Description: There’s a small village called Mitaines, and one of the students from a school – Badjer – was disappeared on his way back home. The first part was Arthur’s life – a young and cute brown bear that lives with his mother, in a honey jar-shaped house. But he’s afraid to go to school and making new friends, as he didn’t possess any ability just like his mother’s teleport ability. When he went to the school - coincidentally – he makes friends with Willo, Pelagie, Gonzague, and not-so-friendly Kitsu, and there’s a group of bullies too – Francois, Jean-Francois, and Vladimir. All of sudden, Arthur felt that he’s into Kitsu, but she’s not the approachable kind, except with Pelagie (she’s been into him somehow!). Well, that’s kind of love triangle, isn’t it? The second part was Gonzague’s life, where his father returns home that night and told his family that there’s a second disappearance – Francois. Arthur took in this matter seriously with his friends – Gonzague and Pelagie support, but Willo rejects (but he finally joined them later). The third part was Willo’s life, he decides to wait for the rest of the gang on the next day, but there are someone shouting from the town hall, where the school’s principal – Mr. Granny – wouldn’t allow himself to shut down the school unless the authorities produced something reasonable. The gang finally met and went down the road to meet Arthur at his mother’s bakery. The fourth part was Pelagie’s life, and this part cracked me up, as one of her young sisters told the rest of the family how the kiss-tag game works – kissing a boy for baby-making?! LOL! In a PE session at her school later, all of the students were done with their laps, except Mousse, which he’s going at a very slow pace and making their teacher – Mr. Tony – irked. But Mousse didn’t feel well, and Pelagie tries to take him to the infirmary – she had a fever afterward and she’s being sent home. There’s something strange in her dream, where she and Mousse was talking about a black beast in their village, and she started to imitate its howl, but for the second time, it’s the REAL howl that they heard! She woke up immediately just then and her family was elated to see her recovering from high fever. Gonzague and Willo told her that she’s been sleeping for two days straight, and they verified that her dream came true after all! The fifth part was Kitsu’s life, where before she’s heading to the school, she saw some strange paw marks along the way and sharing it with the gang during recess time. Mr. Granny called her over to talk about her behavior, and she launched a very simple question after that – ‘why haven’t you closed the school?’ – but it makes him angrier. In the sixth part, the gang started gossiping about Arthur’s ability and discussing very thoroughly their investigation. After the class was over, Arthur went up to Pelagie for confessing his feelings towards Kitsu, but there’s something terrible happened between Mr. Granny with an unknown being – that makes Arthur phoned Gonzague and Willo on that night. The next day - in the middle of Mr. Robbie's class – one of the students noticed from the class’ windows that Mr. Granny was bleeding profusely in the school yard. But, when the gang approaches him, he handed a book to Arthur – but Gonzague will help him to decode the book – and told that someone wants to possess the school’s treasure – that makes them confused. Gonzague’s father came to the school and giving the final word, that the school will be closed until further notice, but when Arthur tries to talk about Pelagie’s previous interests, she’s gone! The police tried to look for her, but to no avail. In the final part, Gonzague was studying the book that night and trying to figure out each of the stories inside it, but then he’s stumbled to The Seven Rainbows story. After he’s finished with it, he tried to retrace some of his old memories that are involved with the story, and his theory was proven correct – he tries to contact the rest of the gang and met up at Kitsu’s cabin. Once again, he told his proven theory to them and he shows a photo where Mr. Robbie’s arm was being bandaged, but there’s a mark – it’s Pelagie’s star power! There, Mr. Robbie was the culprit, after all, bringing his pack of wolves to hurt them – the reason why he’s doing it was he hates children – and it’s a fight between both of the gang, that makes the good one went to separate routes – Gonzague and Willo were going to inform this to Gonzague’s father, meanwhile Kitsu and Arthur were going to the evil’s house for rescuing the victims. When Arthur and the teacher came to face one another, Arthur finally discovered his true ability! The comic ends with a restoration of peace in the village and the gang were being honored in the Mitaines Matin newspaper.

Unable to download before archived as my tablet was damaged and I had been unable to afford a new one until recently. Apologies.

