Posted in: Comics | Tagged: graphic novels, Isabelle Arsenault, maya's big scene

Isabelle Arsenault Makes Maya's Big Scene A Graphic Novel

Published Thu, 10 Dec 2020 08:00:39 -0600

Isabelle Arsenault is an internationally renowned children's book illustrator whose work has won many awards and much praise from critics. Her books include the graphic novels Jane, the Fox and Me and Louis Undercover by Fanny Britt, Spork and Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear, Cloth Lullaby by Amy Novesky (BolognaRagazzi Award 2017) and Colette's Lost Pet, which marked her debut as an author. She has won the prestigious Governor General's Award for Children's Literature three times, and three of her picture books were named as The New York Times's Best Illustrated Books of the Year. She is Quebec's best-known and esteemed illustrators. And now she has new graphic novel coming out from Tundra Books in January, Maya's Big Scene.

Maya's imagination sets the stage for her friends to act out her feminist play. Can she make room in her queendom for the will of the people? A funny picture book about leadership and fair play for fans of King Baby and Olivia. Maya is a bossy, burgeoning playwright and loves to have the kids in her Mile End neighborhood bring her scenes to life. Her latest work, about a feminist revolution, is almost ready for public performance. But as her actors begin to express their costume preferences, Maya quickly learns that their visions may not match hers . . . and as both Director and Queen, Maya demands obedience and loyalty in her queendom of equality! But she soon realizes — with the help of her friends and subjects — that absolute bossiness corrupts absolutely!

The book is part of a series of comics by Isabelle called Mile End Kids, and follows Collette's Lost Pet from 2017 and Albert's Quiet Quest from 2019.