Dear Readers,

the review of this week will be a rather short one. I’m gonna show you what the book is about and what I think about it. No talk about the cover or any analytical parts. I’m sorry about this short version, but I’m pretty stressed out in the moment, so this is sort of a compromise between not writing at all and getting stressed caused anxiety because of not having enough time for my actual work. I hope you like it anyway.

White All Around by Wilfrid Lupano (Writer) and Stephane Fert (Artist and Colorist) is the first graphic novel I read besides the Batman comics from the DC Universe (in Germany published by Panini Comics). It is the first one, but it will definitely not be the last one. It’s great to see what art can deliver and to have a bit of variety to usual novels. It was published on 20th January 2021 as an eBook with 140 pages.

What is White all Around about? (Summary found on Goodreads)
Canterbury, Connecticut, 1832: a charming female boarding school has found success among the locals, with two dozen girls enrolled. Some in town question the purpose of educating young girls—but surely there’s no harm in trying? At least not until the Prudence Crandall School announces its plans to start accepting black students. Thirty years before the abolition of slavery in the United States, in the so-called “free” North, these students will be met by a wave of hostility that puts the future of the school in question, and their very lives in peril. Even in the land of the free, not all of America’s children are welcome.

My Opinion: White All Around is no character based story. It doesn’t tell thoughts and the development of one or more characters, instead historical facts have been incorporated in an appealing and fulfilling way. I was shocked about the intolerance of the people in the town and knowing that this is based on real actions, makes it even worse. But I think that’s exactly what historical literature should do: It should raise attention for the issues and errors of the past times to avoid them in the present and future. This graphic novel opens eyes for racism, sexism and intolerance in general, which needs to be done more often. An appropriate Fore- and Afterword provides background knowledge about the setting and situation of the story. All in all it’s a greatly drawn graphic novel, which hopefully may invite more people to read about historical events.

Have a gorgeous week,
Aly