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Author/illustrator Julien Neel presents a comical look at the trials and tribulations of 12-year-old Lou and her family and friends. Lou lives with her video game addicted mother and their newly acquired cat. When a new guy moves into the apartment upstairs, Lou decides to play matchmaker for her mom. While the comic book pages do not flow seamlessly, the translated story does fall into place nicely. With fun, full-color illustrations, this graphic novel is able to portray the daily life of Lou in a playful manner while relaying pre-teen heartache and angst. Beginning pages present a scrapbook look that introduces the story while the ending pages present the same scrapbook format and summarize the contents of the book. --Library Media Connection --Journal In these French imports, twelve-year-old Lou ponders problems such as being teased at school, experiencing unrequited love, and having an underemployed single mom who is a writer/couch potato. The format makes them look like picture books, but the stories are told in comic panels; the dialogue and illustrations are lively, the concerns familiar (although overly focused on stereotypical romantic situations), and the characters appealing. --The Horn Book Guide --Journal These first two installments in this series introduce a scrappy mother/daughter duo who deal with life's problems with sarcastic humor, resiliency, and their own brand of love. Lou is a precocious 12-year-old growing up with a single mother who, with an addiction to video games and her dinner-burning antics, sometimes acts more like a child than her daughter does. (The story of Lou's missing father is explained in the second book and becomesa point of suspense for future titles.) The happily unconventional family dynamic works for them, and Lou navigates through first crushes, helping her mom get a date with their cute new neighbor, and dealing with her grumpy grandmother on vacation, all with the help of her best friend and a comfortingly lazy cat. The plot moves in scenes that are broken down, but not differentiated; each spread has its own mini-story, but they are all connected and in a general sequence. There are some mature themes, such as alcohol use by the mother, but they are dealt with in a realistic manner that fits in the context. The art is cartoony and cheerful, but also illustrates emotion as necessary. Readers, especially girls, will enjoy these strong, funny charactersand the true-to-life dilemmas that they face and overcome. --School Library Journal --Journal Lou is almost a teenager, but don't hold that against her. She's the star of a rare combination in comics: a critical success (winner of the Youth Award for ages 9-12 at the world-famous Angoul me Comics Festival) and a runaway pop hit, too, with appearances in various languages in comics and animated television around the world. And it's easy to see why the whole world has fallen in love with her. She's a sparkling combination of spunky (she frequently takes care of herself when her mother is off being a famous writer...or playing video games) and self-conscious (does Tristan like her? Does she like him?). She surrounds herself with interesting people who see what an interesting person she is even when she doesn't see it herself. She designs her own clothes--with mixed but enthusiastic success. She moves easily among pushy friends, stylish friends, nerdy friends, and even her mother's friends with a conviction that people are basically good and ought to be able to get along. The comics are drawn with daring, using vibrant colors to match Lou's bursting personality, but when the mood turns introspective, the colors slip effortlessly into muted ambers. There's even a hint of manga influence, as the characters' faces take on whatever ludicrous proportions are most appropriate for their emotions-of-the-moment. Lou! deserves every bit of its international acclaim, and you might as well get on the bandwagon now. --Teacher Librarian --Journal http: //rosepetals1984.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/review-summertime-blues/ Summertime Blues is the second book in the popular Lou series by Julien Neel. This was a wonderful story that had Lou and her mother traveling to Memaw's place to spend the summer away from the city. Both Lou and her mother aren't too happy about it since it's in the countryside and supposed to be one of the most boring towns ever. But while staying in Memaw's house, Lou's Mom keeps in touch with Patrick, while Lou is down in the dumps from only getting a single undesirable postcard from her crush Tristan. Luckily, she finds friendship with another boy named Paul in town, and that gives Lou some incredible experiences for the summer that are sweet and humorous. Summertime Blues has some of the same laugh out loud humor as the first book, and I loved the development of the relationship between the characters. It was great to see some of the recurring characters (Mina, Patrick, Tristan, Memaw, the cat whose name changes every week) along with some of the newer characters (Paul, Memaw's next door neighboor, etc.) The artwork is colorful and vibrant, and I love the design of the characters. I think this is a wonderful series for kids/teens to pick up and something that I think adults can enjoy as well. Wonderfully illustrated and narrated. Lou is definitely an awesome teen for new readers to follow. --Blog

