SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Fusenews
  • Reviews
  • Librarian Previews
  • Best Books
    • Top 100
    • Best Books of 2022
    • Best Books of 2021
    • Best Books of 2020
    • Best Books of 2019
    • Best Books of 2018
    • Best Books of 2017
    • Best Books of 2016
    • Best Books of 2015
    • Best Books of 2014
    • Best Books of 2013
  • Fuse 8 n’ Kate
  • Videos
  • Press Release Fun

August 22, 2011 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: Lily Renee, Escape Artist by Trina Robbins

August 22, 2011 by Betsy Bird   5 comments

Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer
By Trina Robbins
Pencils by Anne Timmons
Inks by Mo Oh
Lettering by Felix Ruiz and Cayetano Garza Jr.
Coloring by Studio C10
Graphic Universe (a division of Lerner)
$7.95
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6010-0
Ages 9 and up
On shelves November 1, 2011

I was asked the other day what kinds of nonfiction trends were appearing in books for children these days. I thought about it. I’ve a better sense of coincidences than trends. I mean, if there are three books out on the same subject or two biographies appearing about the same person at the same time, that I’ll notice. Pulling back and looking at the genre as a whole is more difficult. Still, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that kids today are lucky. When I was a child the biographies in my school library were paltry. What we had tended to be fairly dull and about the same twenty people too. Things have changed a bit since then. You still see the same subjects featured over and over and over again (a pox on you, Thomas Edison!), but here in the 21st century some publishers aren’t afraid to highlight people whose accomplishments could be labeled “unsung”. The inventors of Day-Glo, for example, or a man who went to jail after refusing to shave his beard. When I heard about the character of Lily Renee, however, I was seriously excited. I mean, come on. It’s right there in the subtitle. “From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer”. How are you going to resist that? Telling a true tale in a graphic novel format, Lily Renee covers new ground, though perhaps not as compellingly as one might hope. It’s a fascinating story, no question. One does wish that the format suited the subject, though.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

A child in the 1930s, Lily Renee Wilheim grew up in privilege and splendor. That is, before the Nazis invaded Austria. Jewish, Lily was lucky enough to find a spot on the Kindertransport, an agreement between Germany and England to send Jewish children out of the country. In England Lily lived for a time with her penpal, then found work as a nurse, ultimately moving to America. There she was reunited with her parents. In the course of looking for work she answered an ad for a comic book artist and, amazingly, got the job. In this way she was able to draw characters like the elegant spy Senorita Rio, who fought Nazis, in a sense, on Lily’s behalf. A glossary of German to English Terms and further information is included at the back of the book.

Graphic novel biographies written for children have a lot in common with picture book biographies. Limited by their format, the author has to decide right from the start how much of a life to tell. You could try to squeeze everything about them into your scant pages, which used to be the method most authors preferred back in the day. A smarter option may be to find what it is about that person’s life that defined them and is why we remember them today. Then you tell their story with that moment at the core. So John Porcellino’s Thoreau at Walden looks just at the man’s Walden experiences while Houdini: The Handcuff King by Lutes and Bertozzi follows a single escape in the great man’s life and hinges his story on that moment. Robbins has done something similar with Lily Renee. Because her story is most fascinating when you consider its scope, we watch a lot of her youth in Vienna. The book then follows her through her teen years, following her escape from war torn Europe to America. It ends after she has acquired the comic book job that would define her career and then recaps what happened after that. Constrained by space, the book cannot delve much further into her experiences as such an artist and that is a real pity. I would have loved to know more about what it was like working as a woman in such a male dominated field. Robbins shows the initial surprise at the cusp of her hiring but nothing after that. Considering how the issue of women comic artists continues to be a hot-button issue (Marvel has been criticized recently for its plethora of XY chromosomes and reluctance to hire those of the XX persuasion) this is where I wanted the story to get into a little more detail. Instead it ends abruptly, leaving the reader frustrated.

