The Leaning Girl

Gr 10 Up—After an eclipselike phenomenon and a thrilling ride on The Star Express, "the most spectacular attraction" in the city of Alaxis, young Mary von Rathen has inexplicably started to lean. Having studied the mysterious phenomenon from his observatory on Mont Michelson, Dr. Axel Wappendorf theorizes that the Sun was blacked out by an "anti-planet" and proposes building a rocket ship to get closer to this strange planet. Driven from Paris by the harsh words of his critics, Augustin Desombres finds himself compelled to purchase an abandoned estate and to paint mural after mural and a young figure he cannot seem to put a face to. These three disparate stories intertwine in this graphic novel that first originated online in the 1980s and has been translated and published in English via a Kickstarter campaign. The narratives are set among The Obscure Cities, a group of separate cities located in an invisible world positioned directly on the other side of the Sun. Mostly black and white, with some color and even photography, Schuiten's artwork is wonderfully appropriate to the sci-fi genre and beautifully evocative. The images, some of which include full frontal nudity, support the text, especially in the sometimes clunky translation. The well-written story is propelled forward by the three main characters as they each try to make sense of the unexplainable and affect each other along the way. The science is incorporated in a comprehensible and fascinating way that will engage teens.—Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX