2 stars

I felt chills gushing down my spine, The book was written well and beautifully illustrated but i think i will have to pass this book. I felt terrified while reading this. Just some of the contents were not to my liking at all.

Thank You to NetGalley and NBM Publishing for this ARC!!

The realistic yet dramatic art style was a plus for this graphic novel that looks at the refugee crisis through the lens of Art. An African teacher and lover of his culture's artistic legacy (threatened by Muslim extremists) sends a young man to journey to Europe as a refugee to shepherd a piece of art (a red wooden statue of a mother and child) to the Louvre. Tackled important issues around religious extremism, refugees, cultural collisions, racism, and the stark differences in money and resources available in different cultures. It also doesn't minimize the hardship, exploitation, and horrors that accompany being a refugee. But maybe because it was sponsored by the Louvre, despite the drama and evil, it seems a bit.....passionless and flat and.....misplaced in its priorities? It made me think and is an important topic, but I can't help wonder about ending the story with the art being saved and the lives of all the refugees still in doubt.

'Red Mother With Child' with story and art by Christian Lax is a graphic novel about a piece of art at the Louvre and the story of how it got there.

A young honey hunter named Alou, in Africa, is attacked by Islamists. The tree he is going to collect honey from is burned. In the burning tree Alou finds a red Mother with Child statue dating from the 14th century. A village elder wants him to take it to the Louvre to preserve it from being destroyed by extremist governments. His journey to the Louvre and his struggle to get the piece recognized is what follows.

Art in museums is a complicated topic and some of it is covered here, but this feels like an ad for the preservationists at the Louvre. It's hard not to feel bad for Alou's struggle, and his plight is largely unnoticed by the curators more eager to get their hands on another treasure.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

A gorgeously drawn graphic novel with an interesting narrative, plot, and concepts. Definitely recommended for fans of this genre.

Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, gave a very uncomfortable television interview. Like many institutions the British Museum had issued statements supporting Black Lives Matter but failed to reflect on their own actions. Their supportive statements were met by criticism.

"Observers were quick to point out that this same institution is known for closely guarding its collection of colonial-era objects from Africa, including the Benin Bronzes, as well as other contested items such as the Parthenon Marbles. And they noted that Fischer had left out key actionable words like “repatriation” and “restitution.”

Oh dear!

In this story a young man endures a perilous journey through Algeria, Libya, Italy and France so that he can give a statue to the Louvre. The statue was rescued in the past from colonialists and is now under threat from Islamists. All these years later France is seen as a safer place.

Oh the irony!

Well it seems to be safer for the statue, but less safe for Alou the young man from Mali who is entrusted with the statue.

This is a fascinating story and contrasts the importance placed on artefacts with the importance place on human life. The artwork in the comic is really good and the red of the statue contrasts with the grey and cream artwork which is used to tell the story.

The story is definitely gripping and at the end the statue finds a home but does Alou find a home?

I dislike open ended stories and loose threads but perhaps the openness in this story is an opportunity to ask questions.

Why couldn't a young migrant go into the Louvre? Why didn't anyone actually care about him? Was the statue really worth the risk?

In the end I did think that perhaps it would have been better to hide the statue from the Islamists in another tree rather than undertaking such a terrible journey.

I think the story is clever in the way it portrays the interweaving undercurrents of colonialism, race, poverty, religion and migration, and weaves them into a very rich story centred on the Louvre.

What other stories could be told about the Louvre and the artefacts there or about the millions who visit there, or those who work there? This book is part of a series of stories centred on the Louvre so of course there are many stories to be told.

I did enjoy reading this. There were times I had my heart in my mouth as Alou negotiated the dangerous migration route. The story leaves us reflecting and pondering about number of issues and I think that can only be a good thing.

Copy provided by NBM Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The artistic and educational values of The Red Mother with Child combine to make it appealing to multiple audiences. Teachers and parents could find the graphic novel format a captivating way to open discussions of sculpture, the Louvre, the cultural ramifications of art, colonialism, political unrest, and refugeeism. Readers of the growing genre of nonfiction graphic novels will appreciate the impactful drawings and the depth of emotion that they convey. The only criticism I have is that at times the text feels somewhat more didactic than necessary. When it becomes too much of an overt teaching piece, the nuance of the multilayered topics is sacrificed. The Red Mother with Child tells an important story in a skilled, effective way. It is absolutely worth the read.

Thank you to NBM Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank You to NetGalley and NBM Publishing for this ARC!!

Alou, a young honey hunter is attacked by Islamists one day and they destroy the tree where he goes to collect honey. Among the destruction he finds a statue which he takes to the village hogon, who then tells him that the statue is named "A red Mother with Child", a 14th century African sculpture.

The village hogon tells him that it is of the utmost importance that the statue be taken to the Louvre, where it can be kept safe, and so Alou sets off for Paris with a goal and obsession to entrust the precious statue to the Louvre Museum!

The story then follows Alou's journey and the difficulties he faces along the way. It was an interesting read but I felt that the story was rushed and very little emphasis was given to each event.

Awkward. This graphic novel is certainly a visually attractive one – very carefully reducing the palette to an appropriate level of starkness for the story of a young kid emigrating from Mali to Western Europe, while giving just a touch of a glow of red courtesy of the statue he's chanced upon, that he and one of his cultural masters think should be in the Louvre as opposed to blown up by Islamists. Once you get around the prologue being more out of kilter than you at first think, the story is quite a compelling one, but there are still flaws. This being a commissioned piece, the text can really read like an advert for the Louvre's third world galleries, and the science the curators there work with. Elsewhere the script nudges towards the debate of whether such museums should house such antiquities, yet never doubts Europe's place as refuge for anyone who wants to come over from Africa; the cameo from Margaret Atwood as a French tutor in a tent city is peculiar to say the least. On the whole, then, this is very much an advert for the Louvre, and for a certain political mindset, and I wouldn't really have thanked the creator here for either, let alone combined, were it not for the striking visuals and lovely, well-crafted design.

Alou is a young Malian who is attacked by religious extremists while collecting honey from a baobab, but among the destruction he finds a statuette. The village hogon tells him it is of the outmost importance that the statue be taken to the Louvre, where it can be kept safe, and so Alou sets off for Paris, suffering the constant danger migrants face when following this journey to Europe.

The art is quite striking, specially the landscape, with mesmerizing images of Mali and even the seashore in Libya. The black and white works quite well and focuses the story on the two statuettes, the one in Paris and the one in Mali.

The story is a bit different, seeing as how the Louvre is indeed the end point, but doesn't feel like the most important aspect of it. I liked how the emigration seemed to be secondary to the story but was, in fact, what carried the whole thing; be it the passage through Africa or the Mediterranean or the terrible living conditions once in Paris. However, 140 pages is not nearly enough to tell the story as well as it deserves, and it seemed somewhat rushed, just showing one or two bad things happening in each stage (hunger in the desert, slavery in Libya, gang rape in the boat, xenophobia in Paris.)

However, having read other comics from this Louvre series, this is probably the most important story I've read so far. It is new, captivating, and important.