I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review—an okay graphic novel for adults about Esther's life.

I really enjoyed how the comic is about a real girl, Esther. She's the daughter of Sattouf's friend and in a sense the comic is a journal of sorts from when she was nine to when she is twelve. So, small occurrences that deal with life, dreams, hopes and family. For me the panels were slightly stuffed and it took time to get into the girl's head. Perhaps this works better if you read it in snippets. It's nice that her age is mentioned on the pages every time, so in a way you grow up with her. Overall the quality is quite good, though of course some occurrences are more interesting and easier to grasp than the others, but still.

The art is you typical Sattouf and Esther is wonderfully expressive. As I said, the panels are stuffed both text and art wise, so that takes some pleasure of the reading experience. Esther's Notebooks is an interesting window to girl's life from an outsider's point of view. It's funny, but gentle and relatable in many ways. A good comic by all means.

"Dear God, please cancel tomorrow's English test, I beg you, Lord."

Riad Sattouf, creator of the amazing Arab of the Future series, presents a series of comics based on the life of his pal's Parisian daughter, Esther, an outspoken 10-year-old who desperately wants an iPhone.

Though the comics have a European feel, most of Esther's concerns are pretty universal: school, friends, sibling rivalry, popularity, and the mystery that is boys. The reader gets to share her life and deepest thoughts from age 10 to 12. This is a fascinating look inside the mind of a growing girl as her focus slowly turns from her own angst to events happening in the world around her.

I'm very happy to have met this charming youngster.

A very, very short series of one page stories featuring the experiences of Esther, the child of a friend of the illustrator. The works are drawn from a larger collection covering several years worth of Esther's life. The topics are varied and not particularly serious. I found there to be a significant disconnect between the child's voice and the adult, sometimes harsh illustration style

3.5 rounded down

A pretty cute graphic memoir of a young French girl named Esther from ages 10-12. Overall, the strips are an enjoyable read. It definitely has a "kids say the darndest things" kinda vibe going on.

I'll be quite honest … since this is a memoir about a literal child, Sattouf does not censor the things she says and because of this, there are some panels where Esther's dialogue can be seen mean/homophobic/racist. That can be off-putting for a reader. I started to just skim after the "The Gay Teacher" strip. I felt that one was just unnecessary.

The art is charming and the color pops are nice and freshen up the story.