RANDOM HOUSE/Random House Graphic – @RHKidsGraphic
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
CARTOONIST: Johan Troĩanowski
TRANSLATION: Anne Smith and Owen Smith
ISBN: 978-0-593-11840-5; paperback (January 21, 2020)
272pp, Color, $12.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN
Demographic: Middle-Grade
The Runaway Princess is a new, full-color, paperback graphic novel from Random House Graphic (or RH Graphic). This is Random House's new imprint that publishes picture books, graphic novels, and other books that use graphics to tell a story. [For the record, I use the term “graphical storytelling” to describe stories that use graphics (like lettering and sound effects), pictures, drawings, and illustrations (sometimes in sequence) to drive the narrative. That includes the stories found in comics, comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, manga, etc.]
The Runaway Princess is comprised of three stories. The first is “The Princess Runs Away (And Makes Some Friends).” It stars Robin, the princess of the kingdom of Seddenga. The story opens with the Queen and Elias, a royal household member, searching the royal castle for Robin. After all, it is time for the princess' etiquette lesson with Elias. They can't find her, but they are sure that she is nearby.
However, Robin is not a princess who will stay quietly and obediently at home. This fiery red-haired girl is the kind of princess who will run away to have her own adventures, and this princess can’t resist the lure of adventure. So Robin leaves the royal city of “Renoir” and heads out for adventure. In “the Ogre's Forest,” she meets four brothers: Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar, and after avoiding the ogre, Robin leads her new friends to the city of “Noor,” where “the Aquatic Festival” is in full swing. But can this adventurous princess and these lost boys handle all the (mis)adventure and strange beings that will come their way?
In the second story, “The Princess Runs Away Again (By Accident This Time),” Robin, Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar are frolicking in the castle gardens when Robin falls into a secret passage. The brothers are determined to find and rescue their friend, but Robin has already made a new friend, Plum, a curious girl with a thing for pumpkins. But neither Robin nor the brothers realize that they are in “the Kingdom of Darkness” and that there is more to Plum than she has revealed.
In the third story, “The Princess Tries to Stay in One Place (But the Weather Doesn't Cooperate),” Robin finds Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar playing aboard a small, sea-worthy boat that is land-ridden in a grassy meadow, so she joins them for some play. When a sudden storm lifts the boat and carries it to an unknown land, the children have to find their way home. In this adventure, the quintet encounters the eccentric scientist, inventor, and collector, Professor Dandelion; giant trees; the “Doodlers;” and a group of treasure-obsessed pirates that sail aboard a ship-in-a-bottle.
I can unequivocally say that RH Graphic's The Runaway Princess is one of the best kids' graphic novels that I have ever read. I would probably have to go way out of my way and way overboard to find something wrong with it. But first some background:
RH Graphic's The Runaway Princess is an English language collection of the French graphic novel series, Rouge. Rouge is a comics series that began in 2009 and was written and illustrated by Johan Troĩanowski, a French comics and graphic novel creator. In 2015, French publishing house, Makaka Éditions, published the first book collection (or graphic novel) of Rouge comics, entitled Rouge – Petite princesse punk. That was followed by Rouge et la sorcière d’automne (2016), and Rouge - Lîle des Gribouilleurs (2017). In the original comics, The “runaway princess'” name is “Rouge.”
RH Graphic's The Runaway Princess collects all three Rouge books in one handy, gorgeous paperback volume at the very reasonable cover prince of $12.99. If you, dear readers, are considering purchasing The Runaway Princess, know that it shares characteristics with classic children's literature such The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wind in the Willows, to name a few. The three stories contained in this book also recall the stories of the Brothers Grimm and other classic fairy tales, especially the ones that Walt Disney turned into beloved animated feature films.
Johan Troĩanowski is a hugely imaginative and inventive storyteller. I remember a writer once saying that The Wizard of Oz is such a perfect children's tale because things just happen without explanation, as if children were imagining the story. The Runaway Princess works that way. Troĩanowski imagines so many wonderful things and places and characters, and they do not seem frivolous or like throwaway characters. Each thing and every person seems to have some back story – his, hers, or its own tale outside of Robin, Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar's story.
The illustrations are doused in bright, vivid colors that make the art and story almost seem to leap off the page, as if the story contents of The Runaway Princess are coming to life. There are also a few times in each of these three adventures when Troĩanowski asks the readers to help move the adventure forward.
The Runaway Princess is aimed at “middle-grade” readers, which I guess means readers ages 8 to 12, but over the decades, children have learned to read by reading comic books. I think a child younger than eight who wants to tackle The Runaway Princess can handle it. So yeah, The Runaway Princess might be the first great children's graphic novel of 2020. I highly recommend it to readers young, older, and young at heart.
[This book also includes a back section featuring Johan Troĩanowski's preliminary art for the series, such as character sketches and story page sketches.]
10 out of 10
Website: https://www.rhkidsgraphic.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RHKidsGraphic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhkidsgraphic/
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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