Louis Undercover

Starred review from August 21, 2017
In this quiet, probing graphic novel from the duo behind Jane, the Fox and Me, an adolescent boy named Louis describes the months after his parents separate. His father, still living in the family’s old house and drinking every day, cries for hours; “I know because I spy on him.” His mother has moved to a city apartment, and Louis shuttles back and forth with his younger brother, Truffle, who’s too small to understand the situation fully—he sees the world through his love for James Brown and the Everly Brothers. As painful as the ruin of his father’s life is, Louis has another problem he feels even more keenly. He’s in love with Billie—a brave, bookish girl from school—but can’t bring himself to speak to her. Britt writes with perception about the torment of first love and the pain felt by children caught up in a foundering marriage. Working in moody ink and pencil, Arsenault excels at capturing characters in the grip of powerful emotions they’re trying to conceal, and also at conveying a sense of place—both city and country are evocatively drawn. Ages 10–14.

August 1, 2017

Gr 5 Up-From the team behind the touching Jane, the Fox, and Me comes another poignant story of hope amid despair. Following his parents' split, tweenage Louis is shuttled between his mother's new apartment in the city and his childhood home in the country, now inhabited by his despondent father. As he travels between these worlds, his memories of happier days are depicted in sketchy gray pencil and hazy turquoise watercolor. Louis's parents' heartbreak is nakedly apparent to the boy, who protects his naive little brother, Truffle, from the most tragic elements of their shattered family-mainly their father's alcoholism. Yet Louis has a secret that sustains him: an infatuation with a bespectacled cyclist named Billie. She glows with lemon yellow optimism as Louis tenderly describes the thrilling panic of simply breathing the same air as Billie. The author relies on sparkling metaphor to portray the protagonist's love; for instance, Louis compares Billie to a "gorgeous cactus." Arsenault's symbolic use of color and animated illustrations breathe life into Britt's quirky, beautiful story, which emphasizes that love is the bravest act of all. VERDICT This perceptive addition to graphic novel collections will resonate with most readers, especially those coping with similar issues as Louis.-Anna Murphy, Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
As his family falls apart, a young teen boy struggles to approach the girl he admires from afar. Happy family memories recede into the past for Louis. His alcoholic father wallows in self-pity, holed up in the old family home; his mother, meanwhile, is unable to move beyond the weight of her worries. Thankfully, Louis' younger brother, Truffle, remains a jolly light in Louis' life. Spotting unmarked "ghost cop cars" on the highway with his friend Boris also helps Louis forget about his family's troubles. But school brings more problems for Louis, who hasn't yet worked up the nerve to talk to Billie, a girl whose words explode the world "in clusters of honey and fire." With his parents in mind, he hesitates to say hello for a reason: "What I did know was that, for the most part, love ends badly." Though laced with heartbreak and fragile hope, Louis' narrative glows with quiet wit and compassion thanks to Britt's careful, nuanced, and true-to-life examination of familial relationships. Arsenault's expressive pencil-and-ink drawings render the story in simple lines and drab smears with occasional bursts of color, primarily yellow and light blue. Hopeful episodes--Louis nursing a baby raccoon back to health, Louis' father rallying to free himself from alcoholism's grip on an ill-fated family vacation--inevitably end in something less than ideal, but it all fades away, if momentarily, when Louis finds his voice in the face of love. (A white default is assumed.) An unflinching, delicate portrait of a boy and his broken family. (Graphic novel. 10-14)

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Starred review from July 1, 2017
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* Britt and Arsenault follow up their award-winning Jane, the Fox, and Me (2013) with this moving, gorgeously illustrated story of a boy seeking courage and trying to understand the complicated dynamics between his anxious mother and alcoholic father. Louis and his brother, Truffle, spend a few weeks at a time with their father in his rural cabin, which is fun until Dad starts to drink wine and cry. Back at home with his mom, Louis crushes hard on a girl in his class, but he can't muster up the bravery to say even one word to her. For Louis, the combination of a constantly worried mother and regularly weeping father makes him believe he lacks any courage at all, but during a revealing summer in which Louis and Truffle adopt an injured raccoon and his parents seem to resolve some of their strife, he finds other ways to be brave. While the complex emotional undercurrents are subtle, Arsenault's soft, textured pencil-and-watercolor illustrations help bring them to the surface. Billowy petals of pale yellow and blue signal Louis's mood; heavy black pencil scratches suggest fear or anxiety; and the fine-lined faces brim with meaningful expression. This nuanced tale of an observant, sensitive boy finding his own brand of strength is bittersweet and beautifully composed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)