Ariol #4: A Beautiful Cow (Ariol Graphic Novels, 4) - Softcover

*Starred Review* This French series starring Ariol, the precocious, bespectacled blue donkey, continues to be one of the most delightful kids comics going. In this fourth installment, Guibert and Boutavant have created another dozen charming, touching, heartfelt, and funny 10-page comics featuring Ariol and the rest of his animal friends and family. Ariol’s adventures are never anything more than everyday occurrences—posing for school pictures, losing his keys, going to the gas station with his dad—but in Guibert and Boutavant’s hands, each experience is full of humor and pathos. Ariol does gentle things, like hug his mom when she is reminded of a sad memory while they’re dancing to her old disco records. But he gets into plenty of trouble, too, such as sneaking into a steeple and ringing the church bells, or trying to impress his crush with some graffiti. Boutavant’s vibrant menagerie of expressive animals in rich, saturated colors moves through large, easy-to-read panels with detailed but uncluttered backgrounds. Refreshingly, every adult and kid character alike is the object of the gentle teasing tone of the comics, and both parents and young readers will appreciate the slice-of-life humor reminding us of how silly we all can be. Grades 2-5. --Sarah Hunter