Two Historical Graphic Novels from First Second

Booth
written by C.C. Colbert, illustrated by Tanitoc

Resistance: Book 1
written by Carla Jablonski, illustrated by Leland Purvis

These two books were received by the library last month and are interesting since they are both based on actual historical events. Booth shows the life of John Wilkes Booth from 1863, two years before the assassination of Lincoln to Booth's death shortly thereafter. And Resistance is less biographical, but tells the story of a family in Vichy France during the Nazi occupation and how they became members of the French Resistance.

I like to think of myself as pretty smart about the Civil War. I've taken a couple college courses. Read all the Bruce Catton books. And even seen the Ken Burns Civil War series a couple times on PBS. So maybe I'm a little biased about the lack of information in the book Booth, but I found it to be rather terse and somewhat superficial. I know, more books have been written about Lincoln than anyone in history. And the timeline and plots around the conspiracy of his death have been well documented. So I won't consider this a definitive biography of the actor, but I would of like a little more historical though and context in the story.

I found the book Booth to be very disjointed. And it seems the author takes liberties in creating situations which might be a little outside the historical record. I had not heard of Booth's relationships with either Lucy Hale, a daughter of a Republican Senator, or of a romance with a barmaid named in the book only as "Ella". But the book seems to focus mostly on the relationship Booth had with these two women and the actual conspiracy to overthrow the government is almost like an afterthought in the book.

Though I didn't really like the artwork on first reading the book, it grew on me. It is rough with heavy, dark lines. But slowly I realized that the colors used for the characters made it a little easier to follow the story. Booth is always in a green outfit while his brother Edwin is in blue. Ella has a red dress and purple is the color for Lucy.

I didn't order this book and I don't know if I would of picked this book up for the library. It kind of fails on both sides of its intent. Someone interested in the Civil War or Lincoln would find many things to criticize. And someone interested in graphic novels will find better works elsewhere.

I liked Resistance more than Booth. I think that was because it's not based on a well known historical figure but a fictional French family living in the Vichy France. The Tessier family, whose father has been captured by the Germans. The young daughter Marie and her brother Paul one day return home and their neighbors the Mr. and Mrs. Levy have been taken by German soldiers. Their son Henri Levy was away swimming and was not picked up. So Marie and Paul hide Henri in their wine cellar. As the story progresses and peoples secrets are revealed, we learn more about the France resistance movement. The feeling of paranoia and repression grows as the Tessier's try and reunite the Levy family.

The plot in Resistance is a little clearer that in Booth. However, unlike Booth, the book is not tied to well documented historical events. Indeed, the Author's Note at the end of the book is a fantastic description of historiography and how past events can not be seen as clearly back and white.

The artwork in this book more traditional than in Booth. With cleaner lines and more emphasis on facial expressions, it is easy to follow the story and it's characters.

I feel this book is a good purchase for the library. There are several different themes that would draw readers in. First, the main characters, Paul and Marie can be understood by children reading this book. Also it is a good book that display the treatment of Jewish people without the nightmare inducing imagery. I would definitely recommend this book for kids wanting to know about civilian life in Europe during World War II.