This graphic novel was hilarious and well-drawn, definitely worth the money and the hype, and I hope will be successful!

I have been sitting on this book for quite a while now. I think my biggest peeve was the art. I am not a fan of caricature-like drawings on a good day, and this was an entire family narration with emotional depth depicted in a style I am not fond of.
We have a Jewish family living in 1950s Newark. They are not a very religious nuclear family, and they do not even speak any other language other than English. The children are almost the second generation in the US, and their understanding of their people is quite faint. Only when relations come to stay a conversation begins, which continues through the rest of the narrative. The girls rebel in small ways - by hiding what they eat and tormenting each other.
The book is not short for a graphic novel but not overly long either. It was quite informative in providing a whole other time and place and a different immigrant experience. I would have enjoyed it further and recommended it more if I liked the art. It is not bad by any means - just not my cup of tea. I am glad I gave this book a shot, though. I do think an older audience would better appreciate its content than middle-graders.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

The (surprisingly) true story of Susie and her sisters, who were raised as Jewish in 1950s. This is a glimpse of what we might not lived, and traditions we never knew. But life in that era was colorful as well, with its problems. An interesting read, and surely not for kids.

Little Sister follows the hijinks of three sisters, particularly following the perspective/thoughts/feelings of -you guessed it- the little sister.

Overall, I think each individual "scene" had weight to it and was fun on its own. However, this felt like a mash-up of several different short stories rather than one consistent story at times. I often found myself wondering what the purpose of the story was.

I also think that the language within was a bit disjointed at times, although this easily could have been the fault of translation rather than the original text?

Little Sister is a heartfelt story that I appreciated as someone with two different siblings. While there are references to the Holocaust, and it is treated with the respect it deserves, it never strays from its lighthearted nature. I felt like the art was very charming and it was enjoyable to get through. I wish there was more at the end and it did take me a little to get warmed up to the main character.

Que graphic novel deliciosa de se ler. Todo o texto e a ilustração nos mergulham na vida cotidiana daquela família, podendo acompanhar tudo do ponto de vista de uma criança criança ten em suas irmãs suas maiores referências. Da vontade de passar um dia em companhias das personagens.

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What a delightful graphic novel to read. All the text and illustration plunge us into the daily life of that family, can follow everything from the point of view of a child child ten in his sisters his biggest references. I feel like spending a day in the company of the characters.

Little Sister by Susie Morgenstern is a recollection of the author's childhood as the youngest one in her family. The book talks about her childhood in the '50s and captures the daily life of the three sister's Effie, Sandra and Susie. The book shows the siblings relationship very well where both her elder sisters tease her but embrace her as well, lie to their parents to go out and eat, share secrets and protect each other.
The book is fun to read but it also gives glimpses of serious topics like the Holocaust and getting bullied for being a Jew.

The art style is beautiful. Each canvas is illustrated beautifully and lively.

A beautiful slice-of-life memoir.

Susie, a girl growing up in 1950s New Jersey, is the youngest of three sisters from a Jewish family. When she is 10 years old she goes through several transformative moments, so she has chosen to gives us a glimpse into that year in her life.

With gorgeous illustrations that evoke the optimistic memories of childhood, we as adults are aware of some of the tough or ugly experiences that Susie is going through, but we see them through her rose-tinted glasses. There is the mundane antisemitism that Susie experiences and is hurt by, even if she doesn't quite understand why it's hurtful; there's the unspoken horrors of World War 2 that the Hoch family hides from her; but there's also the sibling rivalries, secrets between sisters, loving parents who do their best to instill in them respect for those who might seem quirky, be it a couple down the street or foreign relatives. And there's also the great love of literature that will be a big part of Susie's adult life.

This simple comic book is absolutely charming, a cozy story filled with important but understated messages. I was captivated and left me wishing I could stay with the Hoch family for a while longer.

A moving graphical memoir, of young Jewish girl Susie and her older sisters, living in '50s America. It isn't a book running over with plot, but does dive a bit into their characters. There are some references to the Holocaust, especially when relatives arrive who survived the War. It never loses its lightness, though.

Sometimes it's just nice to read a well drawn slice of life story, capturing a certain moment in time.

