Hélène has been inexplicably ostracized by the girls who were once her friends. Her school life is full of whispers and lies — Hélène weighs 216; she smells like BO. Her loving mother is too tired to be any help. Fortunately, Hélène has one consolation, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
Hélène identifies strongly with Jane’s tribulations, and when she is
lost in the pages of this wonderful book, she is able to ignore her
tormentors. But when Hélène is humiliated on a class trip in front of
her entire grade, she needs more than a fictional character to allow her
to see herself as a person deserving of laughter and friendship.
I read this album for my Brontë project, I found it in the Children section of my library.
The story has a parallel with Jane Eyre, Hélène loving the novel, and finding a friend who supports her in a hostile environment like the other Helen did. I was disappointed by the fox, though, you don't see much of him !
I didn't like the illustrations at first, yet I have to admit that they wonderfully fit the story, with the dull, grey drawings at school and the colourful pages when Hélène reads about Jane - or meets the fox.
In this album, Hélène deals with her identity, with bullying, the loss of friends for no good reasons, so I think it's perfect for people, children or not, who have problems with their image and self-esteem. I probably won't remember it for ever, but I'm glad I read it.
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