These first two installments in this series introduce a scrappy mother/daughter duo who deal with life's problems with sarcastic humor, resiliency, and their own brand of love. Lou is a precocious 12-year-old growing up with a single mother who, with an addiction to video games and her dinner-burning antics, sometimes acts more like a child than her daughter does. (The story of Lou's missing father is explained in the second book and becomesa point of suspense for future titles.) The happily unconventional family dynamic works for them, and Lou navigates through first crushes, helping her mom get a date with their cute new neighbor, and dealing with her grumpy grandmother on vacation, all with the help of her best friend and a comfortingly lazy cat. The plot moves in scenes that are broken down, but not differentiated; each spread has its own mini-story, but they are all connected and in a general sequence. There are some mature themes, such as alcohol use by the mother, but they are dealt with in a realistic manner that fits in the context. The art is cartoony and cheerful, but also illustrates emotion as necessary. Readers, especially girls, will enjoy these strong, funny charactersand the true-to-life dilemmas that they face and overcome. --School Library Journal --Journal Author/illustrator Julien Neel presents a comical look at the trials and tribulations of 12-year-old Lou and her family and friends. Lou lives with her video game addicted mother and their newly acquired cat. When a new guy moves into the apartment upstairs, Lou decides to play matchmaker for her mom. While the comic book pages do not flow seamlessly, the translated story does fall into place nicely. With fun, full-color illustrations, this graphic novel is able to portray the daily life of Lou in a playful manner while relaying pre-teen heartache and angst. Beginning pages present a scrapbook look that introduces the story while the ending pages present the same scrapbook format and summarize the contents of the book. --Library Media Connection --Journal http: //rosepetals1984.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/review-summertime-blues/ Summertime Blues is the second book in the popular Lou series by Julien Neel. This was a wonderful story that had Lou and her mother traveling to Memaw's place to spend the summer away from the city. Both Lou and her mother aren't too happy about it since it's in the countryside and supposed to be one of the most boring towns ever. But while staying in Memaw's house, Lou's Mom keeps in touch with Patrick, while Lou is down in the dumps from only getting a single undesirable postcard from her crush Tristan. Luckily, she finds friendship with another boy named Paul in town, and that gives Lou some incredible experiences for the summer that are sweet and humorous. Summertime Blues has some of the same laugh out loud humor as the first book, and I loved the development of the relationship between the characters. It was great to see some of the recurring characters (Mina, Patrick, Tristan, Memaw, the cat whose name changes every week) along with some of the newer characters (Paul, Memaw's next door neighboor, etc.) The artwork is colorful and vibrant, and I love the design of the characters. I think this is a wonderful series for kids/teens to pick up and something that I think adults can enjoy as well. Wonderfully illustrated and narrated. Lou is definitely an awesome teen for new readers to follow. --Blog Lou is almost a teenager, but don't hold that against her. She's the star of a rare combination in comics: a critical success (winner of the Youth Award for ages 9-12 at the world-famous Angoul me Comics Festival) and a runaway pop hit, too, with appearances in various languages in comics and animated television around the world. And it's easy to see why the whole world has fallen in love with her. She's a sparkling combination of spunky (she frequently takes care of herself when her mother is off being a famous writer...or playing video games) and self-conscious (does Tristan like her? Does she like him?). She surrounds herself with interesting people who see what an interesting person she is even when she doesn't see it herself. She designs her own clothes--with mixed but enthusiastic success. She moves easily among pushy friends, stylish friends, nerdy friends, and even her mother's friends with a conviction that people are basically good and ought to be able to get along. The comics are drawn with daring, using vibrant colors to match Lou's bursting personality, but when the mood turns introspective, the colors slip effortlessly into muted ambers. There's even a hint of manga influence, as the characters' faces take on whatever ludicrous proportions are most appropriate for their emotions-of-the-moment. Lou! deserves every bit of its international acclaim, and you might as well get on the bandwagon now. --Teacher Librarian --Journal In these French imports, twelve-year-old Lou ponders problems such as being teased at school, experiencing unrequited love, and having an underemployed single mom who is a writer/couch potato. The format makes them look like picture books, but the stories are told in comic panels; the dialogue and illustrations are lively, the concerns familiar (although overly focused on stereotypical romantic situations), and the characters appealing. --The Horn Book Guide --Journal

