Inseparable threesome
It’s time for Crocus the snake to leave the swamp and see the world. Along the way, he meets the Tulip bear, who invites him to his home, where he is about to hibernate with his mother. While they are comfortably curled up in the cave, Violette, the lonely little bird, finds herself stuck in the chimney. It is in this comforting daily life that the unlikely trio befriends. With The friends club — the first volume in this comic book series — Sophie Guerrive offers an animal fable punctuated with moments that enrich the course of the days. Camped in a warm atmosphere, where the smell of jam and cake mingles with the heat of the fire, the sensitive characters awaken to the world with candor, fear the Impolite Monster and the Leafy, evil beings evoked by the mother, smile corner, as a way of discovering life. The minimalist and expressive illustrations of Guerrive leave plenty of room for the emotions experienced by the characters. A wonder.
Marie Fradette
The club of friends volume 1
★★★★
Sophie Guerrive, 2024 editions, Strasbourg, 2023, 56 pages. From 8 to 12 years old (released on March 14).
jellyfish expedition
Somewhere in the Arctic Ocean, at the northernmost point of the planet, the DD Morley navigates the icy waters to observe the elusive giant arctic jellyfish. A specimen that everyone is talking about, but no one has ever seen. While scientists explore the deep waters, digging for months to see the amazing creature, the reader, accomplice, can follow the specimen throughout the crossing. In The giant arctic jellyfish, Chloe Savage portrays this story, punctuated by the occupations and the hopes of the crew, in a setting rarely presented in children’s literature. Playing with contrasts, she offers striking paintings in which every detail counts. The liner, bright red, glides on the white ice, under which the blue immensity reveals its riches. Savage’s photographic style — reminiscent of Michael Foreman’s — evokes the convivial atmosphere that reigns on deck as well as in the compartments of the boat. Captivating.
Marie Fradette
The giant arctic jellyfish
★★★★
Chloe Savage, translated by Anne Léonard, Albin Michel, Paris, 2023, 32 pages. From 5 years old.
Friendship Disappointed
ghosted, a collection of poems in free verse by Sara Dignard, is first and foremost the story of a love at first sight of friendship: “day 1 of secondary 1 / you adopted her / your chosen sister”. In her address in the second person singular, the narrator recounts her friendship with “Léo / the one who crosses the line / rebellious / the one who opens the way / as a scout”. An intimate and fulfilled complicity that accompanies him throughout high school, allowing him to emancipate himself and to anchor himself in the world. But now Léo is gradually distancing himself, multiplying the signs of rupture: “Léo escapes you / she flees you takes detours / avoids / your pothole eyes”. Hardly absorbing the shock, the narrator gives us the difficult journey through this first mourning, where despair and resignation follow one another: “you learn to stitch up the wound / expose it to the light of day / proud of your scar”. A vibrant writing, in the depths of pain, on the edge of rediscovered joy.
Yannick Marcoux
Solidarity
★★★1/2
Sar Dignard, Boréal, “Icebreaker”, Montreal, 2023, 112 pages. From 12 years old.
Change the world with friends
For its 30th anniversary, Écosociété is launching a new collection, “Radar”, aimed at a readership of teenagers and young adults. Two attempts kick things off: Gafam, the five-headed monsterby Philippe Gendreau, and Engage in friendship, by Camille Toffoli. She has “the conviction that it is through human encounters that ideas take shape”. Her essay addresses friendship in various facets — from feminist, masculine or sporting friendships, to friendly roommates, in particular — drawing inspiration from her experiences and those of people she meets to deconstruct our a priori on the models of friendship, while seeking to enhance its importance. According to her, “the world in which we evolve is organized in a way that prevents us from grasping the full potential of friendships”. With sensitivity and transparency, Camille Toffoli invites us to a gentle transgression, where friendship is free, engaging and emancipatory.
Yannick Marcoux
Engage in friendship
★★★★
Camille Toffoli, Écosociété, “Radar”, Montreal, 2023, 136 pages. From 13 years old.