AKISSI

More previously untranslated Akissi tales arrive in the United States, featuring the adventurous, one-of-a-kind heroine causing a ruckus in her Ivory Coast village.

This anthology corresponds to volumes 4, 5, and 6 in the Akissi series by veteran graphic-novel author Abouet, whose breakout YA comic Aya de Yopougon, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie (2005; first published in English as Aya in 2007), helped draw her international recognition. In her tales about Akissi, Abouet re-creates “the happy memories of being a young Ivorian girl,” when “the whole neighborhood was my playground and the people that lived in it were my family.” Akissi is absolutely, hilariously uncontainable in her home village, and that means that no one is safe from her impulsive curiosity and fearless missions. This spells trouble for the teenage neighborhood bully, Akissi’s sadistic schoolteacher Mr. Adama, and of course Akissi’s older brother and rival, Fofana. Walk with caution, because as Akissi knows all too well, “courage has nothing to do with age or height!” Or gender. Just as much as she enjoys a good barnyard laugh, she is determined to step in when a friend is in need. Sapin’s playful illustrations drive home the warmhearted levity in these stories, offering U.S. readers a rare glimpse into growing up beloved and meddlesome in an intergenerational, tightknit, actual day-to-day West Africa.

Outrageously fun—this indomitable little girl is simply incomparable.