Loved this spooky graphic novel. I think this is a fun one all year round, but especially at this time of year. I think middle schoolers, and maybe even teen will enjoy this one- it seems like books set at schools like this are super popular right now. I also love the edgy art style this has

Wonderful to see early work by an accomplished artist revisited. A classic style of story -- outsider at the boarding school has to cope with spoiled mean girl -- revisited in graphic form. Hicks' style is particularly well-suited to the air of menace and uncertainty and the touch of magical fantasy at the end.

When studious thirteen-year-old Juniper wins a scholarship to the prestigious Ellsmere Academy, she expects to find a scholastic utopia. But living at Ellsmere is far from ideal: She is labeled a “special project,” Ellsmere's queen bee is out to destroy her, and it’s rumored that a mythical beast roams the forest next to the school.

This was such a fantastic graphic novel. I really enjoyed the story and the artwork was amazing. I would definitely recommend this to everyone.

One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks is a graphic novel recommended for grades 4 and up. Juniper wins a scholarship to attend Ellsmere Academy and has some run ins with one of the "mean girls." The story was a little predictable at times and felt like I've heard this story before, but the characters really draw you in. The book has strong messages about friendship, education, and kindness. This book was really short, but a good read!

Earlier this month, Faith Erin Hicks’s new book “One Year at Ellsmere” came out from First Second. But was it new? Back in 2008, SLG Publishing released “The War at Ellsmere,” also by Faith Erin Hicks. Isn’t this just the same book with a new title? In a broad sense, yes—“War” readers will find “One Year” very familiar—and yet this new book is also very different, rescripted and redrawn, and now with the addition of color. So for this review, we’re going to do something a little different. This isn’t so much a review of “One Year at Ellsmere,” but rather a review of the revisions between “The War at Ellsmere” and “One Year at Ellsmere.” I want to go in depth with this, so if you haven’t read the book yet, I should warn you this review is going to be packed with spoilers.

Ever since the revised edition of “Ellsmere” was announced back in January 2019, I’ve been fascinated. Not just because Faith Erin Hicks is one of my favorite cartoonists, but because I can’t help seeing what a creator chooses to keep, what to augment, and what to outright change. It was a fascination I developed at a young age from reading Hergé’s “The Adventures of Tintin” when I realised that some of the older books looked more modern than younger books—a fascination that remains to this day.

“The War at Ellsmere” was Hicks’s second book, and sold roughly 2000 copies. Since then, Hicks has made quite her name for herself, even going so far as to win two Eisner awards (Best Publication for Kids for “The Adventures of Superhero Girl” in 2014 and “The Divided Earth” in 2019). It’s fair to say her audience has grown considerably since 2008, and that “The War at Ellsmere” could find new life with these readers. In some ways, “The War at Ellsmere” was ahead of the curve, a comic book about girls for girls at a time when that audience was woefully underserved. Now that same market is booming.

The most obvious change from “War” to “One Year” is the art. Hicks completely re-inked the book. The backgrounds remain largely consistent with their “War” counterparts, aside from subtracting or adding a few details to better guide the eye to the right place in the panel. (This is especially noticeable in Jun and Cassie’s room.) However, the characters are completely redrawn.

Hicks’s style has evolved a lot in twelve years, and her performance through her art has improved so much. (That said, she was always good right from the beginning.) Hicks lets characters’ expressions and eyelines and body language carry the story more, which allows her to trim down the dialogue a bit, making for a smoother, more succinct read.

In terms of layouts, the really obvious changes come in the form of horizontally flipped panels, especially in action sequences. I made a point of mentioning how beautifully Hicks’s action flows in my review for “The Divided Earth”, a 200+ page book, the bulk of which is action. I think it’s fair to say that Hicks learned a lot while making “The Nameless City” trilogy, and a big part of that was managing scene direction. When a character is moving forward unimpeded, they’re moving left to right, and when there are obstacles or dead ends, they’re moving right to left against the reading direction. By flipping panels in “Ellsmere” to adhere to these rules, the tension of the action reads on a subconscious level. It’s simply better visual storytelling.

