Akissi: Tales of Mischief: Akissi Book 1

by Marguerite Abouet, Mathieu Sapin (Illustrator)

Overview

"utterly unputdownable"—The New York Times

A Kirkus Best Book of 2018, Akissi: Tales of Mischief brings together the first volume of the hilarious and heartfelt Akissi comics by Marguerite Abouet, the award winning author of Aya of Yop City.

Poor Akissi! The neighborhood cats are trying to steal her fish, her little monkey Boubou almost ends up in a frying pan, and she's nothing but a pest to her older brother Fofana. But Akissi is a true adventurer, and nothing scares her away from hilarious escapades in her modern African city.

Jump into the laugh-out-loud misadadventures of Akissi in these girls-will-be-girls comics, based on author Margeurite Abouet's childhood on the Ivory Coast.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911171478
Publisher:	Flying Eye Books Ltd.
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Pages:	184
Sales rank:	646,660
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Marguerite Abouet is a renowned writer from Abidjan on the Ivory Coast in West Africa. She started writing because she felt that comics weren't being written for girls, and wanted to change that. She is the author of the tremendously successful comic, Aya of Yop City, as well as the Akissi series for children. 

Mathieu Sapin was born in Dijon, France, in 1974. He studied in l'Ecole supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg before becoming a renowned illustrator for many children's magazines and publishers in France.

Editorial Reviews

Akissi: Tales of Mischief…feels new, daring, exciting and singular…and it is utterly unputdownable. Based on Abouet's childhood memories of growing up in the port town of Abidjan…the rapid-fire, action-packed tales are wild and antic…The sense of place is powerful…My 13-year-old kept stealing the book from my desk; whenever I heard her howling with laughter, I knew what she was reading.

The New York Times Book Review - Marjorie Ingall

03/12/2018
In her town in the Ivory Coast, Akissi cannot go more than a few days without causing calamity or getting into trouble. For American readers, she’ll recall Dennis the Menace, with an attitude that is equal parts sassy, assertive, curious, and precocious. This collection of adventures explores her life in an African town as she deals with the day-to-day challenges of girlhood. Her exploits include playing football with the boys, dealing with worm infections, sneaking into movie theaters, accidentally setting her friend’s hair on fire, and much more. Sapin’s richly colored artwork complements Abouet’s tales, which bring to life universal aspects of childhood, illustrating the silliness, resourcefulness, and mishaps that are experienced all over the world. Ages 6–9. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2018.

". . . utterly unputdownable. Based on Abouet’s childhood memories of growing up in the port town of Abidjan . . . the rapid-fire, action-packed tales are wild and antic. The colors are electric—purples, oranges, turquoises and bright yellows."
—The New York Times Book Review

"An unforgettable, boundary-busting, falling-over-funny collection."
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

“[…] the collection reads like Dennis the Menace meets Pearls Before Swine, set in West Africa—and may appeal to fans of both. […] This volume fills a gap in children’s comics featuring African characters and settings. Highly recommended for middle grade graphic novel collections.”
—School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

"Sapin’s richly colored artwork complements Abouet’s tales, which bring to life universal aspects of childhood, illustrating the silliness, resourcefulness, and mishaps that are experienced all over the world."
—Publishers Weekly

“While aspects of daily life in Côte d’Ivoire will be unfamiliar to many, Akissi’s antics will ring true to kids across the board.”
—Booklist

“The autobiographical element from Abouet is also crucial in that it offers a genuine quality to the stories, and having lived the life allows them to forgo any sentimentality. Instead Abouet imbues the stories with a sense of adventure that should speak loudly to so many American children reading it, possibly facing a cloistered, overbooked day-to-day existence. Akissi’s life must be a dream come true.”
—John Seven, The Beat

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2018
Gr 2–5—This comprehensive volume includes the seven short stories featured in Abouet & Sapin's Akissi: Cat Invasion, along with 14 others. The tales, translated from French, follow Akissi's day-to-day life in her Ivory Coast town. In "Good Mothers," Akissi and friends steal their neighbor's baby to play "mums." In "Sunday Feast," Akissi consumes all the food for Communion at church (including the wine) before the service begins. In "Midnight Pee," Akissi's brother, Fofana, refuses to wake up to accompany her to the outside bathroom, so she urinates on his blanket. The short story format sacrifices some character development, but the dynamic among Akissi, her brother, and their parents is classic nuclear family drama and hilarity. Realistic moments are not softened, such as when Akissi eats rotten fruit off the ground and contracts tapeworms that crawl out of her nose. But with its gross-out humor and plucky heroine, the collection reads like Dennis the Menace meets Pearls Before Swine, set in West Africa—and may appeal to fans of both. Sapin's art is earth-toned, with a scratchy yet precise line quality. The panel structure is consistent, with no more than six similarly sized panels per page. Dialogue font is generally small. Bonus content includes three recipes and instructions on how to make African braids. VERDICT This volume fills a gap in children's comics featuring African characters and settings. Highly recommended for middle grade graphic novel collections.—Alec Chunn, Eugene Public Library, OR

School Library Journal

★ 2018-03-27
Compiled from a bestselling comics franchise in France, this import captures the hilarious misadventures of a township girl as she rewrites the bounds of African girlhood one comical short story at a time."Akissi, do you want to look beautiful?" her mother says as Akissi suffers the pain of getting her hair twisted. How does young Akissi respond? "No Mum! I want to be ugly and bald!" This is how the over-the-top story "Lice Games" begins as Akissi searches for a way out of these excruciating hairdo sessions by self-initiating her own head-lice infestation. Such mortifying premises can be found throughout this extended English compilation (containing the same seven stories as the 2013 volume of the same name, plus many more), taken to their unpredictable and uproarious conclusions. The rivalry between Akissi and her older brother, Fofana, takes the spotlight as the source of much ribbing and many pranks. In "Tattle Tattle, Toil and Trouble," Fofana squeaks out a win (possibly just until their parents find out…), while in "Midnight Pee," Akissi is able to get one over on him, leaving Fofana with surprise soiled laundry (yeah, it goes there) on an overnight camping trip with their grandparents. French artist Sapin provides the loose, colorful illustrations that accompany Abouet's tales, which take inspiration from her childhood growing up in the Yopougon neighborhood of Abidjian, Ivory Coast.An unforgettable, boundary-busting, falling-over-funny collection that defies the narrow representations English-language readers receive of growing African girls—we stand desperately in need of more Akissi and more Abouet. (recipes) (Graphic short stories. 8-14)

Kirkus Reviews