A deeply emotional graphic memoir of a young woman’s struggles with self-esteem and body image issues. All Marie-Noëlle wants is to be thin and beautiful. She wishes that her thighs were slimmer, that her stomach lay flatter. Maybe then her parents wouldn’t make fun of her eating habits at family dinners, the girls at school wouldn’t call her ugly, and the boy she likes would ask her out. This all-too-relatable memoir follows Marie-Noëlle from childhood to her twenties, as she navigates what it means to be born into a body that doesn’t fall within society’s beauty standards. When, as a young teen, Marie-Noëlle begins a fitness regime in an effort to change her body, her obsession with her weight and size only grows and she begins having suicidal thoughts. Fortunately for Marie-Noëlle, a friend points her in the direction of therapy, and slowly, she begins to realize that she doesn’t need the approval of others to feel whole. Marie-Noëlle Hébert’s debut graphic memoir is visually stunning and drawn entirely in graphite pencil, depicting a deeply personal and emotional journey that encourages us to all be ourselves without apology. Praise for Marie-Noëlle Hébert and La grosse laide: Winner Prix des Libraires du Québec — Graphic Novel, 2020 “A powerful, thrilling read!” — Jimmy Beaulieu, author and illustrator “Created entirely in graphite pencil, this work, if only for the skill of its artist to realistically portray the intense emotions within, is a thousand times worth the detour.” — Isabelle Beaulieu, revue Les libraires Praise for author María Quintana Silva and illustrator Marie-Noëlle Hébert for Kalak’s Journey: “Hébert’s textured, mostly black-and-white illustrations, done in what looks like graphite and with touches of colored pencil, lend themselves to the tenuousness of the storks’ journey.” — Kirkus Reviews “[G]rayscale illustrations, done in pencil, fill each page or spread and reinforce the tone of the story by echoing Kalak’s apprehension and outright fear.” — School Library Journal Shelley Tanaka is an award-winning author, translator and editor. She has written more than twenty books for children and young adults, winning the Orbis Pictus Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Science in Society Book Award and the Information Book Award, and she has twice been nominated for the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis. Other honors include Texas Blue Bonnet runner-up, School Library Journal Best Books, ALA Notables and IRA Young Adults’ Choice. Her translation of Michel Noel’s Good for Nothing won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and was on the IBBY Honor List (Commended). Shelley teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts, in the MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Kingston, Ontario. |