For me, the biggest change in the story is in the portrayal of Emily, the rich girl that makes Jun and Cassie’s lives at Ellsmere hell. In “The War at Ellsmere,” Emily is a largely unsympathetic character that brings out a harsher side of Jun. In “One Year at Ellsmere,” almost every scene involving Emily has had dialogue revisions, softening moments where Jun is brought down to Emily’s level, saying things that are downright cruel. Emily is given more nuance; she’s a much more carefully defined character in “One Year” with lines augmented to reveal more of what motivates her. In one sequence, Hicks has gone so far to completely exorcize an “evil villain” speech and write an entirely new exchange hitting the same beats, but now revealing a vulnerability in Emily that she tries to hide.

Hicks takes an idea from “War” and turns it into a motif in “One Year,” which is that there’s something in Emily that is broken and she knows it, even if she won’t admit it. And this is important because it reflects an aspect of Jun, a fear that she has about herself. It’s not that this aspect wasn’t present in the original, it was just that by making Emily an outright villain, it didn’t have near the same resonance that it has in the revised version.

Of course, there’s a major addition to “One Year” that was utterly absent in “War”—Shelli Paroline’s colors. The colors fundamentally changed the way I read the story. There’s a plot thread that runs through “Ellsmere” about the creature that lives in the forest around Ellsmere Academy and the rumors of what happened to Lord Ellsmere’s sons. In it, the younger son becomes obsessed with killing a white deer he sees in the forest despite warning from the elder brother to leave it alone. The younger son has something to prove, whereas the elder son is kind and seeks harmony. What happened to the sons is unknown, only that they disappeared in the forest and that a scream of anger was heard.

In “The War at Ellsmere,” I simply read this story as something to explain the angry spirit that manifested as an angry white unicorn in the forest. I didn’t connect it to the larger story of Jun, Emily, and Cassie. I mean, Cassie had a fascination with this story, but I never read it as more than that.

With the addition of color, I sudden saw the white more. There isn’t just a white deer and a white unicorn in “One Year at Ellsmere,” now the elder brother rides a white horse, now Cassie’s painting of a horse in art class is also white. Suddenly Cassie’s anger comes through in the story more and connects to the anger of the unicorn and the elder Ellsmere brother. She’s such a good-hearted and gentle character, but she’s bullied mercilessly by Emily and her entourage, and there’s resentment in her for how she’s functionally an orphan since her parents are so disengaged with her life.

Suddenly, the unicorn in “Ellsmere” isn’t literally a unicorn anymore. As Cassie says, “. . . it’s something that hates cruelty, but sometimes it’s cruel as well.”

As much as I like Hicks’s work, when I originally read “The War at Ellsmere,” I was frustrated with how little agency Jun had near the end of the book. Cassie is the one with all the agency, and in the end the pair of them are saved by the convenient arrival of the unicorn. But that was not at all my experience reading “One Year at Ellsmere.”

Yes, Jun still doesn’t have much agency, but that’s because Cassie is the transformative character in this story. The unicorn at the end of the story isn’t the arrival of some mythic creature, it’s the dam breaking. It’s Cassie. Emily’s actions have pushed Cassie to the point that she may lose the one friend she has at Ellsmere, and all that rage comes out. But, Cassie stops herself before going too far and calms herself. Still, it was enough for Emily to see a unicorn—a kind and calm person’s rage—and it terrified her.

Cassie is a kindhearted character and I don’t really want to see a story where her rage comes out. By wrapping this aspect of the story in a metaphor, it made it much more powerful to me. . . It’s just that in the black and white version, the metaphor went over my head. A white horse in black and white is just a horse, so even though there is still repeated imagery to connect the dots, the addition of color makes the white in this story not simply much more apparent, but immediate and obvious.

“One Year at Ellsmere” is still the same story as “The War at Ellsmere,” but one that employs more focused storytelling. Hicks and Paroline took a story I already enjoyed and elevated it. This isn’t a “director’s cut” that adds new scenes, making for a “bigger and better” version of the same story. Hicks cuts lines of dialogue, and cuts panels and even pages at times, and anything she adds accentuates what’s already there—they are additions for the sake of clarity, respecting the spirit of the original story.

“One Year at Ellsmere” breathes new life into “The War at Ellsmere” in the best possible way.

This was cute, but overall just okay.
I read it because I'm a fan of Faith Erin Hicks' art style and enjoyed what she did with [book:Pumpkinheads|40864790]. This graphic novel has a pretty basic "mean girl" storyline filled with plots to get people expelled and lots of bullying. The "mythical beast roams the forest next to the school" bit wasn't really a big part of the story and even felt pretty clunky with how it all played out. I'm also not sure how I feel about the ending since I don't really feel like the antagonist learned anything so it makes the moral a bit unclear.

Prestigious boarding school Ellsmere is the backdrop for the story of Jun (Juniper's) struggles, first to fit in as someone from a family of modest means, and then as the target of bullying by popular girl Emily. Jun's friendship with Cassie, another outcast, brings balance to One Year at Ellsmere, contrasting the rivalry with the equally-smart Emily. Another great author-illustrator solo effort by Faith Erin Hicks.

I loved this classic fish-out-of-water tale that is perfectly pitched for middle school students. It has elements of both realism and fantasy, a bully you love to hate and main characters you love to root for. My students are constantly looking for books like "Drama" and "Real Friends" that they can connect with, and this certainly fits the bill. Lovingly updated and a wonderful read.

I'll start off by saying the art is very very pretty and I love this style. There were a lot of tropes used in this book, and maybe they were't used in a very iinteresting way? If you're going to use a bunch of way too common tropes, it's best to put a twist to it, or at least give us a bit more. But it wasn't really the case, and I think that's what makes it less interesting than it could be. The villain wasn't interesting at all either, she was one of those basic villains that are there to annoy the protagonist but don't add much else to the story. It would've been nice to get to know her, know why she acts this way. Dive deeper into her reasons for being a bully.

Faith Erin Hicks' art will always draw me right into a story. What happens when the new girl takes on the popular mean girl? I hope we get year two and more in this series!

This story starts off with appealing characters we learn about gradually but not too slowly, and the same is true of the storyline. The art is not exceptional but is good and conveys emotion fairly well.

I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel, albeit a little late than I should have! "One Year at Ellsmere is a story about a young girl named Jun who gets accepted into a very prestigious boarding school via a scholarship. The story deals with friendship, bullying, family, and even a little fantasy and weird paranormal activity! Faith Erin Hicks is a great artist and I love how she captures colors and settings. There is good POC representation and the story takes a soft approach at wealth/income inequality. I look forward to seeing what kind of stories come in the future!

I appreciate Faith Erin Hicks's work because they're always easy to recommend to the kids. This wasn't my favorite of hers, I don't think it needed the fantasy element at all and relied too much on tropes, but I think the kids will like it enough.

On arrival at Ellsmere, our two main characters learn about friendship and belonging. They deal with their own insecurities and survive repeated bullying by the school's top student. This book has some strong points in building friendships and belonging in a new school, however the ending (and how the bully is dealt with) was a tad disappointing. It's a shame that the students had to rely on an outside force to stop it.
I do like how there may be more to come because the ending hints at more to come and I can easily see this as becoming a series.

*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This book was a super fun read! It discusses poverty, privilege, and has a little bit of magic as well. While I do think it's a great book for elementary aged kids, I think it would work better as a teen book due to the age of the main characters. Just my opinion though!

Ich liebe Faith Erin Hicks zeichenstiel. Leider haben wir im Laden keine Abteilung für englische Comics.

I LOVE the illustrations in this. Hicks' style is amazing and totally worth reading for that alone.

Which might be great because the story seemed a bit lackluster to me. Perhaps I had too high of expectations, but there was just something underwhelming about all of this. Perhaps it was the sudden appearance in the final pages of a magical creature that kind of came out of nowhere.

I want a new version that explore the possibility of magical realism more fully.

Faith Erin Hicks can do no wrong - literally. Whether it's her immaculate storytelling or breathtaking illustrations, I have been enjoying Hick's work over the past few years. One Year at Ellsmere is no exception. I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages and know it will be flying off the shelf at our library.

Good start to a middle grade graphic novel series of friendship, with a hint of mystery and magic. Juniper wins a scholarship to the prestigious Ellsmere Academy. Her brains and "special status" makes her a target for the insecure school bully. But Juniper finds a solid friend in her roommate Cassie, who needs Juniper to help her stand up for herself. Standard but enjoyable fish-out-of-water story illustrated beautifully with engaging characters. The only downside is the shortness of the volume - the plot feels too simple and short. But many readers will look forward to the next installment.

A great story about friendship and the challenges of trying to fit in. The illustrations are fantastic and the spooky elements were really well done. I really enjoyed the story and I'm looking forward to adding this book to my Library's shelves.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.