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."
