What a cute and quick read this was. Illustrations are stunning. What a perfect graphic novel. I believe this is translated.

The main characters are Pico and his sister Anna. The book starts in what feels like Fall and goes into Winter. This follows there daily lives. Quite a bit of humour that I think most would get.

Definitely would read the series

A big thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of “Pico Bogue – Striking the Balance” for my opinion. I initially picked up this book because I really like Calvin and Hobbes and thought this comic would be in reminiscent to it.

To begin with, there were some parts of this comic that was very entertaining. For instance, I really liked the strips where there is no dialogue and the humor is only in the illustrations. Some examples are when Pico and Anna walk into the fresh snow and mess it up, or when they are ice skating and someone bumps into Pico. Moreover, the illustrations are simply amazing and makes the panels stand out with its striking colors and imagery. I especially loved the visuals in the panels where Anna is listening to the violin player, and when the kids go to the candy store. I also loved some of the jokes that take place during Halloween/Winter/Christmas time, like when Ana tries to understand if there is a Santa Claus or not.

However, apart from the above, I couldn’t enjoy this graphic novel as I would have liked to. I felt the main problem is in the jokes, and a lot of the humor is lost on translation. From what I can tell, these comics have been translated from French. Perhaps the jokes are much funnier in its native language, but in English, some of it seemed odd. In Calvin and Hobbes, even though there is a lot of intellectual humor, it is mostly between conversations between the two. But in Pico Bogue, Pico is at times, snobbish, snarky and rude towards everyone around him. Due to this, I really did not find the characters charming or endearing in anyway.

Overall, Pico Bogue – Striking the Balance has some funny moments, but could have been much better if the jokes were better translated or modified for English readers

Excellently organized and entertaining. A real winner for the publisher and the reader.

This book was really wonderful. I loved the art and how each little comic provided viewpoints into a snippet of the life of this french family. I like the relationship between the siblings, and even between the siblings and the parents. I love the snark and wit of the humour. Everyone should read this book.

My apologies-I could not review this book because it did download properly.

humour can be subjective, what one person finds amusing another with find side-splittingly hilarious, some of the exchanges between the siblings Pico and Anna are amusing, others I can see they are meant to be but can't find the giggle inside. The illustrations are okay but colourful, the style is somewhat an acquired taste. Overall, I enjoyed the read but would be unlikely to reread in the future.

Super adorable book about Pico and his sister Anna which will leave you wanting more!

Smart and charming. Great collection of comic strips starring the precocious Pico. The colored line drawings are wonderful and cleverly detailed. A treat!

Two kids and their parents, in sorta comic-strip-like storytelling, though more drawn out.
Before anything starts, there’s an amazing drawing of the protagonist inhabiting a tiny part of a vast landscape. It’s really beautiful. And at the end there’s a snowy counterpart, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid piggyback on a snowman before.
“You are what you eat. That makes me nasty.” Wow, tone is set from the first page. These two tiny kids are wise and snarky beyond their years.
The one where he almost gets run over by a car isn’t funny, but then I’m not sure it was meant to be.
“I’m scary as a trumpet.” Probably my fave.
He makes a certain kind of sense when he talks about Christmas gifts.
That little girl sure bounces back quickly from all those falls off the sled. And the last one proved just how amazing she is, my favorite character.
There’s a slightly impressionistic tone to the artwork, making the words and situations all the more surreal. Added to the humor of most of the jokes, it’s well worth reading.

Gag strip about smart-alecky kids saying “cute” stuff. Nothing really funny or clever, kinda stale, repetitive and dull for the most part with rather unimpressive art. Weak sauce.

'Striking the Balance (Pico Bogue #4) by Dominique Roques with illustrations by Alexis Dormal is a series of comic strips about a boy named Pico with outrageous red hair and his little sister Anna. I think this is a case of something getting lost in translation.

First off, the illustrations are simply great. There is lots of motion and color and I loved looking at the art.

The gags is where this often falls apart. Since this was originally published in Europe, I assume it was translated into English. Some of the gags work because they are simple and cute. A few, perhaps because of differences in culture, are a bit strange. It's obviously targeted at kids, but some of the humor will probably just go right over their heads. It's fun to see stories about familiar holidays, and the emotional trauma that Anna goes through over finding out if Santa Claus is real or not. I just had a hard time feeling this is something I would recommend.

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

DNF - these cartoons were just not my thing. It was actually quite disappointing to see so much work put in to the visuals, with the wonderful characterisation and the superior colour palette, when the cartoons were far too snide and sarky, and the yuck-yuck rate was stuck on zero. It seems to me that Big Nate is so much better, even though the arch way of getting one up on people, especially parents and other adults, is so close in the two franchises.

*thank you to Netgalley and Europe Comics for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3 stars.

Some of these were quite good and made me laugh by a few weren't that funny. I hadn't heard of this series before but I believe it's not all in English anyway. The characters are bother and sister, Pico and Anna and this is about their daily lives. They can be such smart alecks and come up with the funniest comments, particularly the way they can catch an adult off guard with their remarks. The funny comic strips in this do make this worth reading.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Oh wow, this was even more fun and hilarious than I had hoped/thought it would be! I now want the rest of this series as well. I want to see what other adventures Pico and his little sister Anna do and what trouble they get into.

We see the lives of Pico (the older brother with amazing hair) and his little sister Anna (with also amazing hair). From school (and how Pico tried his best to get more time for tests) to holidays and festivities (like Halloween, poor Pico but he really got himself out of that one and I had a laugh at Anna's outfit and how she didn't realise she looked like a dog with a cone). There is also things like Santa Claus, is he real or not (which was really sweet but also a bit sad).

These kids are delightful and precocious. They always have a snappy answer back (like when the dad said that Pico should stop acting like a child, and Pico just said: Ok, later, man! I'll take the cab home.), or they ask the questions only kids can ask. At times they annoy their parents (poor mom, all she wanted was a bit of help in the kitchen) or make a mess out of the house (or the garden when their was a mountain of snow).

I just love how the brother and sister interact with each other. They are so sweet together, and it was quite refreshing to have a brother/sister duo without fights.

The art reminds me a bit of Peanuts, mostly due to the expressions on the characters or how they react to things. It is a really cute style (though I do wonder how the hell the hair on those kids work, did the parents give up on combing their kids hair?).

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I want to read more! Recommended!

Cute tales of an incorrigible set of siblings, Pico and Anna, and their daily life experiences, explorations of philosophy, and sarcasticish humor. I found the book surprising and very funny, and a little reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes (humor-wise, not illustration-wise).

I am not sure what age group (if any) this is aimed at, but I enjoyed it and can imagine teens and maybe children enjoying it as well.