Messenger: The Legend of Joan of Arc by Tony Lee - OPTIONAL

Lee, Tony  Messenger: The Legend of Joan of Arc: A Graphic Novel  Illustrated by Sam Hart.  Candlewick Press, 2014.  $21.99  GRAPHIC NOVEL  Content: Language: PG-13 (15 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13.   

Jehanne d’Arc sees a vision in which the angel Michael tells her to lead France in the war against the British.  As she leaves her small village and her army leader of a father, Jehanne becomes Joan of Arc as she fearlessly faces the British.  Joan gives the tired French soldiers courage and hope as they believe in her visions.  But regardless of how much she accomplishes, she eventually is treated unfairly and burned at the stake.  Much later, she was made the patron saint of France.   

This is a good succinct telling of the life of Joan of Arc touching on the major points of her story.  I wanted to like this book, but I had a couple of major issues with it.  First, you can’t tell from the illustrations who is who among Joan’s advisers and sometimes you can hardly tell it’s Joan.  Second, there needed to be a map.  Third, the coloring of the graphics is dark and splotchy (I have no idea why there are so many spots on everything) and it’s feels unfinished.  The mature content is an attempted rape-it’s not overly graphic but it’s obvious that is what it going on.  The violence is war violence.  

 MS, HS – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.