Jane, the Fox and Me by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault - Reviewed by Kelly McCaughrain

I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, mainly because they’re hard to find and seem to be mostly about superheroes, sci-fi, horror or fantasy, which I’m not really into. So when I saw Jane, the Fox and Me, I grabbed it. 

This is a Middle Grade/YA story and, as with all Walker books, beautifully produced. It’s a lovely physical object, and it’s a treat to turn the pages. And the story is completely charming.

Helene is bullied by the Mean Girls at her school, who comment on her weight and ostracise her. When she has to go to nature camp with them, things just get worse. Her only solace is reading Jane Eyre, which is about a girl who is also alone, unloved, sent to a horrible school, and yet grows up to be ‘clever, slender and wise’ and loved by Mr Rochester.

It’s a simple story, with zero superheroes, but one of the things I like about graphic novels is that there are so few words that the writing has to be incredibly beautiful and efficient, and this is both.

The illustrations are just as essential to the story as the words, and they’re beautiful to look at. The use of colour is really effective, with Helene’s world rendered in greys and browns, while the world of Jane Eyre has strong reds and blues and black.

 

But little touches of colour start to bleed into Helene’s life, beginning with a red fox she encounters at camp, and suggest that there might be hope after all. 

I think this is a story that lots of kids (and probably lots of adults) will relate to, and its simple realism is made magical by the Jane Eyre references and the encounter with the fox. I loved that the ending is quiet, subtle and undramatic. There’s no big finale or showdown. The trees simply start to turn green, a Mean Girl waves as Helene passes, and we know that she’s going to be OK.

Based on this one, I’m definitely going to read Britt and Arsenault’s other collaboration, Louis Undercover. If you like graphic novels, you should check out Jane, the Fox and Me. Or if you’ve never read one before, this is a lovely place to start.

Kelly McCaughrain is the author of the Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year,
Flying Tips for Flightless Birds. 

She is the Children's Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland #CWFNI

She also blogs at The Blank Page

@KMcCaughrain

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Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I have to confess that I did not know a lot about graphic novels until recently. I also knew next to nothing about roller derbies. But Roller Girl piqued my interest — it was a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor book, and graphic novels are earning themselves special places in bookshops these days. The book did not disappoint. 

Twelve year old Astrid’s world is changing. It is the summer before she starts junior high. She is enthralled by a roller derby league game that she attends with her mother and her best friend, Nicole. However, Nicole does not share Astrid's enthusiasm, pulling away from her, spending time with an arch enemy (Rachel) and chooses ballet camp over joining Astrid in roller camp. When a new friend asks Astrid ‘What's your thing?’ (hers is theatre and musicals), she cannot really answer. 

Yet, roller camp does more than teach Astrid how to roller skate. It empowers her. Its fierce, energetic skaters give her new mantras: “Tough! Strong! Fearless!” And the more involved Astrid becomes in this new world, the more she comes to terms with the changes in her life, from girl to teenager, to reforging her relationships with friends and her mother, and also to learning what her ‘thing’ is. Clue: she gives herself a new name for the skate track, Asteroid. 

Things I loved about this book:

— the energetic story line that moves apace. 

— we are plunged into the little-known world of roller skating, warts and all. Astrid falls. Again. And again. She aches. She almost gives up. ‘Thunk.’ ‘Ow.’ ‘Aaaaaaghhhhhh.’ Humour, determination, heartbreak and dreams blend in her journey to master the new sport. Plus the reader learns too; I now understand what jammers, blockers, and bouts are, and perhaps more importantly, why the skaters are exhilarated by the demanding, often painful, boisterous game.

— the story is realistic. Astrid is not perfect. She makes mistakes. She is out of her depth at the camp to begin with and does not become a star ‘jammer’ overnight. But she does improve. And she does develop skills that rescue her team and her friendships. 

— Astrid’s flights of fancy made me chuckle. Her long walk home, aching and exhausted, after her first class becomes a stumbling desperate stagger through a parched, scorching desert. When she finds the courage to apologize to a friend, we see her fantasy of a teary, heartfelt reunion, quickly followed by the real life muted mumbled friend’s response. Astrid’s enforced clothes shopping trip with her mother is portrayed as a tortured trip through hell... 

— we understand the complexities of becoming a teenager. Things are not black and white anymore. The ‘emojis’ that Astrid’s elementary school teacher used to explain emotions are no longer so easy to apply. Now Astrid creates new expressions: happy + sad = shad. Nervous + sick = nersick. 

—  girl power is on fire in this story. Sisterly camaraderie and fierce, empowered role-models abound. 

A fresh take on the timeless transition-to-teen theme with expressive, humorous illustrations, a rollicking pace and a loveable protagonist, this is a novel worth reading.

www.sarahhammond.org 

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Anything That Isn't This by Chris Priestley review by Dawn Finch

First the blurb...

Seventeen-year-old Frank Palp lives in a grim little apartment, in a grim little building, in an exceedingly grim city. This is a city full of contradictions, and Frank is no exception. He mostly hates his life, he definitely hates the ludicrous city he is forced to live in and he absolutely with complete certainty hates the idiots he's surrounded by . . . and yet he is in love. A love so pure and sparkling and colourful, Frank feels sure it is 'meant to be'. His love is a reward for all the terrible grey that he is surrounded by - which would be great, if the girl in question knew he existed. And then one day, the perfect sign lands in his lap. A message, in a bottle. A wish, for 'anything that isn't this'. The girl who wrote this is surely his soulmate - and now he just needs to find her.