The art in this book baffled me a bit. Indeed, the text and images together had a strange stilted quality to them. The vibrancy you’d expect from such a tale appears to be lacking and I wanted to figure out why. After a time, I decided that it was possible that Robbins and Timmons were attempting to reference classic comic books with their style. This would account for a lot of the angles, images, and gestures that look old-fashioned when compared to a lot of graphic novels today. That’s my theory anyway. And the backgrounds in the book are actually quite fantastic. There’s a shot of Kristallnacht that drills home the horror of the event quite effectively. The fact is that the art is quite nice, it’s the coloring that’s a problem. Using computers to color comics is a haphazard affair. Good coloring can be the making of a book. Bad coloring makes even the best art appear tawdry. The coloring in “Lily Renee” is passable but by no means extraordinary and drags the whole enterprise down.

At the beginning we see a photograph of the real Lily embedded in the story. I would have liked more of this as the story continued. Sure, at the end there’s a cluster of images of Lily (who, for the record, may have been one of the world’s more beautiful women) but imagine how much more powerful the book might have been if we saw continual reminders that the story we’re reading here actually happened to a real person.

One thing about the book I liked without hesitation was the backmatter. In addition to the Glossary of German to English terms there are wonderful sections explaining everything from the British Internment Camps (something I’ve never encountered in a book for kids before) to automats. Each section begins with an illustration then recounts the subject thoroughly. There’s even a part dedicated to female WWII comic book artists! Fascinating to its core.

It would be difficult for anyone to seriously claim that it is easy to write a biography for children. Graphic novel biographies, in turn, are twice as hard since you not only have to have your storytelling skills up to par, you need excellent artists, inkers, letters, and color artists at your disposal too. When all those people are working at the top of their form then the end result is gold. “Lily Renee” strives to reach that goal, but due to problems in one area or another it falls a little short. A valiant attempt to highlight a true unsung hero of women’s history, I appreciate this story being told. Hopefully this may inspire other people to delve into Ms. Renee’s past as well. Well-meaning.

On shelves November 1st.

Filed under: Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
2011 graphic novels2011 nonfiction2011 nonfiction graphic novels2011 reviewsAnne TimmonsCayetano Garza Jr.Felix Ruizgraphic novelsGraphic UniverseLerner Publishing Groupmiddle grade graphic novelsMo Ohnonfictionnonfiction graphic novelsnonfiction middle gradeTrina Robbins

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

January 2023

Review of the Day: The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker

by Betsy Bird

January 2023

Review of the Day: An American Story by Kwame Alexander, ill. Dare Coulter

by Betsy Bird

January 2023

Review of the Day: Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

by Betsy Bird

January 2023

Review of the Day: My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder

by Betsy Bird

November 2022

Review of the Day: Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki

by Betsy Bird

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Sydney Taylor Blog Tour: THE TOWER OF LIFE by Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

“… A relationship of reciprocity with the Earth.” Diana Sudyka Discusses Her New Picture Book, Little Land

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Haley Newsome on Unfamiliar | Interview

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Showing Teens It’s Okay to be Angry, a guest post by Lauren Blackwood

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

8 Books For Younger Readers That Feature Animals Celebrating Holidays

SLJ Top Stories of 2022

20 Royal Reads for National Princess Day

2 Middle Grade Novels About Becoming Big Sisters

The hOle Story: Kids’ Books Come to Life on a Giant Scale at a New Kansas City Venue

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Adam Rex says

    August 22, 2011 at 8:56 am

    I think that was DC that was publicly criticized, not Marvel. Wasn’t it?

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      August 23, 2011 at 3:10 am

      Adam, I admit that I did a search for Marvel and found multiple articles. You’re right that it was DC that was criticized more recently.

  2. Kate Coombs says

    August 22, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    Your review inspired me to look for more info about Lily Renee, and I found this cool interview: http://archives.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=466&Itemid=48

    LR has quite a strong voice–very nice!

  3. :paula says

    August 22, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    Mo Oh contributed one of the nicest pieces in Nursery Rhyme Comics, which is a First Second anthology coming out soon, if it’s not out already. I was really surprised to find the art in this book kind of so-so – I agree with your first impression. It’s one thing to take inspiration from the colors and composition of Brenda Starr, but mimicking the awkward anatomy and stiff gestures of that old stuff doesn’t do anybody any favors.

  4. Jennifer Schultz says

    August 23, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    Very interesting-thanks for letting us know more about it.

    As for nonfiction trends-get ready for Titanic books. Next year is the 100th anniversary.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • External Links

    • A Fuse #8 Production Reviews
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023