A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
It takes great skill to use linguistic specificity and subtlety to tell a story as deftly and engrossingly as Daniel Nayeri. It takes an entirely different yet no less impressive skill set to tell a similarly captivating story through pictures. In her quietly transcendent graphic novel Pardalita, Portuguese artist and author Joana Estrela shows exactly how to achieve this remarkable feat.
Art © Joana Estrela
This is the story of Raquel, a sixteen-year-old high school student. As the story unfolds, you’ll meet her friends and family and watch as she goes about her days at school and at play, much like other teenagers all around the world. One day Raquel notices an intriguing girl putting up a sign advertising the school’s theater club. Interested in theater (and perhaps more so in this strangely enchanting girl), Raquel joins the club and comes to make a new friend, who she learns is named Pardalita.
Art © Joana Estrela
High school life continues as usual, and the two girls spend more time together, share more of themselves, and form a bond that starts to move in the direction of romance. There is nothing groundbreaking or unique in what transpires in Raquel’s story. What makes it so special is the simple, understated honesty of the characters and their relationships with each other. Just as every detail doesn’t need to be drawn for a viewer to perceive its existence, most of what is gorgeous and delightful about Pardalita is the attention paid to the simple things we often overlook. Small, unnoticed interactions, fleeting expressions or glances, secretly held anxieties, and other seemingly unremarkable pieces fit together into something that is truly unique and breathtaking.
One of the Best Books of the Year
Available wherever books are sold.
Pardalita I 9781646142569 I $16.99 I Paperback I Available Now