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Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel

Aimée de Jongh

Faber & Faber (12+) 9780571374250 (Hardback)

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This strong, impactful graphic retelling has a cinematic quality.  The story of a group of boys trying to survive on an island as civilisation erodes into savagery is repellent at points but in the best possible way because of the prowess and power of the illustration.  There are moments of great vulnerability, like when Piggy’s glasses are shown to be broken, and there’s palpable unease and menace in the depictions of the beast and the pilot. It carries readers on a real journey.

Themes:

  • Human nature 
  • Civilisation 
  • Rites of passage 
  • Fear 
  • Societal breakdown 
  • Death 
  • Democracy

Illustrator Interview

Shadowers’ Challenge

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Aimée de Jongh

Aimée de Jongh is a renowned graphic novelist. Her debut, The Return of the Honey Buzzard, won the Prix Saint-Michel and was adapted into a live-action film, while her graphic novel Days of Sand was an international bestseller and nominated for two Eisner awards. She has been published in eleven languages to date.
www.aimeedejongh.com

Shadowers' reviews and artwork

The illustrations are so detailed and colourful and the storyline is amazing!

Fia

Knox Readers

I really enjoyed this graphic novel because even though I haven’t read the original book, I could really understand the characters and emphasise with them just through the illustrations. I really liked the watercolour + fineliner shading drawing style because you could really see the movement in the characters. The story itself was so interesting because it showed how humans could turn into animals when you lose civilisation. My favourite panels were probably the flies chasing Simon on page 235 and the cult-like dance panels that led up to Simon’s murder. The next few panels after were also really good since the monotone colour pallet symbolised Piggy and Ralph’s fear and grief. I hated Jack after I finished the book because of how he turned Ralph into prey and hunted him like an animal, completely contrasting to his ‘choir-boy’ character at the start of the book. He turned into what he hated, a creature without law and order while keeping his original ideals of wanting meat and being chief, though that quickly turned into insanity. Overall I think this book deserved being in the Carnegies shortlist and would recommend to anyone.

Hannah

Norwich High Bookworms