Gray Horses by Hope Larson
#38 in my 2007 book challenge is Hope Larson’s slim and lovely graphic novel Gray Horses.
Noemie is a French exchange student, on her own for the first time. In Onion City she befriends free-spirited Anna, a baker’s daugher who scultps in bread, and finds herself the target of a mysterious photographer–but it’s not until she falls asleep that things really get weird.
Larson’s art is beautiful and accessible, and the choice of two-tone color emphasizes it well. The story is both realistic and dreamy. All passages in French are translated, so this is a good book for beginning students of French. This book charmingly bucks the YA conventions of geeky boys and group acceptance. It’s evocative in both art and story. There is much for a reader to savor here. Recommended.