Beka (1)

Grace has decided to confess her feelings to Abe. But when she shows up to tell him, she overhears him on the phone with someone who cannot be “just a friend”. Grace teams up with Lola to investigate who the mystery girl is and they immediately go to Charlie, the girl who knows everybody’s business. But Charlie has her own secret: she’s dating Abe!

I’m not one to usually care too much about romance, especially in young adult / middle grade, as a thirty-three year-old woman, it’s show more not my story. But I picked up the first volume of this series simply because of the cover and the beautiful artwork, and even though it has a heavy focus on romance, it’s not only about romance. In this particular volume, Abe actually deals with believing he’s “ugly, but nice”. New student Gabriel talks to a figment of his imagination and of course gets bullied by Sean for it. When Adele gets her period for the first time and has horrible cramps, a male physical education teacher makes a joke of it and refuses to believe her pain. There’s an “ugliest couple” contest going around (run by Sean). Collette even sends a risky photo to Sean, who uses it as blackmail against her.

Besides the amazing artwork and beautiful color pallet, this graphic novel is more than just romance, so don’t let the name scare you off!

Overall, I enjoyed how this book really focuses on the tween drama of “first” loves. Of course, it is with a bit of a French twist, so it's a slightly different viewpoint than America, but still fun and enjoyable. Readers who like Raina Telemaier would also enjoy this as well. show less

This story takes us to the land of monsters where everything we normally teach children is exactly the opposite. It’s good to be late for school. It’s good not to turn in your homework and it’s good to have lice. Flop however doesn’t believe any of that, and he’s a bit of an oddball among all the monsters. When given a chance to go into the forbidden forest, he does, and finds out that it’s the forest of kindness, full of bright colors, rainbows, and happiness. He loves it. show more However, the story ends abruptly and there is no closure, so it feels left up in the air which makes the whole thing a so-so read. show less

Not going to lie it had me in the first half with all the bimbo talk and the eye-roll-worthy “not all blondes are stupid. I like books, kay.” I had to remind myself the target audience is younger kids.


But the latter half had a good message without being preachy. For example, many times people are only in love with the idea of a person, love isn’t always enough and relationships end, and people that love you don’t throw you away.

I think this captured middle school drama well and show more Grace’s feelings about her parents. The artwork was also super cute. I enjoyed Adele as an addition to the team. She needed some genuine female friends.

2.5 show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3421393.html

I was a bit annoyed to realise, soon after starting, that I had actually got a Dutch translation of the original French bande dessinée - Le jour où le bus est reparti sans elle. It was fairly easy to spot because the architecture of the city where our protagonist lives is very obviously Parisian. The creators are a bit less obvious; the writer is credited as "Béka", the joint pseudonym of Bertrand Escaich and Caroline Roque, and the artist as show more "Marko", the pen-name of Marc Armspach. Maëla Cosson seems to be the colorist's real name, but the Dutch-language translator is identified only as "Xmed". I'm not in a position to judge how accurate the translation is, but it's idiomatic and comfortable at least.

The first book is rather charming, as Clementien (presumably Clémentine in the original), heading off to a yoga weekend with a bunch of people she doesn't know, is left behind during a pit stop and approaches enlightenment with Antoine, the wise and kindly owner of the roadside motel/café where she has ended up. Many Zen parables are told. Recommended. show less