Ariol #1: Just a Donkey Like You and Me (Ariol Graphic Novels)

In short, Ariol is just like you and me. Paperback , pages. Published February 19th by Papercutz first published March 12th To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Hahah aww, poor little Donkey! A fun and sweet comic about Arild, a donkey with his own problems, like wanting to be a superhero horse aaand marrying a cow. But its really well done and hillarious at times. May 03, Helen rated it liked it Recommends it for: This book is Volume 1 of the Ariol graphic novel - well, maybe this is a kids' comic book rather than a graphic novel - series of graphic novels.

Like the later volume of Ariol I previously read, I found this first volume surprisingly pleasant and enjoyable, with interesting nuanced characterizations of the protagonist's classmates, his family, their interactions and so forth. Ariol, possibly a middle-school student, has fantasies - like all of us, especially when we were kids: He identifies with This book is Volume 1 of the Ariol graphic novel - well, maybe this is a kids' comic book rather than a graphic novel - series of graphic novels. He identifies with a super-hero - Thunder Horse - yet he is still only a small blue donkey.

He would rather be a powerful hero - the wish to be powerful absorbs his fantasy- or dream-world. Also, he has fallen in love with a classmate - Petula, a heifer. Meanwhile, a fly, meaning actual fly as in insect fly, class-mate, Bizbilla, pines for him. He has to contrive "chance" meetings with Petula, but every time he does have a chance to tell he he loves her and wants to marry her, he loses his nerve. And so Ariol's pining for Petula mirrors Bizbilla's pining for Ariol. At least Bizbilla tells Ariol she cares for him, whereas Ariol cannot bring himself to say to Petula he loves her.

Just a Donkey Like You and Me (Ariol #1) by Emmanuel Guibert

Aside from his obsessions with Thunder Horse and Petula, he's an ordinary mischievous little donkey, participating in the usual pranks and mischief, especially schemes he thinks up with his best friend, Ramono the pig. This volume consists of series of standalone chapters, I'm not sure if they are supposed to represent a sequential arc or time span in Ariol's life, more like snapshots of life for Ariol, at home, at school, going to the movies, a field trip to a pool with his gym class - which are all quite funny, many times wryly funny, other times perhaps crudely funny, the sort of humor an adolescent might enjoy.

I love the characterizations of Ariol's parents - who are ultra concerned and nurturing of their son, but also on occasion exasperated the dad although mostly supportive the mom. The teachers in school are portrayed from a kid's-eye view - somewhat mockingly, although the English teacher is given a fairly positive treatment despite the complicated stories he invents to teach grammar. The entire series, originally from France, likely is a joy to read - this book was certainly a breeze to read.

What will happen with Ariol and Petula? And Bizbilla and Ariol.. It's strange but Ariol's world seems very similar to my world as a grade school pupil. Starting from kindergarten, I too wanted to be the "dominant" kid in class - and started from day 1 in a rivalry with a flouncy, blonde little girl named Linda, who resembled a sleepy-eyed much younger female version of Bing Crosby.

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Starting in kindergarten, I too "pined" for a little boy who I only stared at but was too shy to talk to - a little blonde boy with an enigmatic smile named Jonathan, who was an outsider because he was from a poor family that lived in a ramshackle house, and always wore ill-fitting, frayed white shirts. The entire time I was a classmate of his, I was never able to talk to him, but he remained an obsession for me in grade school, until he was supplanted by a new obsession when I moved on to JHS, a boy who I was also never able to talk to and also silently admired or pined for from afar.

This entire pattern of shyness combined with an obsession or fixation on one boy, usually an enigmatic outsider, continued through HS - I was never able to speak with the object of my affection the entire time I was in elementary and secondary school, approximately 12 years. I was too shy to speak to boys - but would discuss boys I was interested in with girlfriends. Of course, none of this interfered with school work, or playing with the kids on my block and so forth. I was simply an introvert - living my life in books, and as a kid, incessantly drawing, writing stories and poems, and so forth.

But, back to Ariol: I would recommend this book to all readers, kids, teens, adults. It's a breeze to sail through and filled with laughs, archetypal situations you will recognize and laugh at, or along with. There's a pleasant color palette and kid characters, that is, Ariol and his friends, often stand out since they're usually colorfully dressed. If the main characters are animal-headed humans, will the pets be human-headed animals?

