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Children's Fiction General

Forever Truffle

by (author) Fanny Britt

illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

translated by Susan Ouriou

Publisher
Groundwood Books Ltd
Initial publish date
Aug 2022
Category
General, Emotions & Feelings, Music
Recommended Age
7 to 10
Recommended Grade
2 to 5
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781773060705
    Publish Date
    Aug 2022
    List Price
    $24.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781773065830
    Publish Date
    Aug 2022
    List Price
    $19.99

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault are back with a new graphic novel, this time featuring Truffle, younger brother, best friend, aspiring rockstar …

Meet Truffle in three linked stories:

In “Truffle the Rockstar,” Truffle wants to form a band with his best friends Flo and Riad. They can already picture themselves on stage, wowing the crowd with epic songs. They still have to learn how to play instruments … but that’s just a minor detail!

Ever since Truffle asked Nina to be his girlfriend, they have been shy around each other. In “Truffle Loves Nina,” Truffle asks his parents, his friend Riad, his big brother, Louis, and the man who works at the library, for advice on how to let his heart do the talking.

In “Truffle Tackles Existence,” Truffle attends his great-grandmother’s funeral, which gets him thinking about the world around him. Are grandparents young once, too? Does Rocket, the dog that his family had to give up, still think about him sometimes? Do people stop loving each other if they don’t see each other anymore?

Fans of Louis Undercover will be delighted that Truffle — Louis’s funny, music-loving little brother — now has his own book!

 

Key Text Features

comic

comic strips

illustrations

 

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.9
Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5
Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

About the authors

Fanny Britt is a playwright, novelist and translator. Her play Bienveillance won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama (French). Her first novel, Les maisons, was short-listed for the France-Québec prize and the Prix littéraire des collégiens. She has also translated and adapted some thirty plays and novels.

Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault first collaborated on the graphic novel Jane, the Fox and Me, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Illustration (French) and the Joe Shuster Awards for Best Writer and Best Artist. It was also named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book.

Fanny Britt's profile page

Isabelle Arsenault is a very talented Quebec illustrator who has won an impressive number of awards and has achieved international recognition. She has illustrated Migrant by Maxine Trottier, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a finalist for the Governor General’s Award; Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear, winner of the Governor General’s Award; Le coeur de monsieur Gauguin by Marie-Danielle Croteau, winner of the Governor General’s Award; and My Letter to the World and Other Poems by Emily Dickinson, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. She has also illustrated Once Upon a Northern Night by Jean Pendziwol and Jane, the Fox and Me by Fanny Britt, forthcoming from Groundwood. Isabelle has won the Grand Prix for illustration (Magazines du Québec) for six years running. She lives with her family in Montreal.

Isabelle Arsenault's profile page

Susan Ouriou is an award-winning literary translator who has translated the fiction of Quebec, Latin-American, French and Spanish authors. She won Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation in 2009 for Pieces of Me by Charlotte Gingras, after first being shortlisted for The Road to Chlifa by Michèle Marineau and then for Necessary Betrayals by Guillaume Vigneault. The Road to Chlifa was also awarded an honour list placing by IBBY (International Board of Books for Youth) as were Naomi and Mrs. Lumbago by Gilles Tibo, This Side of the Sky by Marie-Francine Hébert and Pieces of Me. Necessary Betrayals was also voted one of the 100 best books of 2002 by the Globe and Mail. Another translation, The Thirteenth Summer by José Luis Olaizola, was runner-up for the John Glassco Translation Prize. She has worked as the director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre and as faculty for the Banff Centre's Aboriginal Emerging Writers residency. She is the editor of the 2010 anthology Beyond Words – Translating the World.

Susan Ouriou's profile page

Editorial Reviews

The standout book of the season.

Montreal Review of Books

Forever Truffle is a joyful ode to love … Bittersweet and nuanced.

New York Times

Arsenault's art … works in close conjunction with the text and brings Britt's characters to life, reflecting both humour and emotion.

Windsor Star

Visually interesting.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

The vignettes … achieve a steady balance in both their depiction of childlike innocence and their pop culture–inflected wit.

Publishers Weekly

A charming, engrossing trio of tales.

School Library Journal

Forever Truffle may be a book for children; however, it will delight readers of all ages with its quiet, but playful, illustrations and inquisitive characters. … Another welcomed and memorable contribution to Canadian children’s literature from Britt and Arsenault that shouldn’t be missed.

Canadian Children's Book News

The collaboration between Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault … has always been a powerful but subtle one of compelling stories of authenticity, told in words and pictures that depict children as they live. The complexity of their lives and their understandings are evident though not belaboured. Forever Truffle will forever be such a story.

CanLit for LittleCanadians Blog

[The] stories … are nicely textured, mixing humor and pathos with accessible pop-culture references.

Wall Street Journal

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