These first two installments in this series introduce a scrappy mother/daughter duo who deal with life's problems with sarcastic humor, resiliency, and their own brand of love. Lou is a precocious 12-year-old growing up with a single mother who, with an addiction to video games and her dinner-burning antics, sometimes acts more like a child than her daughter does. (The story of Lou's missing father is explained in the second book and becomesa point of suspense for future titles.) The happily unconventional family dynamic works for them, and Lou navigates through first crushes, helping her mom get a date with their cute new neighbor, and dealing with her grumpy grandmother on vacation, all with the help of her best friend and a comfortingly lazy cat. The plot moves in scenes that are broken down, but not differentiated; each spread has its own mini-story, but they are all connected and in a general sequence. There are some mature themes, such as alcohol use by the mother, but they are dealt with in a realistic manner that fits in the context. The art is cartoony and cheerful, but also illustrates emotion as necessary. Readers, especially girls, will enjoy these strong, funny charactersand the true-to-life dilemmas that they face and overcome. --School Library Journal --Journal Author/illustrator Julien Neel presents a comical look at the trials and tribulations of 12-year-old Lou and her family and friends. Lou lives with her video game addicted mother and their newly acquired cat. When a new guy moves into the apartment upstairs, Lou decides to play matchmaker for her mom. While the comic book pages do not flow seamlessly, the translated story does fall into place nicely. With fun, full-color illustrations, this graphic novel is able to portray the daily life of Lou in a playful manner while relaying pre-teen heartache and angst. Beginning pages present a scrapbook look that introduces the story while the ending pages present the same scrapbook format and summarize the contents of the book. --Library Media Connection --Journal Lou is almost a teenager, but don't hold that against her. She's the star of a rare combination in comics: a critical success (winner of the Youth Award for ages 9-12 at the world-famous Angoul me Comics Festival) and a runaway pop hit, too, with appearances in various languages in comics and animated television around the world. And it's easy to see why the whole world has fallen in love with her. She's a sparkling combination of spunky (she frequently takes care of herself when her mother is off being a famous writer...or playing video games) and self-conscious (does Tristan like her? Does she like him?). She surrounds herself with interesting people who see what an interesting person she is even when she doesn't see it herself. She designs her own clothes--with mixed but enthusiastic success. She moves easily among pushy friends, stylish friends, nerdy friends, and even her mother's friends with a conviction that people are basically good and ought to be able to get along. The comics are drawn with daring, using vibrant colors to match Lou's bursting personality, but when the mood turns introspective, the colors slip effortlessly into muted ambers. There's even a hint of manga influence, as the characters' faces take on whatever ludicrous proportions are most appropriate for their emotions-of-the-moment. Lou! deserves every bit of its international acclaim, and you might as well get on the bandwagon now. --Teacher Librarian --Journal In these French imports, twelve-year-old Lou ponders problems such as being teased at school, experiencing unrequited love, and having an underemployed single mom who is a writer/couch potato. The format makes them look like picture books, but the stories are told in comic panels; the dialogue and illustrations are lively, the concerns familiar (although overly focused on stereotypical romantic situations), and the characters appealing. --The Horn Book Guide --Journal http: //rosepetals1984.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/review-summertime-blues/ Summertime Blues is the second book in the popular Lou series by Julien Neel. This was a wonderful story that had Lou and her mother traveling to Memaw's place to spend the summer away from the city. Both Lou and her mother aren't too happy about it since it's in the countryside and supposed to be one of the most boring towns ever. But while staying in Memaw's house, Lou's Mom keeps in touch with Patrick, while Lou is down in the dumps from only getting a single undesirable postcard from her crush Tristan. Luckily, she finds friendship with another boy named Paul in town, and that gives Lou some incredible experiences for the summer that are sweet and humorous. Summertime Blues has some of the same laugh out loud humor as the first book, and I loved the development of the relationship between the characters. It was great to see some of the recurring characters (Mina, Patrick, Tristan, Memaw, the cat whose name changes every week) along with some of the newer characters (Paul, Memaw's next door neighboor, etc.) The artwork is colorful and vibrant, and I love the design of the characters. I think this is a wonderful series for kids/teens to pick up and something that I think adults can enjoy as well. Wonderfully illustrated and narrated. Lou is definitely an awesome teen for new readers to follow. --Blog

Author Information

Award-winning author and artist Julien Neel began his career as a host of business seminars. His musical puppet show on developing management skills was unfortunately made obsolete by PowerPoint presentations, forcing him to consider a new career in music. After a tour of Europe, his band split over irreconcilable differences about food. He eventually settled in Aix-en-Provence and has joyfully devoted himself exclusively to comics creation for the past ten years or so. Award-winning author and artist Julien Neel began his career as a host of business seminars. His musical puppet show on developing management skills was unfortunately made obsolete by PowerPoint presentations, forcing him to consider a new career in music. After a tour of Europe, his band split over irreconcilable differences about food. He eventually settled in Aix-en-Provence and has joyfully devoted himself exclusively to comics creation for the past ten years or so.

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