I didn't really enjoy it that much. The art is gorgeous and there are some nice gags. You could tell that this was a translation as there were some odd turns of phrase. I think I am slightly too old to have got much from it but younger readers should have a better time with it than I did.

I thought this book was quite cute in the art style. It was not my favorite graphic novel but I did enjoy the story and the friendship. I actually requested this from Netgalley solely based on the cover. I do not have much to say other than this story was short and sweet.

I love the opportunity to introduce more non-American works of children's literature to students. This quirky graphic novel is a French import. In some ways, a typical school story with a group of misfits banding together to solve a mystery, it's unique because rather than people, the characters are forest creatures ranging from insects to foxes, all of whom have some special ability. I didn't find the plot particularly memorable; a week after I read it, I had to look back to remind myself what happened, but I loved the illustrations. A good choice for middle graphic novel readers.

I'm beginning to think I don't take to animal graphic novels at all. Unless they have Bryan Talbot's name on the cover. Or the word Maus. But that's not really true, for there's Mouseguard, and so many other books I can mention if I think hard enough about it, that feature anthropomorphised critters as characters. I won't be thinking about this one at all any time soon, for it's one of those childish ones where there's generally only one of every animal (so how the heck are they even breeding?!) and they can't work out the business with the clothes (hence the MILF bear cooking breakfast in an apron, a weird kind of reveal-all cape and naff all else). The plot is supposed to involve a sustained case of missing schoolchildren, but suffice it to say I didn't stick around to find out the truth of the matter. It might be OK to the right reader, but I was convinced from the get-go that this was just not for me.

Honestly, this is beautiful. The art is one of the most beautiful things I could see in a long time inside a graphic novel but I had a problem with the story.
I don't know how to say it but I feel that the story was slow, super slow. Like a snail and everything get resolve in the last ten pages. That's a shame because as I said, the art is gorgeous.
But you can't do a graphic novel only with the art, right?
Anyways, I think this is an excellent book If you want animals, conspiracy theories and some magical drama.

Thank you Netgalley for the book !
This book was provided in exchange of a honest review.
So I was really excited about this one, a graphic novel + a mystery/Thriller? I was soooo into it!
But unfortunately it was not what I was expecting, Arthur and his new gang try to find out the truth behind the kidnappings, and I honestly was hoping it to get more intense or at least more "logical".
The end was plain boring in my opinion.
A secret treasure at the end of the rainbow? Some shadow wolves?
A fake teacher?
Plus the forced romance , and they throw magic in the mix...
Maybe some people wil love this , but it was not for me at all.
1.5⭐

Loïc Clément and Anne Montel have created a beautiful, thrilling children’s mystery comic, The Mitaines Gang. Arthur, the new young bear in town, and his friends come together to discover what has happened to their disappearing classmates. This adventure is filled with touches of humor and romance and bit of fantasy along the way. The spectacular watercolor drawings that accompany this exciting story are worthy of being framed. Ms. Montel’s lively and colorful drawings help tell the tale that is as old as time with children, and woods, and wolves, and magic. I cannot wait for the next in the series.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a graphic novel book about a bear called Arthur who moves to a new place with his mother and starts a new school, but the pupils at his new school keep on disappearing into think air.

I didn’t think much to the story as it was all a bit mismatched and silly but the illustrations were fantastic!

A sweet mystery story, about talking anthropomorphic animal school friends, living together with their parents in a little town made from human objects and refuse (think empty milk cartons, tea pots, etc.).

Some of the children have been disappearing without a trace (actually.. there are some traces..) and Arthur, a boy bear, and his friends try to solve these kidnappings.

Also, the animals each have a distinct magical power, some a lot more useful than others. Also also, everyone has fallen in love with eachother but not with the right person, so that adds a level of fun to the proceedings.

The art is delightful, the character designs are very sweet and silly. The story isn't much to write home about, but who cares, when everything surrounding it is so much fun.