Frank is as grim as the city in which he lives and is a rather pretentious self-obsessed teenager. (That sounds terrible - stick with me....) He lives under the cold grip of The Grey which he feels sucks the colour and life out of the world. He grumpily blunders through his life feeling that he has no choice, no control and no options. He hates everyone, and the people around him are gradually losing patience with him as his life is slipping past. Then he finds those glorious words that someone else wishes for "anything that isn't this" and he sees a glimmer of light at the end of the Grey tunnel.

This book is, quite frankly (no pun intended) one of the best books I've read this year. The tale of Frank, his life and his family is curiously compelling and the book is impossible to put down. I was reminded of classics such as Peake's Gormenghast, and even Walpole's Castle of Otranto, such is the detail of the Castle and the City that dominates Frank's life.

The book is visually stunning too as the text is supported by Priestley's own illustrations. These inky images drive home the chilling and suffocating atmosphere of Frank's world and provide more than just support to the text. They are an important element in the delivery of the story and I'd love to see more of them. In fact this would make an extraordinary graphic novel or animation, and I very much hope that someone is considering doing just that.

I have read all of Priestley's books, and I feel that this is his finest work to date. I am very envious of its effortless flow, cool style and Gothic elegance. In fact I only have one complaint - Chris, don't introduce me to something as completely fabulous as invisible lizards and then only give me a little bit! More lizards please.

Anything That Isn't This is published by Hot Key Books 

• ISBN-10: 1471404641

Reviewed by Dawn Finch

YA author, librarian (President of CILIP) and CWIG committee member

@dawnafinch

www.dawnfinch.com

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Skim words by Mariko Tamaki drawings by Jillian Tamaki review by Lynda Waterhouse

This is a graphic novel based around the diary of sixteen year old goth girl and trainee witch Kimberley Kaiko Cameron aka Skim. At the beginning of the story she has broken her arm. She tells her best friend that she broke it falling off her bike but in reality she ‘tripped on altar getting out of bed and fell on Mum’s candelabra.’

Her parents’ marriage has broken down and her friendship with Lisa is becoming fractured. Popular girl Katie Matthew’s is dumped by her boyfriend and appears with a black broken heart drawn on her hands. There is a hilarious scene in the book where Lisa and Skim attend a coven which turns out to be an AA meeting.

Then Katie’s ex –boyfriend commits suicide and this changes everything at school. Skim is targeted by Miss Hornet, the school counsellor who says ‘students who are members of the ‘’gothic’’ culture are very fragile,’ yet it is Katie who falls off a roof and breaks both her arms.

At the same moment as the suicide Skim falls in love with her drama teacher. Her friendship with Lisa breaks down. Skim is in emotional freefall with no one to talk to. A friendship from an unexpected source brings her joy. There is only one drawing of Skim laughing which is a powerful contrast to how she is portrayed in the rest of the novel.

This novel captures the humour and intensity of Skim’s life and how it is possible to turn a corner in life.

Published by Walker Books

ISBN 978-1-4063-2136-4

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THE RABBIT GIRL by MARY ARRIGAN : Review by Penny Dolan

 

All Mam’s comforting clutter had been hidden away. Even the picture of rabbits in a field was covered by a white cloth.

            “We’ll go there,” Mam used to say. “You and me, Tony, we’ll go there and play with those rabbits.” Maybe that’s where Mam is, thought the little boy. Maybe she’s gone to play with the rabbits and is waiting for me.”

Rabbit Girl is a tale of two lives that meet in a pet shop. It begins back in 1934 Ireland, when five-year old Tony is taken to say goodbye to his dead mother. Too soon, his father has to go to London to find work, leaving Tony with a neighbour, Mrs Mooney, and the bullying of the local rabbit catcher’s sons. A year later, his father returns to collect Tony and take him back to life in a room in a tenement block, and the occasional care of kindly Doris.

Eventually, as time goes on, Tony returns to the green of the countryside, but as an evacuee, extra labour for a farmer whose son is away.

The hard tale of Tony’s life is balanced and warmed by the character from the present day: Mallie, a lively fifteen year old girl. Although Mallie has problems, being almost a carer for her mother who is a depressed artist, the pages are very much brightened by the jokes, laughter and fun that Mallie shares with her bold best friend Jamila throughout the book: a most wonderfully described relationship.

Mallie is desperate for money to buy her mum a birthday present so she takes on a secret part time job in a pet shop, offered to her by Steve, the man behind the counter, who is caretaking the shop while his dad is in a convalescent home.

Mallie copes with many trials and tribulations, including fear of her job being discovered, the return of Mr Armstrong the ill-tempered pet-shop owner, as well as her attempts - encouraged by Jamila - to bring employment and happiness into her own mother’s life.

Mary Arrigan skilfully weaves chapters from the past among Mallie’s modern life. Gradually we learn about Tony’s friendship with his fellow evacuee Alice during war time among the Lakeland fells. We also discover, as Tony and Alice do, another important character -  a woman farmer and artist at Hill Top Farm, Windermere - and about a drawing of rabbits among green grass that brings rage so many years later.

I felt the writing style of this book was very nicely judged for the older junior/KS2 or the young teen reader.  Although Mary Arrigan tells the story lightly and almost swiftly, her scenes still captures the impact of moments of pain or sadness. I also liked the way she offers a non-simplistic approach to past times, hinting at the true economic necessity behind what now seems like harsh treatment.

Bit by bit, the reader, often alongside the memorable Mallie, understands the reasons behind the older characters behaviour and actions and the story circles round in a satisfying way.  An enjoyable and thoughtful book.

 

By the way, all this is written in awareness of the particular surname, Dolan, that Mary Arrigan gave to that rabbit catcher and his bullying sons.

Penny Dolan

www.pennydolan.com

The Rabbit Girl by Mary Arrigan. Published by Frances Lincoln at £6.99.

ISBN 978-1-84780-156-2

www.maryarrigan.com

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