Sometimes when I read dark, depressing, or sad books I like to somewhat recharge with a lighter book of some sort. For this week, Little Sister by Johann G. Louis and Susie Morgenstern fit the bill perfectly. Drawn in a whimsical, almost twee way, the book is definitely not as heavy as some other European comics I’ve read, but it keeps the same charm. The book tells the story of the life of popular French children’s author Susie Morgenstern, especially her upbringing in Newark New Jersey. Later on she would move to Israel, then France, but that’s outside of the scope of this book. While it’s not a huge story about an adventure far away, or an action thriller, the story talks about the life events that can truly shape somebody. We see the girls go through some things like the death of their grandfather, combatting neighborhood gossip and bigotry, and even small issues like burning food.

“Susie has two older sisters: the vivacious Effie, and the elegant Sandra. Life is hard when you’re the baby of the family! No one ever lets you do anything. No one ever pays any attention to you. Everyone makes fun of you. Bestselling children’s author Susie Morgenstern takes readers back to 1950s Newark and all the everyday charms and heartbreaks of the year she turned ten: spelling bees, synagogue, Christmas lights, Halloween candy, nights out at the movies, sneaking fast food. In his joyous art, Johann G. Louis lovingly evokes the era and a young girl awakening to life.”


One of the more interesting and heartwarming sections was an vignette where the family’s cousins from Germany come over to stay. The girls don’t realize it, but they are refugees from The Holocaust, and with only a few years separating that event and their present lives, they are not exactly a cheerful couple. Susie’s interactions with Chaim and Rivka go from being “gossipy” to genuine love as Rivka is able to almost feel like she has her own children back. It’s never fully said, but it’s implied theirs died in one of the camps. Susie has to come to terms with her Jewish heritage a few times during the story, including an episode where a neighborhood bully attacks her, saying she was “a dirty Jew”. This was likely her first time experiencing bigotry of any sort, and it upsets her greatly.

This was an interesting memoir of a young girl living in what had to be a tumultuous time for a young Jewish girl. The story has glimpses of sheer awfulness in humanity, but it stays positive and shows that it’s better to try to be happy, no matter what life throws at you. Yeah, your older sisters may try to toss you out a window, but it’s better not to dwell on it! The artwork is great, drawn like a children’s book or Sunday Newspaper comic, and the writing is great. Europe Comics has once again chosen a book that stands out as a piece of artwork in a cluttered market of superhero books.

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.

A delightful Graphic Novel of Author Susie Morgenstern's childhood, this book is packed full of whimsy, playful and the essence of childhood days.
Capturing family life and the events of the three sister's Effie, Sandra and Susie; this book was an honest snapshot of sibling relationships. As the eldest of 4 I saw so many moments and laughed out loud at most of the antics they got up to; from the vows of silence the three swore to over a forbidden junk food, to the sly digs we all make as children.
But amongst the joy there was also the very real brush with tragedy when Susie learns the true horrors her father's family have been through during the second world war. The mixture of innocence and discovery of self when faced with this made it more reactive, watching Susie discover with the incessant energy only children possess, what happened to the family and the horrors they faced.
Thus book covered so many subjects and is one I will be recommending to all.

The artwork in this graphic novel is gentle, even whimsical as it tells the memoir of the author. Susie is the youngest of three sisters growing up in a Jewish household in 1950s America. What we see are three young girls exploring both their Jewish and American identities. Their home life is strong and this helps shield them from some difficulties, but also provides them with a strong family space in which to explore their identity.

Susie is the youngest but academically gifted. She is both embraced and teased by her two older sisters. We see how the family protects her from learning about World War Two but then supports her when she is teased by a classmate. We see how the girls bridge their cultural and religious differences, sometimes not without challenges. The memoir also explores the relationship the family have with their neighbours and with their wider family. This has great artwork and also a good story which was enjoyable to read.

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

Unfortunately I couldn't get through this graphic novel, I stopped around page... 30 perhaps? 40?

My main issue was the narrative thread. I don't think there were any parts missing in this arc but at times going from one vignette to the other I would feel completely at loss, as if we had skipped a page and I didn't know why I was there or what had happened to whatever was happening the instant right before that.

It was disjointed, confusing, there was very little correlation between the pages - or even between one page vignette and the following one, so it really frustrated me and I had to give up.

Rating: 3.75 🌟
First and foremost, I'd like to express my gratitude to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this graphic novel.
First and honestly, I'd like to make it abundantly clear that I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I do right now. The arts were really delightful, evoking flashbacks of days spent drawing. I was somewhat aback when I discovered that this was a personal narrative. It was both delightful and heartbreaking to learn that the story is correct. I would strongly recommend this graphic memoir novel to everyone

Thank you to Netgalley and the publiher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A personal story of the youngest daughter of a little family in an American society after the WWII. I liked the illustrations with all the colors and everything. The story wasn't really of a great impact or with anything really special. The relationship between the three sisters was funny.