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Aug 21, Erica rated it it was amazing Shelves: The days are shorter than recess and Ariol would like nothing better than to migrate South like a bird. But instead he has to leave his warm, comfy bed to go to school every morning. School's not all bad, there's his best friend Ramono who always comes up with cool games to play and pranks to pull. And Petula, who is the prettiest cow Ariol has ever seen. On the other hand there's also Mr. Ribera, the gym teacher who, in fact, has no sense of humor and Bizzbilla who won't leave him alone.

If Ar The days are shorter than recess and Ariol would like nothing better than to migrate South like a bird. If Ariol was Thunder Horse he'd show them all. He'd be the best in gym and always know what to say and no one would be able to tell him what to do. But he's not Thunder Horse, he's just a regular guy like you and me. This comic is hilarious! It captures so many moments of childhood perfectly from when Ariol plays a game by himself while providing his own running sports commentary to his reluctance to leave his warm, cozy, bed in the morning.

Any teacher will be able to recognize the truth and humor in the story where Mr. Blunt tries to come up with a clever story to teach his students prepositions. Ariol leaves class remembering the funny parts of the story without remembering anything about prepositions at all.

There's plenty that made me recall my own childhood as well. Like Ariol, I used to stare out my mother's car window and pretend there were bad guys following us that we had to shake. In the midst of all the humor there's some real heart too. The story "As Dumb as a Donkey" deals with prejudice and stereotypes in a sweet way while maintaining the humorous tone of the collection. The drawings are simple, colorful, charming, and expressive. While they satirize childhood, the characters are still drawn with plenty of warmth and love. They made me laugh in recognition of myself and others because they really are just like you and me.

This comic reminded me a lot of another French school comic, Le Petit Nicolas. I'd give it to anyone looking for a humorous comic set in a school. There is one instance of the word 'dumbass' but it is referring to donkeys and it's used in the context of the story about stereotypes so it's discussed and dealt with well. I'd say it's fine for second grade and up.

Read more of my reviews at http: This was a really good reading experience. Children's comics can sometimes be a bit condescending, talking down to their young readers. This book is nothing like that. And I should of course have realised, seeing as it is the great Emmanual Guibert who has written these short stories. But being able to create masterpieces for adult readers Alan's War and The Photographer among others does not necessarily translate into being able to write for kids.

But Guibert masters both.

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The stores about Ar This was a really good reading experience. The stores about Ariol are short, but filled with quirky, believable dialogues and little details that translates into them feeling far from stereotypical or predictable. I laughed out loud several times when reading this book, and I'm about 40 years older than the intended target audience Marc Boutavant is a new artists to me, but he does a beautiful job with Ariol.

The characters are anthropomorphic, but far from the cute Disney-like characters that so many emulate. These characters have an integrity all of their own and I love how both the script and the drawings play with the fact that they really are different species. Oh, and I am of course very happy that this book, and more to come, has been published in Swedish.

On his own Ariol contends with his parents, longs for Petunia the aforementioned heifer , pretends to be his favorite superhero Thunderhorse, and plays pranks.

Ariol is sympathetic if flawed. He does cute little books with cute little themes. There is nothing to indicate in All Kinds of Families or For Just One Day that the man is capable of giving life to a sardonic aquamarine donkey with superhero aspirations. Yet give life to Ariol he does. The art here is sublime. The style is just straight up panels. No messing with the essential design of the book or anything. Within these panels you can get one story from the text and another from the art.

Little interstitial details make the whole thing fun too. I loved the tiny art at the beginning of each chapter. Some of it tells crazy stories, and others tell the story before the story if you know what I mean. The tales found here are universal in the best sense of the word. Yet like the Nicholas series by Goscinny the series to which Ariol bears the closest resemblance there is something overwhelmingly French about this book.

In that chapter Ariol engages in a raucous game of pretend in the backseat of the car as his dad drives. And can I just give a special shout out to Joe Johnson for the translation here? Instead it reads like it was written in English in the first place. Home Contact Us Help Free delivery worldwide. Just a Donkey Like You and Me. Description Brand new series from multiple award-winning author Emmanuel Guibert The Photographer and renowned illustrator Marc Boutavant!

Ariol is your everyday tween donkey with blue glasses. He lives in the suburbs with his mom and dad. His best friend is a pig. He's in love with a beautiful cow in his class. His teacher is a dog. His gym teacher is a huge rooster.

Just a Donkey Like You and Me

In short, Ariol is just like you and me. Kids will love the real humor around their lives on this one as they have in many other countries! The Best Books of Check out the top books of the year on our page Best Books of Product details Format Paperback pages Dimensions Looking for beautiful books?