"Funny, well-observed...contains immense daring and depth...Sattouf has drawn a portrait of a generation." —Observer, "Graphic Novel of the Month"
Every week, the comic book artist Riad Sattouf has a chat with his friend’s 10-year old daughter, Esther. She tells him about her life, her family, her school, her friends, her hopes, her dreams and her fears. And then he creates a one-page comic strip based on what she says.
This book is a collection of 156 of those strips, comprising the first three volumes as they appeared in Europe, spanning Esther’s life from age 10 to 12.
As The Guardian noted: “Each page of Esther’s Notebooks is self-contained—there’s usually a neat punchline—but read them all, and you come to see that Sattouf has drawn a portrait of a generation: their hopes, dreams and cultural references; the way that their personalities, backgrounds—many of the children portrayed have parents who are immigrants—and preconceived ideas about sexuality begin to play out even before they’ve begun secondary school. The result is a bit like a cartoon version of Michael Apted’s landmark TV series, Up. These funny, well-observed comics are fantastically daring.”
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780593316924
Media Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication Date: 01-24-2023
Pages: 168
Product Dimensions: 9.50(w) x 11.80(h) x 0.90(d)
Series: Pantheon Graphic Library
About the Author
RIAD SATTOUF is a bestselling cartoonist and filmmaker who grew up in Syria and Libya and now lives in Paris. His autobiographical series The Arab of the Future has sold more than a million copies in France alone, won multiple prizes and been translated into sixteen languages. The Esther’s Notebooks series has sold over 900,000 copies, been adapted to a popular animated series and is being translated into eight languages. Riad was recently selected to become a member of the The Order of Arts and Letters, one of France’s highest honors.