Synopsis: Set in 1950s Newark, Little Sister follows the daily life of 8-year-old Jewish girl Susie and her older sisters Effie and Sandra who are 14 and 18 respectively.


My Thoughts: Plot and Themes (4/5) – At its barebones, it’s pretty standard slice-of-life fare one would expect out of a light children’s book. However, what struck me as unique to this book is not just its period-specific setting focusing on a Jewish family but how relevant their Jewish identity is to the various episodes throughout the narrative. This is something that comes up in some humorous contexts, one being an instance where Susie and her sisters try sneaking off to eat a non-kosher hotdog without getting caught by their mother. While this among many incidents is a byproduct of their faith specifically, they're still universal motifs I think most of us can relate to experiencing as children. In the hotdog episode’s case, it’s probably that inclination to try out that thing adults around us deemed taboo.

Though the comic remains consistently light-hearted in tone, there are a few parts where historical facets germane to the Judaic identity are approached earnestly (without ever becoming grim). Notably, it shows up when Susie’s elderly cousins from Poland (also referred to as the Old World) temporarily stay over at her family’s house after emigrating to the US. Susie, being unaware of the persecution Jews from that region went through, ends up learning part of it whilst reading a copy of Anne Frank’s diary she borrowed from the library. When she’s caught with the book, her parents tell her not to read it since they believe she’s not old enough to handle the material. It provokes an interesting conversation about how young is too young to learn about certain real-life horrors.

Characters (4/5) – Besides the main character, I found the rest of her family including her mother, cousins, and neighbors Charlotte and Arlene who were all sweet and caring in their way. There’s also the gossipy neighbor Mrs. McDermott who is an amusing personality though that’s mostly because of how indifferent everyone else is towards her gossip.


Art and Composition (3.5/5) – The art seems to be primarily done in light watercolor tones while the panel composition was borderless which added to the nostalgic qualities the graphic novel was aiming for giving it an extra charm.

Nevertheless, one criticism I have is that more could have been done to distinguish some of the character designs, especially Susie and Effie who I often confused for one another because of how similar their facial features and height were despite the age gap.


Final Thoughts: Little Sister was a fun little read I’d recommend to middle-grade readers and older for its likable cast, humor, and deeper themes.


Thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for providing me with my first advance ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Little Sister" is a memoir graphic novel following the author during the year that she was 10 years old. The book is set in the 50's after WWII and follows Susie and her two sister as they go about their lives living in suburbs and being Jewish. I thought the art style was beautiful and whimsical and matched the ideals of a dreamy 10 year old girl. Watching the sisters interact was cute and reminded me of some moments from my own childhood being the youngest sister. I found the overall story to be a bit disconnected. It's a very 'slice-of-life' style story however the stories always felt like they ended abruptly, and it was jarring. I think each mini story could have been lengthened a bit to complete the thought. Overall, I found the book to be charming and covering a wide range of topics from the Holocaust, to death of a loved one, to small everyday moments of growing up as a young girl.

Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for this e-arc of "Little Sister" in exchange for an honest review.

It was a cute little book with Colourful illustration. It was an autobiography, about ten year old susie and her sistets growing up in a Jewish family.
Sisters are the bestest friends also your partner in crime. But the most mischief one is always the lil sister, Susie. I love the thing how they combined cute lovely scenarios. Getting bullied for being a Jewish, War aftermath but Her family's love and affection all covered up.

Though the book wasn't lengthy enough and the story was less captivating i liked reading it for the illustrations.

Thank you netgalley for an advance Reader's copy.

I thought this was a cute story. This is basically like a memoir of Susie Morgenstern’s life in graphic novel format. It’s set during her life around 10 years after WW2 and how Jews were experiencing lots of racism and prejudice towards them. Susie’s relationship with her sisters was fun to read about and I bet it’s very relatable for people who have sisters. I still can’t believe they threw her out a window though 😂 This was a very interesting story told in like a slice-of-life way. It feels very mundane to read about but there’s so many details and nuances here and there that made it interesting.

3.5/5 Stars

A charming graphic novel. However I wish it had been more clear at the beginning that this was based on the author's own childhood as I feel that would have helped me warm up to the characters sooner. Although it took some time for me to connect with the characters by the end I did find that I was quite moved by the simply told stories. However I feel that the format of these stories would be better suited to being published individually in a newspaper rather than as a book.