Fanny Britt

Jane, the Fox and Me by Fanny Britt with artwork by Isabelle Arsenault is both beautifully told and drawn. The artwork is soft but with sudden colorful and eyecatching items that draw the reader’s attention and play up the power of one’s imagination.

This is the story of Helene, a young girl who escapes being bullied by reading Jane Eyre and pretending utter indifference even though she has taken every insult to heart and feels worthless. When her class is sent to a Nature Camp she finds show more herself in the “Outcast” tent. One evening she has an encounter with a fox who appears to represent hope. The fox disappears but shortly afterwards a new girl arrives at the Outcast tent and suddenly Helene has a friend and all the outcasts find themselves bonding. Having someone to talk to, laugh with and share things brings both light and color into Helene’s life.

Jane, the Fox and Me is wonderful example of what a graphic novel can do. It’s emotional honesty in showing the damage that casual brutality can do to a child is harrowing. When she finds a friend we are reassured that in connecting with another, Helene will be able to move on. Jane, The Fox and Me is a bittersweet story that I think makes it’s point through both it’s words and it’s artwork. show less

Jane, the Fox and Me is a graphic novel by French Canadian author Fanny Britt about a lonely girl who finds refuge in reading Jane Eyre. For Helene, Charlotte Brontë's novel is a way of hiding from the girls in her class who bully her, a way of hiding how alone she is, and a genuine escape into the life of a girl who persevered, looked clearly at things, and triumphed in the end. Her mother, struggling to raise Helene and her two younger brothers, doesn't help Helene's lack of confidence by show more worrying about how much Helene eats. Then a class excursion is announced, and Helene has something new to dread -- a week of camp with her entire class, which everyone else seems to be looking forward to.

The illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault are really lovely, switching between black and white panels in a traditional comic book set-up with larger panels, often full page, in full color and a more painterly style. The illustrations of the parks and woods are especially beautiful. The style in which the characters are drawn remind me of Kate Beaton's (of Hark! A Vagrant fame) style; deceptively simple, but with an uncanny ability to render expression.

Jane, the Fox and Me successfully combines an unhappy and bleak reality with a sense of optimism and hope. The conclusion of the book was realistic, but satisfying and lovely as well. show less

CW: Bullying

Well that hurt.

I think it's safe to say that we have all been the person who is on the outside at some point in our lives, so it's hard not to connect with the feelings portrayed so incredibly well in this powerful graphic novel. If you have children in your life that you love then you will understand the pain of rejection on a deeper level because of the time they came home and no one wanted to be in a group with them, or the time everyone got a party invite except them, or the show more time everyone said they couldn't play hopscotch with the group. You know that pain don't you? Well this book captures it perfectly.

If you have children in your life that you love then you will also understand the feeling of bubbling joy when they came home with their first friendship bracelet, when they scored a goal and the whole team gave them high fives, and the time when the class clapped and cheered after their amazing performance. Well that warmth and joy is captured wonderfully in this book too.

I loved it. show less

This middle-grade graphic novel by Quebec author Fanny Britt is set in Montreal and translated from the original French. I loved the illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault, and I want to look for more of her work. She did award-winning illustrations for a Virginia Woolf book by Kyo Maclear, so I'll look for that first.

Hélène is a young girl from a poor background who is being bullied at school by girls who once were her friends. A lot of the teasing focuses on her weight, although she's show more actually not heavy. She reads Jane Eyre every day on the bus, and this escape is portrayed in gentle, genial watercolors, in contrast to the grays of her bullied life. On a school camping trip, she meets the fox, and that in turn leads to friendship with fellow outcast Géraldine. That friendship changes her world.

It's a story well told, with a positive message for victims of bullying. Older readers will enjoy it, too, as my wife and I did. show less