. Even that is driven from her by her classmates. And just when I think the story will end in desperation and existential angst, Helene and some other outcast girls discover what generations of nerds before her have discovered, that there are other people somewhere around you who don’t care about clawing their way up the popularity hill – and that those people make the best friends. Here is hope.
This book is splendid. It would be ideal for middle school and would be a good one to study as a class.
Harper, Charise Mercicle (2017) The Amazing Crafty Cat New
York: First Second.
Opening lines: “In this
house, in this room, Crafty Cat adds the last piece of tape. Purrfect!”
In times of stress, like when she drops her birthday treat on the ground,
young Birdy transforms into the amazing Crafty Cat. Anyway, that is the idea of this book that is
probably ideal for second and third grade.
Like Babymouse, Birdy lives in her imagination sometimes and as a
result, real life is rather annoying most of the time. This book is funny sometimes
and actually includes some instructions for crafts. The story isn’t much, but I expect that, for
some of the intended audience, that will not matter much. The artwork is pretty simplistic which will
make it easy for graphic novel beginners to follow, but may not grab young
students’ attentions as much as teachers might like.
Tolstikova, Dasha (2015) A
Year without Mom. Toronto: Groundwood Books.
Opening lines: “Once, when
I was very small, I bit my mom’s finger.”
12 year old Dasha is growing up in Soviet Russia. When her Mother
goes to the US to study advertising.
Dasha must live with relatives.
She has to survive physics (which apparently 12 year olds study in
Russia), survive her first crush (Petya – though it turns out he like Katya). While it is a fascinating book in terms of learning
to see cultural differences and understandings, it also has an odd, inconclusive
ending and includes a fair amount of smoking, drinking, and kids wanting to
talk like adults. It also has some
wonderful page turns.
It is as hard to
figure out what age level this book is intended for as it is to figure out what
format it is. It isn’t exactly a graphic
novel (all the lettering is typeset, there are few panel division, and sometimes
the text appears as a picture book/sometimes as word balloons.) I think it might work for a high school literature
class, perhaps as part of a classroom library.
Not sure it could stand up to real study, though. Might be worth checking out (especially if
you like to support smaller presses like Groundwood) but I would advise
teachers to read it before using it.
