SheHeWe

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Alex hosts a tea party and makes new friends. Drew soars through the sky, searching for adventure. Two kids play in a park, imagining they're somewhere else. The worlds of imagination and reality collide in this wordless comic.

The second book in the Three-Story Books series tells the story of a boy and girl and games they play, separately and together, through clever wordless comics. Each page is a three-by-three grid, with a row for her, a row for him, and a row for them. Lee Nordling's unique, simple, and elegant storytelling style is a great resource for very young readers and a gateway into critical thinking about multiple perspectives and points of view.

Reviews

Alex and Drew are both eager to play in the park. Alex is toting a stuffed rabbit, stuffed Pegasus, and supplies for a tea party, and Drew brings a pet dog. Alex's imagined world is light and breezy--the stuffed toys come to life and enjoy the tea party while smiling clouds look on. Meanwhile, Drew's fantasy world is darker--the dog becomes a dragon, and they both fly around volcanoes and spooky trees. This volume of the Three Story Books series structures the wordless narratives so Alex's story runs horizontally in the top row, Drew's occupies the middle row, and the bottom row shows what's really going on in the park as the two children play together. Readers can follow each story individually or read all three gradually intertwining tales together and imagine their own dialogue and narration. Bosch uses a different color palette for the highly detailed, cartoonish illustrations, while the clouds reveal clever hints along the way. The book ends with a neat twist on gender expectations that could spark meaningful discussions.--Booklist

Both literally and figuratively a three-story book, this follow-up to BirdCatDog (2014) and FishFishFish (2015) illustrates the fantasy adventures of a girl (she) and a boy (he), along with the real story of their picnic and playtime together (we). As this graphic novel is wordless, this book's design helps with the telling. The top two horizontal panels, edged with wavy lines, delineate the imaginary, gendered stories--hers in deep pink, his in purple. The bottom panel, edged with straight lines, delivers the 'real' story. Hence, the bottom panel illustrates a jolly day of play in the park with the girl's stuffed bunny and the boy's dog. In the girl's adventure, she transforms into a rabbit and serves tea to entertain a strange, long-legged bird (clearly the transformed boy, still wearing his green cap). The purple middle panel, the boy's story, exudes a sinister mood, but it should, since he tells readers in the front endpapers: 'watch me defeat dark forces.' These are everywhere: in the sky, the landscape, and even in the picnic drink he thinks is poisoned. Readers will enjoy trying to make sense of this story while they appreciate just how differently boys and girls play. Fun, adventure, misadventure, dragons, flying fish, and lots of color . . . maybe there's something for everyone in this thrice-told tale.--Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Lee Nordling is an author, art director, and comics-industry lifer.

Meritxell Bosch is a graphic novel artist and writer, character designer, and teacher living in Barcelona, Spain. Her comic-art short story in the Once Upon A Time Machine comics anthology introduced her to American readers.