Some of the panels in this graphic novel are quite artistic, but most are very bland instead. There is not much action, but instead, many panels are just closeups of characters' faces. Other than that the story is a classic telling of a teenaged Jewish girl forced into hiding when Nazi soldiers roundup students in her school. Much like the historic figure, Anne Frank, people supply her with food while she hides. Also like Anne Frank, the girl falls in love with one of her benefactors.
 | Description from the author's website: In R. J. Palacio’s bestselling collection of stories Auggie & Me, which expands on characters in Wonder, readers were introduced to Julian’s grandmother, Grandmère. Here, Palacio makes her graphic novel debut with Grandmère’s heartrending story: how she, a young Jewish girl, was hidden by a family in a Nazi-occupied French village during World War II; how the boy she and her classmates once shunned became her savior and best friend. |
The story is simple enough, and I was buying into the whole concept. This is the backstory for one of the character's in the best-selling Wonder. The boy in that book appears in this one, as well, when he video calls his grandmother and asks her about her life story, which turns into the the frightening hideout situation. It's a decent telling, but I never could find a purpose in it being told through the panels of a graphic novel.
Then there is the last section, when the book returns to Julian and his grandmère. Sara hangs up from her call with Julian after telling him that people fail to learn from history and they stand around when they could join together and fight back against injustices. Picking up a newspaper, she is overwhelmed by the headlines. Somehow this author has equated the graphic slaughter of six million people during the Holocaust with Former President Trump's policies. In a single panel of her book, she shoves a bold political statement into faces of her readers. Suddenly building a wall, separating immigrant children from their parents, anti-semitism and "Islamophobia" are all blamed on a single person without any consideration of context. The "oppression" of other groups is also called into question in a protest. It is a call to action, entirely promoted by the author. While she doesn't promote it, she also does not draw the line between protests and rioting.
I can say that I didn't like the original Wonder story, but White Bird would have been fine (though not at all original); unfortunately, the inclusion of current politics really ruined it for me. In the back material following the story, another author even makes a statement that whether the reader agrees with Palacio's partisan depiction of current events, you must agree to her conclusions.
Here's the second of the 2021/2 Mark Twain Award nominees, and I'm still waiting to be impressed.
Then there is the last section, when the book returns to Julian and his grandmère. Sara hangs up from her call with Julian after telling him that people fail to learn from history and they stand around when they could join together and fight back against injustices. Picking up a newspaper, she is overwhelmed by the headlines. Somehow this author has equated the graphic slaughter of six million people during the Holocaust with Former President Trump's policies. In a single panel of her book, she shoves a bold political statement into faces of her readers. Suddenly building a wall, separating immigrant children from their parents, anti-semitism and "Islamophobia" are all blamed on a single person without any consideration of context. The "oppression" of other groups is also called into question in a protest. It is a call to action, entirely promoted by the author. While she doesn't promote it, she also does not draw the line between protests and rioting.
I can say that I didn't like the original Wonder story, but White Bird would have been fine (though not at all original); unfortunately, the inclusion of current politics really ruined it for me. In the back material following the story, another author even makes a statement that whether the reader agrees with Palacio's partisan depiction of current events, you must agree to her conclusions.
Here's the second of the 2021/2 Mark Twain Award nominees, and I'm still waiting to be impressed.
