This beautiful graphic novel recounts the story of a school that started taking Black girls as students in the Northern USA, thirty years before slavery was abolished.

The illustration style is beautiful and plays with light and nature in wonderful way, the sun and trees are especially gorgeous. The colour palette used is restrained but all the more gorgeous for it.

The narrative itself is interesting, though limited by being based on a true story. I appreciated that each student we followed had a distinct sense of character, and that the school teacher wasn’t presented as an all knowing White saviour.

The historical information included at the end was helpful in filling out details after reading the graphic novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings for racism, mob violence, murder and threats of sexual assault.

3.5 stars *may change
trigger warnings: racism, death, anti-blackness
It must be pointed out first and foremost that this is a story about the black experience in America in the 1800s. That being said, the author, Wilfrid Lupano, is, as far as I can tell, white. I'm not a black reviewer, and so it is not my place to say if Lupano has the right to tell such a story. This foreword is a warning. This is not, from what I've seen, an own voices.
I think the art for a graphic novel must, to some extent, capture the story. For that, you must know the story first.
White All Around is a historically-based graphic novel about a female boarding school in 1832 Canterbury, Connecticut. Its headmistress, Prudence Crandall, admits a young black girl named Sarah into the school as is met by immediate backlash. Obviously, she retaliates by making it a school for women of color only. So on, and so on.
I really did love the art style for this. The color palettes change every scene from warm reds to a harsh purple or somber blues. It's very cartoony, but I think it's charming in that sense.
I did appreciate the addition of historical photographs, biographies, and documents. A graphic novel can only capture so much of reality when that reality has been hidden or unknown. The ending pages provide the real-life people and scenarios the story portrays. It's a good way to tell their story.
I never know how to review graphic novels. They look lovely, but they really only take me like an hour to read. It was quite alright.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced reader's copy.

This beautifully illustrated and smartly written graphic novel of historical fiction tells the story of a time before the Civil War when Black people were free, but not equal. They were free, but unable to go to school [especially if they were women]. They were free, but unable to protest or even talk about their own ideas and beliefs. It is the story of a school that admitted Black girls and ended up being burnt down because of it.
People think that the North and life in the North for Black people was the "land of plenty" and for some, history shows, it was. But for many, just because they were free didn't mean oppression ceased. It didn't mean that they still had to work for very little or for nothing [in some cases - not everyone in the North was an abolitionist, as this story shows]. It shows that many thought it was okay that the Black people were free, but wanted to make sure "they knew their place". And all of this is told in this short graphic novel. It tells the story succinctly and the pictures often tell more than the words. This book is very well done and everyone should be reading this piece of history in my opinion. What good is history, especially your own, if you don't read it and know it?
Very well done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wilfrid Lupano, Stephane Fert and Europe Comics for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

White All Around is a charming graphic novel with an important message underlying it.
-
I enjoyed this! The art style was so so gorgeous and fun! It had a nice contrast to the darker storyline and darker events.
-
This book truly showed how when someone is so overcome with hate that they can do terrible things. It is a heavy read with many lessons throughout.
-
TW- racism, violence, race-based violence, fire, guns, bigotry

I cried a little...

First of, I want to hug this art. I want to live in it and in these colors and never come back. I want my life to be this art. It is the purest and most beautiful art I've seen!
That forest goddess! 😍

The year is 1832 and Prudence Crandall teaches young girls in her boarding school. The society is not all that strong on educated women, but oh well...
Until Prudence decides that she will start teaching only young ladies of color!

This is a lovely and scary and uplifting story of that school, of what Prudence and the girls went through and what the school left them with.

I loved it beyond words!