Nowhere Girl

by Magali Le Huche

Overview

The story of a young Parisian girl lost in the gulf between childhood and adulthood, navigating depression... and discovering the Beatles.

“Le Huche deftly handles complex feelings about growing up in a soft visual style, similar to Reimena Yee's Séance Tea Party (2021).”
—Booklist

“...A a sumptuous feast for the eyes, especially when Magali’s inner thoughts spill out onto the page...a tribute to the incomparable Fab Four through the lens of a childhood obsession.”
—School Library Journal

This is the story of a girl growing up in the 1990s – a middle-schooler who finds herself developing paralyzing fears of failure, school, other people, and her own changing body. Along the way, she becomes obsessed with the Beatles... which might be just what she needs to find her way back to being okay. Yeah yeah yeah!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913123192
Publisher:	Flying Eye Books Ltd.
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	624,729
Product dimensions:	6.75(w) x 8.88(h) x 0.49(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Magali Le Huche was born in Paris in 1979. She spent five years at the school of decorative arts in Strasbourg, three of which she spent specializing in illustration. She left the school in 2004 and came back to Paris with her first two children's books tucked under her arm: Les Sirènes de Belpêchao (Didier, 2005) and Bertille Bonnepoire (Sarbacane, 2006). Ever since then, she's been working regularly as an author and illustrator for the press and children's publishing.

Editorial Reviews

08/29/2022

All aboard the yellow submarine with Le Huche, an illustrator of children’s books (the Poppy Music series), who delves into her coming of age against the soundtrack of the Beatles in this charming debut graphic memoir. As an 11-year-old Parisian, Magali is about to start middle school but worries about living up to her sister’s high marks, and finds the tween schoolyard vibe alarming (“No one’s playing,” she observes of the tweens loitering before the bell). She develops a school phobia and feels like “everything became a matter of life or death.” But when Magali stumbles across the Beatles and falls for their sound, she starts to gain control over her anxiety, “ to them like a new security blanket.” She writes that she was “always a groupie at heart,” and John, Paul, George, and Ringo offer Magali “an outlet for all anger and despair.” Le Huche’s art style has a quick and lively quality that lets the characters move freely on the busy pages, which can recall Pénélope Bagieu’s. Floating narration can make some scenes hard to read, but her use of color to distinguish Magali and the British rockers is wonderfully executed. As Magali conquers her fears, readers may even be inspired to rock out to the oldies themselves. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Selected for the CBC's September 2022 Hot Off the Press reading list

“Le Huche’s art is a sumptuous feast for the eyes, especially when Magali’s inner thoughts spill out onto the page...a tribute to the incomparable Fab Four through the lens of a childhood obsession.”
—School Library Journal

“Le Huche deftly handles complex feelings about growing up in a soft visual style, similar to Reimena Yee's Séance Tea Party (2021).”
—Booklist

From the Publisher

10/14/2022

Gr 8 Up—Middle school can be harrowing, no matter the circumstance. Eleven-year-old Magali begins to harbor suspicions that starting sixth grade at one of the premier schools in Paris won't be the lark she thought. Magali's high-achieving sister seems to breeze through school, so why is it getting harder and harder for Magali to get out of bed in the morning? Her anxiety grows like a living, breathing creature—each day finding another corner in Magali's mind to occupy. Pretty soon the mere thought of attending class makes her physically ill, to the point where her desperate parents pull her out of school completely. As though her brain is trying to make it up to her, Magali's internal world grows richer by the day, beginning with her discovery of the Beatles. Languishing in her imagination with Paul, John, George, and Ringo is time better spent than at the imposing Massillon school. Magali's friends wonder if she'll ever attend school in person again. Le Huche's art is a sumptuous feast for the eyes, especially when Magali's inner thoughts spill out onto the page, though admittedly the font is difficult to read at times. This graphic novel is a noble attempt at revealing the intricacies of an anxiety disorder and a tribute to the incomparable Fab Four through the lens of a childhood obsession. VERDICT Worth a purchase, but Raina Telgemeier's Guts may be a stronger choice for middle grade books about anxiety.—Michael Marie Jacobs

School Library Journal