Description
Book SynopsisThe plucky, troublemaking Akissi is back with her mischief on The Ivory Coast! This time, she has to keep herself from drowning, stand up to a bully, make peace with her arch nemesis--the prettiest girl in school, and evade a witch doctor's potion. Inspired by her childhood on The Ivory Coast, writer Marguerite Abouet takes readers on even more hilarious adventure in Akissi: Volume 2. Lessons learned along the way include being friends with people you don't like, standing up for yourself, and dealing with the consequences of your actions. The high spirited and mischievous Akissi returns for more "girls will be girls" adventures on the Ivory Coast in these previously untranslated stories.
Trade ReviewThe best word I can use to describe the Akissi stories is simply "joyous". Ultimately this is a book that doesn't need critical dissection; it needs to be lived not analysed, absorbed not over-thought. A standout celebration of childhood. * Broken Frontier *
Once again Marguerite Abouet & Mathieu Sapin bring Africa to vivid, vibrant life in a way that both appals the sensibilities (seriously Akissi, stop borrowing people's babies without their permission to play with!) and amuses uproariously in equal amounts. * Page 45 *
The autobiographical element from Abouet is crucial in that it offers a genuine quality to the stories, and having lived the life allows them to forgo any sentimentality. Instead Abouet imbues the stories with a sense of adventure that should speak loudly to so many American children reading it, possibly facing a cloistered, overbooked day-to-day existence. Akissi's life must be a dream come true. * John Seven, The Beat *
