Essex County Graphic Novels Teach Hockey, Life
Lemire Comics Touch Modern Readers with Lessons on Life, Hockey
Jan 21, 2009
Jeff Lemire's Essex County graphic novel series [Top Shelf Comix, 2008] delivers just the kind of hard-hitting life lessons students crave in their difficult lives. While portions of the Essex County graphic novel series contain strong language for some reading levels, the filters through which students now view the world are custom made for Lemire's slice-of-life masterwork. A trilogy of inter-connected books, the Essex County graphic novel series taps in to the difficulties many students face finding their places in the world.
Volume 1: Tales from the Farm
The first book, Tales from the Farm, features 10-year old Lester and his Uncle Kenny, two men torn apart by the loss of Lester's mother. They are at odds with each other. Kenny feels Lester withdrawing amid memories of losing his mother too early. Kenny misses his sister and vows to take care of her son rather than let him grow up in a strange home. As an alternative to his home life, Lester indulges in a fantasy world of superheroics, alien invasions, and pond hockey with former NHL star Jimmy Lebeuf, a man forever sidelined by an injury that confines him to pumping gas at the local filling station.
Volume 2: Ghost Stories
Book two, Ghost Stories, follows two brothers over the course of a seven-decade long relationship. Seen through the eyes of Lou, the eldest brother, the simplicity of childhood on the farm grows in to the more complicated consequences of adulthood - problems faced and decisions made. Lou and his younger brother Vince share many things during their relationship: from free and easy lives on the farm to the hard-hitting world of professional hockey, nothing seems strong enough to tear them apart. But Lou's is a life of regret... one capable of ripping loose the strongest bonds.
Volume 3: The Country Nurse
The final volume in Lemire's series, The Country Nurse, follows Anne Quenneville, a nurse in the small community of Essex County, as she travels through a typical day in her life, checking in on favorite patients, and finally revealing to readers how all three books fit together. As with the other two volumes, The Country Nurse shows how loss and regret ultimately dishevel the tight knit closeness of small town life.
As a whole, students face greater challenges today than in any previous generation. Families struggle to stay together. Drugs and other contaminants are readily available. Death and divorce and regretful decisions are more commonplace than ever. Students live in tough worlds and lead tougher lives than many adults can understand. They need accessible literature that will allow them to reflect on what they are going through. Lemire's series allows them to do just that. Give students credit for their intelligence and experience, and fit these books in to your curriculum. Highly recommended.
Read more about Essex County at Top Shelf Comix official website.
Visit JeffLemire.com to learn more about the creator.
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