3.5 stars

Both beautifully illustrated and engaging, this story takes the reader to the small town of Mitaines. Arthur is the new boy starting school at the middle of term and he hopes he will fit in because he hasn't yet discovered his special powers. Arthur settles in quickly but the town is fearful because schoolchildren are disappearing. Together with his new friends Arthur decides that they must get to the bottom of the mystery and find out what is happening.

This is a delightful graphic novel which will entertain adults and children alike. The artwork is lovely and each character is endearing. The mystery is solved at the end but the culprit is not easily guessed. I enjoyed reading this.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The illustrations in this book are sooooo beautiful, that type of drawings that come directly from childhood memories. There are so many details in the houses of each of the characters and there is a lot of originality in each element.

The story itself is interesting, fantasy mixed with a little humor and cute animals. I loved it

The art in this book is utterly GORGEOUS! A sort of watercolor and pen style that gave a very dreamy atmosphere to this fantastic story. The world building matched the art; cute animals, whimsical buildings (the family of fireflies lives in a lantern!), and an interesting magic layer (everyone has a unique talent). The story was a basic "kid goes to a new school and makes friends and solves a mystery," but it was really charming. A great read for you or the magic-loving kids in your life.

Oooh, I had so, so much fun reading this!

The action takes place in the little town of Mitaines, where animals live together in a wonderful community. Each has a superpower ( which I loved!), everyone except little Arthur. It makes him feel different and insecure but he finds himself some friends and he's immediately integrated in their group.

Adventure begins when students start disappearing! The mystery is intriguing and the gang gets more and more involved in it.

Besides the absolutely beautiful illustrations, the story was simply adorable! I loved all characters and their quirky personalities. I laughed out loud more than once.

A delightful tale for children, filled with mystery, magic and talking animals. In this enchanting universe, kids receive a sort of magical power as soon as they reach adolescence. Arthur, the main character of the story, has just arrived in the valley of Mitaines along with his mother, but he is worried about making new friends, since his own powers are yet to be revealed. Soon after his arrival, some mysterious kidnappings start happening and Arthur and his newfound friends are determined to find the culprit before it's too late...

I'm always enamoured by comics that use watercolour, and The Mitaines Gang uses them beautifully in order to construct this magical world. Since the graphic novel is aimed towards children, many parts of the plot are quite simplified. This is only the first installment in what appears to be a series of graphic novels, so many questions are raised and left unanswered, although the main mystery is solved at the end.

All in all, The Mitaines Gang is a quick and lovely read that I'm sure every child will be fascinated by. The drawings are brilliant and the plot regarding the mystery kidnappings is entertaining enough to maintain the readers' interest.

First of all this graphic novel is aimed at children. It does an excellent job of this through its art style, nice clearly designed tiles, not too over cluttered and confusing for anyone to read. Colour scheming worked well, light colours for good, darker colours for more evil characters. The story itself was written well, a nice light mystery and the theme of friendship was great. An overall great book for kids!

This book was originally released as Le Temps des mitaines. It takes place in the mythical town of Mitaines. Our main protagonist, Arthur, has just moved to town when a rash of kidnappings occurs. There is magic and anthropomorphic animals. This book explores the themes of friendship and coming of age. It’s told in a fun, lighthearted manner—a little bit Scooby Doo. “Those meddling kids!” The artwork is delightful. I truly enjoyed this and read it with my 11 year old daughter reading over my shoulder. I would recommend it to all genders and ages.

This was such a beautiful illustrated comic book, that actually gave me Pettson and Findus vibes. While this little friend group of critters try to solve the mystery of their missing classmates, we get a closer look at their beautiful drawn world and their families. I loved it from the beginning till the end. It was funny and easy to read, so perfect for children. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, because of the beautiful drawn style of the comic, the easiness to go through the story, the mystery of the kidnappings of course and of the funny way it was written. Great read!

I received an electronic ARC from Europe Comics through NetGalley.
Arthur's family moves to a new town and he has to start a new school. On his first day, readers and characters learn that one of the students has disappeared. Arthur meets students quickly and finds a diverse group of friends. Soon another student disappears. The group decides to work on the mystery and successfully solves it near the end.
Realistic illustrations pull middle grade readers into the story and encourage them to solve the mystery as well.