Charlotte Brontë Before Jane Eyre

June 1, 2019
This graphic biography presents Charlotte Brontë and her family as they persist through abundant struggles. Readers see Charlotte grow from a cynical child in a family of six to an adult writer searching for a publisher. In telling her story, Fawkes includes lighthearted moments, like the reading posture necessitated by her nearsightedness or the dramatic fantasy world she and her siblings collectively imagined over the years. These temper the predominant, unavoidable melancholy over things such as the deaths of her two older siblings and the indentured drudgery of time as a teacher. Most successfully, Fawkes communicates the threat of poverty should Charlotte and her sisters be unable to secure financial independence, with few options available for Victorian women. Fawkes deftly weaves narration from Charlotte's writings into appropriate biographical scenes. Despite setting notations, scene changes are sometimes jarring, and the ending is especially abrupt, cutting off at the moment of Charlotte's success, as the title suggests. Fawkes' illustrations appear as black-and-white, shaded pencil drawings in a style that cartoonist Alison Bechdel aptly describes in the introduction as "crisp and engaging." A postscript by Fawkes explains her artistic and textual choices and personal "love" for Charlotte's "persistence" and "imagination." Sources for much of the narration and selected bibliography close. A biography that goes beyond static history, inspiring respect for Charlotte and encouraging writers and artists to defend their work through adversity. (Graphic biography. 12-18)

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September 1, 2019

Gr 7 Up-This graphic work about the author of Jane Eyre captures Charlotte Brontë's spirit, talent, and drive. Fawkes not only focuses on her subject's harsh life but also highlights the moments of joy and pure imagination abundant in the famous literary family's early days. While Emily, Anne, and Branwell make many appearances, Charlotte's siblings are featured mostly as points of comparison. Fawkes emphasizes the aspects of Brontë's life that are reflected in her most famous work. In her author's note, Fawkes explains that she tried to use quotes from primary sources, including Brontë's surviving letters and writings, in the text, but admits to inventing many of the conversations. Keeping true to Brontë's spirit, the narrative is filled with wit and personality. Equal parts dark and light, the two-tone illustrations mirror the gloomy settings that the Brontës inhabited, from the dramatic but unforgiving moors to the stark and bleak schools where their older sisters died. These panels are just as necessary for the characters' development as the sharp dialogue and text. The appendix further elaborates on the figures, objects, and factual events featured in the art. VERDICT A wonderful peek into the early life of one of the most celebrated literary figures of the Western world. Libraries that serve middle and high schoolers will want to add this work to their collections.-Shelley M. Diaz, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 3, 2019
Fawkes’s lively biography of Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) depicts the formation of a writing life with wit and insight. The three Brontë sisters, along with their brother Branwell, spend much of their loss-riddled childhood co-
authoring the dramatic saga
of a fantasyland, Glass Town, in and around Haworth Parsonage in Yorkshire. As young adults, their storytelling anchors their experiences as Charlotte receives poor treatment at school, chafes under her work as a governess, and—along with her sisters—faces the realities of getting published as a woman writer. One of the joys of Fawkes’s slender volume is that Charlotte does not suffer in noble silence; she is openly ambitious, even resenting what teaching steals from her creative life. Though some of the portrait’s strengths can be attributed to the subject herself—this book relies heavily on her letters and poems—Fawkes is a deft and economical editor. With sure-handed, irreverent illustrations, she captures life on the windswept moors and masters the art of Victorian side-eye. Her Charlotte Brontë is as smart, brooding, and rebellious as Jane Eyre, and her volume offers an accessible introduction to and an elaboration on the Brontës’ work. Ages 10–14. Agent: Judy Hansen, Hansen Literary.

July 1, 2019
Grades 5-9 Before she wrote Jane Eyre, one of the world's best-known novels and one that's never been out of print since its 1847 publication, Charlotte Bront� wrote another novel, The Professor, that was roundly rejected by publishers. Before that, she was a teacher at a boarding school; before that, she had attended boarding schools herself, and lost sisters to their poor conditions. She spent her early life with her five siblings, wandering the remote moors of England, playing fanciful games, and writing stories and poems with her sisters. In moody, cool-toned illustrations, Fawkes' graphic biography measures out Charlotte's early life, making its way through a childhood peppered with tragedies and an early adulthood met with rejection and roadblocks. Sharp-faced, sharp-tongued Charlotte shines through, easily distinguishable in the art. Her voice, too, comes through clearly; Fawkes writes in an author's note that she incorporated many of Charlotte's own words, taken from letters and writing, into the dialogue. A panel discussion afterward helps readers parse fact from invention and glimpse behind the scenes of this inventive biography.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)