Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
May 5, 2017/in Graphic Novel 10-14 Middle/Secondary /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 224 May 2017
Reviewer: Margaret Mallett
ISBN: 978-1743368725
Price: £16.99
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Children's Books
Genre: Graphic Novel
Age Range: 10-14 Middle/Secondary
Length: 40pp
Buy the Book

Small Things

Author: Mel Tregonning

Mel Tregonning’s wordless black and white graphic novel, completed and published after she took her own life, is extraordinarily beautiful and a powerful, moving representation of depression.

Its central character is a young boy and a series of comic strip frames show us the ordinary but agonising misery of his day at school; excluded from conversations and games by his classmates, he’s overwhelmed by loneliness and embarrassment.  Lessons offer no respite, and while he’s struggling with maths we notice strange shapes in the shadows he casts. These small things increase in number, and become a pretty well permanent presence; strange and spiky, faceless but with sharp teeth, they trail after him in the day and surround his bed at night, threatening and sinister, literally eating him up as cracks and crevices appear in his skin.

The depth of the boy’s anxiety and despair are unmissable in the finely worked pencil illustrations, to the extent that it almost feels too much, too oppressive.  Tregonning does allow him a way out however – his family and sister help him and it seems that he can drive the shapes back into the shadows at least. The final spread shows that he’s not alone and that the other children at school are also tormented by worries, the same shapes swooping after them too.

Readers will marvel both at Mel Tregonning’s skill and at the intensity of her vision. Many too will understand exactly how her character feels and one hopes they will take comfort and reassurance from the book.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2017-05-05 19:08:002021-06-21 18:10:02Small Things

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

BfK 254 May 2022 Download BfK Issue BfK 254 May 2022
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Peter Bently and Steven Lenton named winners of The Children’s Book Award 2022

June 27, 2022

Shortlist for the 2022 SLA Information Book Award

June 23, 2022

2022 Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Winners Announced

June 16, 2022

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2022 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Frogkisser! Mold and the Poison Plot
Scroll to top