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"From the author of The Arab of the Future, comes the first book in a bestselling series of graphic novels that follow the ... true life of a real girl growing up in Paris. Every week, the comic book artist Riad Sattouf has a chat with his friend's 10-year old daughter Esther. She tells him about her life, her family, her school, her friends, her hopes, her dreams, and her fears. And then he creates a one-page comic strip based on what she says. This book is a collection of 156 of those strips, comprising the first three volumes as they appeared in Europe, spanning Esther's life from age 10 to 12"--
About the author
RIAD SATTOUF is a best-selling cartoonist and filmmaker who grew up in Libya and Syria and now lives in Paris.
Esther’s Notebooks has been adapted for a popular animated series in France and has been translated into eight languages. In 2016, Sattouf was named a Knight in France’s Order of Arts and Letters.
riadsattouf.com
Summary
The author of The Arab of the Future chronicles the hilarious and heartbreaking true life of a young girl growing up in Paris.
"Funny, well-observed...contains immense daring and depth...Sattouf has drawn a portrait of a generation." —Observer, "Graphic Novel of the Month"
Once a week for three years, the comic book artist Riad Sattouf had a chat with his friend’s outgoing young daughter, Esther, in which she told him about her family, her school, her friends, her hopes, her dreams, and her fears. After each meeting, he would create a one-page comic strip based on what she had said. Esther’s Notebooks gathers 156 of those strips, spanning Esther’s life from ages nine through twelve, giving us a delightful look into the daily dramas of this thoughtful, intelligent, and high-spirited girl.
As The Guardian noted: “Each page of Esther’s Notebooks is self-contained—there’s usually a neat punchline—but read them all, and you come to see that Sattouf has drawn a portrait of a generation: their hopes, dreams and cultural references; the way that their personalities, backgrounds—many of the children portrayed have parents who are immigrants—and preconceived ideas about sexuality begin to play out even before they’ve begun secondary school. The result is a bit like a cartoon version of Michael Apted’s landmark TV series, Up. These funny, well-observed comics are fantastically daring.”
