[Review] Lulu and Nelson, volume 1: Heading for Africa – Girard, Omont & Neyret

Features

A new series of adventure comics for children

First volume of Lulu and Nelson, a new series of youth comics created by Charlotte Girard, Jean-Marie Omont and Aurélie Neyret (the illustrator behind Les carnets de Cerise), Cap sur l'Afrique allows us to meet Lucia known as “Lulu”, a little girl from the 1960s who lives among the lions in the circus run by her parents, a couple of tamers, until her mother dies after being attacked by a beast and a fire kills the lion. remains of the lions some time later.

Teaching the boy how to use a @PorterCable plunge router with @Rockler Mortise Centering Router Base to install front door weather insert.

— Mark Lawler Sat Feb 14 18:50:52 +0000 2015

Determined to find lions to revive the circus with her father while the latter would prefer to know her safe at school, Lulu embarks one evening on a cargo ship bound for Africa to buy lions in a reserve. She is joined in extremis by her father as the boat pulls away, but their arrival in apartheid-torn South Africa will not be easy. Fortunately, she can count on the help of a new friend, a little black boy named Nelson, whose militant father is in prison...

A story at the height of a child, between escape and pedagogy

This first album makes it possible to introduce the young heroes in a way that is both simple and effective. We find in Lulu and Nelson what was already the quality of the Carnets de Cerise: endearing characters, a sense of adventure that speaks to children from 8-9 years old and an educational dimension well integrated into a gripping narration. The authors place themselves at a child's level when discussing issues such as apartheid, so young readers will have no trouble identifying with Lulu and Nelson, even though their story begins in 1964. There is here a narrative outline (not as easy to obtain as one might think) which fully contributes to the quality of this first volume. Children will be able to read it as easily as it is enjoyable.

From a graphic point of view, the drawing and the color are again of high quality. If the rendering is consistent with what Aurélie Neyret already offers in the Carnets de Cerise, Lulu et Nelson has a real visual identity, with a beautiful palette of colors that evoke Africa (and in particular its sky) and the 60s (more “sepia” shades without falling into the cliché). There are still a lot of nuances, sensitivity and softness that emerges from the whole.

The series is now in volume 3. If you still hesitate to offer this comic to a child who liked the Cherry Notebooks or adventure comics, you can go on this series with confidence.

Article written by Natacha Fleurot.