> Search in oneself
It’s back to school. Long-standing friendships may not pass in the fall. Who knows if, in a new class, the one who had sworn loyalty will not find another sidekick, with whom she will play the same games, without a glance for her ex-best friend? The frame of this book, written by American youth author Charlotte Zolotow in the 1960s, is simple and straightforward. A child sees his best friend preferring another. No happy ending, no heavy morals: he makes up his mind, alone in his bed, and hopes that one day his sorrow will end. Accompanied by the woody and playful drawings of Benjamin Chaud, the story is without overhang, without adult, where one will seek consolation in oneself.
Friendships, by Charlotte Zolotow and Benjamin Chaud, translated from the American by Nadine Robert (Little Urban, 40 pages, 14.50 euros). From 3 years old.
> Question of imbalance
The schoolyard is Santa Barbara. “She’s no longer my girlfriend”, “He’s my new best friend in the world” : each recreation contains the ingredients of a soap opera. But these ritualistic phrases should not make parents, passive spectators of this daily melodrama, forget the intensity of the feelings which provoke them. In this album, there are Red Toad and White Toad. They are very good friends and live together. The first has lots of friends, he likes to see, mix, share. The second only loves Red Toad and does not understand why he is not enough for his boyfriend. It is this imbalance that is at issue, and the jealousy, guilt and rage that this need for exclusivity arouses. No moral judgment here, just a narrative to relate to when struggling to share ” best friend “.
It doesn’t matter, my toad, by Soyung Lee (Les Editions des éléphants, 48 pages, 15 euros). From 4 years old.
> Realistic mechanics
The graphic bias of this album is unsettling. Ultra-realistic drawings, expressive portraits of children, very unusual in the world of children’s publishing. The narrator, a little girl in elementary school, recounts the arrival of a new one in the class, Maya. By group reflex, but also because Maya is different, the children abuse her. Her clothes are not new, her toys are worn. In this story revolves the mechanics of peer pressure, the pressure that children exert on each other, and that of bullying, the harassment. We can regret a very “North American” narrative, drawing towards emotion, good feelings and sometimes – dare we? – silliness, but it is effective.
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