Yvain: The Knight of the Lion
Age 12+
Comic Strip Fiction / Graphic Novels
In his first graphic novel, National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson turns to Arthurian lore, with captivating art by Andrea Offermann bringing the classic legend to life.
Eager for glory and heedless of others, Sir Yvain sets out from King Arthur’s court and defeats a local lord in battle, unknowingly intertwining his future with the lives of two compelling women: Lady Laudine, the beautiful widow of the fallen lord, and her sly maid Lunette. In a stunning visual interpretation of a 12th century epic poem by Chrétien de Troyes, readers are — at first glance — transported into a classic Arthurian romance complete with errant knights, plundering giants, and fire-breathing dragons. A closer look, however, reveals a world rich with unspoken emotion. Striking, evocative art by Andrea Offermann sheds light upon the inner lives of medieval women and the consequences Yvain’s oblivious actions have upon Laudine and Lunette. Renowned author M. T. Anderson embraces a new form with a sophisticated graphic novel that challenges Yvain’s role as hero, delves into the honesty and anguish of love, and asks just how fundamentally the true self can really change.
Creators
M T. Anderson has worked as a DJ, music reviewer and an editorial assistant at a children's publisher before becoming a writer and teacher of creative writing. He is an author of books for children and young adults. His picture books include, Handel Who Knew What He Liked, Strange Mr. Satie, The Serpent Came to Gloucester and Me, All Alone, at the End of the World. His young adult books include, Thirsty, Burger Wuss, the dystopian novel Feed, The Game of Sunken Places and also Whales on Stilts: M.T. Anderson’s Thrilling Tales and its sequel The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen. His books are highly acclaimed and he has won several awards including, The Michael L. Printz Honor Book for literary excellence in young adult literature (given by the Young Adult Library Services Association) 2007, and the National Book Award for Young People, for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 1: The Pox Party. Feed was named a 2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner, a 2003 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book, and a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award and Handel Who Knew What He Liked was a 2002 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Andrea Offermann is a fine artist and the illustrator of many books for children and young adults, including The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett and The Boneshaker by Kate Milford. She attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and now lives in Germany, where she was born.
Reviews
Mentioned in sneak previews
Publishers Weekly
With its stirring and accomplished art work and its gentle underscoring of the ironies of Chretein de Troyes Expressive tale this is a fine addition to the sum of modern renderings of the Athurian legends.
Magpies Magazine
