Review by Booklist Review
The epic tale of Les Miserables is retold in comic-book style for younger readers. Watercolor-and ink-illustrations are filled with myriad details and do a commendable job of showing the classic story of injustice, redemption, and love. Told in concise language, the narration is placed under its corresponding illustration, and the dialogue is shown in speech bubbles. The colorful drawings are framed in a variety of sizes; sometimes, one illustration takes up an entire page, and at other times, several smaller vignettes appear on a single page. The artist's inclusion of rats, cats, and mice cavorting outside the framed pictures seems disconnected to the seriousness of the tale, which involves death, suicide, and revolution. Even within the framed pictures, there appear smiling squirrels and cats walking on two legs. Those quibbles aside, this is essentially a good introduction to the classic tale for middle-grade readers.--Owen, Maryann Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Williams's sweet-tempered pen-and-ink drawings take some of the sting out of the misery of Hugo's original-but not much. Jean Valjean's seesaw journey between sin and redemption personifies the misery of Second Empire France. At times, Williams's familiar comics sequences seem disconcertingly light in contrast to the harsh setting, with toy-size cats and mice pursuing each other around the margins as the human characters suffer within. Yet the wealth of her imagination brings the tale to life for readers who may already have encountered the story in the form of the musical or its soundtrack. She keeps all the characters straight, summarizes the twists and turns of the story clearly, and uses oblong panels like stage sets with lucid narration beneath, while dialogue appears in speech balloons. The famed sequence in the sewers is rendered in typical style as mice journey through the sludge with Valjean and a cat sits watching on a bridge as Valjean's nemesis Javert ends his life in the Seine below. It's an unimpeachable resource, if not always an easy one to enjoy. Ages 8-12. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Williams introduces the characters and plot of Hugo's classic novel in 15 short chapters presented in comic strip format with brief narrative text placed beneath each cartoon illustration. Characters' own comments appear in speech balloons within the cartoon frames. This is the story of Jean Valjean, who leaves prison a bitter man after having served 19 years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread; Valjean's honorable treatment by the Bishop of Digne after he steals the man's silverware; his remorse after taking a young boy's only coin; and his decision to spend his life helping others. Readers familiar with the classic story will recognize his later appearance in the city of Montreuil as a kind and successful businessman who hires honest, hardworking people. Valjean makes a promise to the dying Fantine to care for her young daughter, Cosette, endearing him to the people who appoint him their mayor. Only the single-minded Inspector Javert is convinced that Valjean continues to break the law. Williams's talent for telling a story in cartoon format is evidenced by the variety in her page layouts, which range in size from tiny squares to quarter-, third-, and full-page cartoons filled with movement, emotion, and fine detail. Small gray, brown, and black birds; dogs with pointy muzzles; fluffy orange, gray and black cats; roosters; and an abundance of rats appear in and around many cartoon cells. Good people are drawn with rounded, often cute, faces; evil people, like the Thénardiers, with long, pointy noses and shifty eyes. VERDICT Children who are daunted by the length of Hugo's masterpiece may find this brief introduction to the story more palatable.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Colorful detail and an adroit comic-book layout make this retelling especially charming and eminently humane. Along the borders of each page, cats chase mice and rats frolic in sewer sludge in echo of Valjean's long journey to escape Javert and provide a home for his beloved Cosette. As it condenses an immensely complicated novel, brevity is both this volume's greatest feature and its limitation. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In typically buoyant cartoons, Williams presents a prcis of Hugo's epic. It's hard to imagine an illustrator less suited to this exhausting story and vice versa. In sequential panels large and small, Valjean and the other characters appear in picturesquely patched and rumpled costume. The background slums, sewers and, in later scenes, barricades are atmospherically stained and littered with detritus, but even during the most desperate and tragic events there are smiles and stage antics on view. Small birds, busy rats and cats, sprigs of garland and like decorative motifs add entertaining distractions within the pictures and along the borders of every page. Furthermore, even if portions of the dialogue enclosed in the speech balloons are credibly translated from the original, some of them have a jarringly jocular ring: "Since I am not arrested and I have things to do, I'm going"; "The old geezer and his daughter are on their way." In contrast to the lively, fluidly drawn watercolors, the lines or blocks of narrative running beneath every picture offer a dry, past-tense plot summary that may possibly be helpful to assignment-driven slackers but go on long enough to try the interest of younger readers. An epic muddle, all in all. (Graphic fiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
