Jane, the Fox, and Me
Fanny Britt & Isabelle Arsenault
- Original Title
- Jane, le renard & moi
- Published
- Les Éditions de la Pastèque, 2012
- Genre
- Graphic novels
- Pages
- 101
- Rights Sold
- English
Simplified Chinese
Spanish
Italian
German
Korean
Russian
Japanese
Portuguese
Swedish
Chinese (traditional) - Tags
- Fanny Britt, Isabelle Arsenault, Jane le renard & moi, La Pastèque
Jane, the Fox, and Me
Fanny Britt & Isabelle Arsenault
Hélène has been inexplicably ostracized by the girls who were once her friends. Her school life is full of whispers and lies: “Hélène weighs 216”; “she smells like BO.” Her loving mother is too tired to be any help. Fortunately, Hélène has one consolation, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Hélène identifies strongly with Jane’s tribulations, and when she is lost in the pages of this wonderful book, she is able to ignore her tormentors. But when Hélène is humiliated on a class trip in front of her entire grade, she needs more than a fictional character to see herself as a person deserving of laughter and friendship.
This emotionally honest and visually stunning graphic novel reveals the casual brutality of which young people are capable, but also assures readers that redemption can be found through connecting with another, whether the other is a friend, a fictional character or even, amazingly, a fox.
- Press voices
- "Loneliness is a language that doesn’t need translation.... It’s a language understood by anyone who has endured the interminable wait for a Géraldine of her own." — The New York Times
“A sensitive and possibly reassuring take on a psychological vulnerability that is all too common and not easily defended.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Strictly speaking, Jane, the Fox, and Me is intended for younger readers…. However, this is a graphic novel so well drawn and beautifully told, I'm certain it will speak to adults, too…painfully evocative” – Rachel Cooke, The Guardian
“Written by Fanny Britt and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault — who also gave us the magnificent Virginia Wolf, one of the best children’s books of 2012 — this masterpiece of storytelling is as emotionally honest and psychologically insightful as it is graphically stunning…an absolute treasure that blends the realities of children’s capacity to be cruel, the possibilities of transcending our own psychological traps, and literature’s power to nourish, comfort, and transform.” – Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
"Readers will be delighted to see Helene’s world change as she grows up, learning to ignore the mean girls and realizing that, like Jane, she is worthy of friendship and love." — School Library Journal, Starred Review
"Hélène’s emotional tangle is given poignant expression through Arsenault’s pitch-perfect mixed-media art . . . [Her] story is sweetly comforting and compelling." — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Starred Review
"Britt’s poetic prose captures Hélène’s heartbreaking isolation . . . [A] brutally beautiful story." — Horn Book, starred review
“A sensitive and moving testament to the power of reading, as well as a tale of a young girl overcoming loneliness and bullying, this beautiful book will resonate with children and yet is sophisticated enough to appeal to older teenagers and adults.” – BookTrust - Awards
- Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration (French)
Finalist for the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Children
Finalist for the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award
New York Times Best Illustrated Books
New York Public Library Books for Reading and Sharing
YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year
Globe and Mail Best Books